Sad that ‘some have abandoned’ the Paris climate deal, says Pope Francis
The United States is the only one of the 195 signatories to have withdrawn from the 2015 Paris accord.
Pope Francis on Monday said it was sad that the United States had pulled out of the Paris climate change agreement. He also praised the 2015 accord as an effort to counter the problem of climate change.
Without naming the United States or its President Donald Trump, the Pope criticised “negligence towards the delicate equilibriums of the ecosystems, the presumption of manipulating and controlling the limited resources of the planet, and the greed for profit”.
“We see consequences of climate change every day,” the pope said at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation’s headquarters in Rome. “Thanks to scientific knowledge, we know how we have to confront the problem and the international community has also worked out the legal methods, such as the Paris Accord, which sadly, some have abandoned.”
In June, President Donald Trump’s decision to take the US, the second biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, out of the United Nations’ Paris climate change pact was met with global condemnation. Trump has regularly claimed that there is no real evidence to prove that climate change exists, and has called it a “hoax”.
The US had agreed to cut its emissions by 26%-28% by 2025, according to the pact. It is the only country out of the 195 signatories to have withdrawn from the deal, which aims to cut global warming by reducing carbon dioxide and other fossil fuel emissions. India is also one of the signatories.
“We cannot be satisfied by saying someone else will do it,” the Pope said on Monday.