- A speech was made on his behalf by Foreign Minister Pietro Parolin
Pope Francis has called for the elimination of fossil fuels in a historic speech to the UN climate conference Cop28 in Dubai.
He was suffering from a lung infection and was too ill to give the speech, so it was delivered by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's secretary of state.
He said: 'Destruction of the environment is an offense against God, a sin. . . This puts all people at enormous risk, especially the most vulnerable in our midst, and threatens to ignite a conflict between generations.
'Are we working for a culture of life or for a culture of death? I make this sincere appeal to all of you: let us choose life!'
The Pope also called for a “decisive acceleration” on energy efficiency, renewable sources, eliminating fossil fuels and educating people to do without them.
Pope Francis has called for the elimination of fossil fuels in a speech delivered to him at Cop28
Because the Pope was unwell, the speech was delivered on his behalf by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State.
The Pope, leader of the world's 1.3 billion Roman Catholics, also warned against blaming environmental destruction on “the poor and high birth rates.”
'It is not the fault of the poor, as almost half of our world, which is more deprived, is responsible for barely 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, while the gap between the rich few and the masses of the poor has never narrowed has become. so terrible,” he said.
The future of fossil fuels is a key topic at the talks, as countries debate whether they will commit to 'phasing out' or 'phasing out' fossil fuels.
Cop28 President Dr Sultan Al Jaber, from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, has indicated that he is in favor of a 'phase-out' of fossil fuels – reducing emissions from oil and gas.
UAE Cop28 President Dr Sultan Al Jaber has indicated he is in favor of phasing out fossil fuels, despite his country increasing oil and gas production capacity by 42 percent by 2030
But analysis from pressure group Global Witness shows the UAE will increase its oil and gas production capacity by 42 percent by 2030.
US Special Envoy John Kerry also announced for the first time that America would not build any new coal-fired power stations and would phase out existing ones.
Twenty-two countries, including Britain, the US and France, have also committed to tripling nuclear power.
Leaders from nearly 200 countries and about 100,000 delegates are attending the summit, which runs until December 12.