“Are we working for a culture of life or a culture of death?”. This, for the Pope, is the question to ask to address climate change, which is “a global social issue and intimately linked to the dignity of human life”. “We must be attentive to the cry of the earth, listen to the pleas of the poor, be sensitive to the hopes of young people and the dreams of children: we have a grave responsibility to ensure that they are not denied a future,” Francis reiterated while receiving the participants in audience. at the meeting promoted by the Pontifical Academies of Sciences and Social Sciences on the theme: “From the climate crisis to climate resilience”. Hence the option for “sustainable human development” which allows us to address “distinct but interconnected systemic challenges:” climate change, biodiversity loss, environmental degradation, global disparities, food insecurity and a threat to dignity of the populations involved”. “Unless they are addressed collectively and urgently, these problems represent existential threats to humanity, to other living beings and to ecosystems”, the Pope’s appeal: “it is the poor of the earth who suffer the most, despite contribute less to the problem.” “The richest nations, around one billion people, produce more than half of the pollutants that trap heat,” Francis argued: “By contrast, the poorest three billion people contribute less than 10%, but bear 75%. % of the resulting losses. The 46 least developed countries – mostly African – account for just 1% of global CO2 emissions. In contrast, G20 nations are responsible for 80% of these emissions.”
