Vatican City - Pope Francis said on
Friday that carbon pricing is "essential" to stem global warming
- his clearest statement yet in support of penalising polluters
- and appealed to climate change deniers to listen to science.
In an address to energy executives at the end of a two-day
meeting, he also called for "open, transparent, science-based
and standardised" reporting of climate risk and a "radical
energy transition" away from carbon to save the planet.
Carbon pricing, via taxes or emissions trading schemes, is
used by many governments to make energy consumers pay for the
costs of using the fossil fuels that contribute to global
warming, and to spur investment in low-carbon technology.
The Vatican did not release the names of those who attended
the closed-door meeting at its Academy of Sciences, a follow-up
to one a year ago, but industry sources said the companies
represented were believed to be the industry giants Eni, Exxon,
Total, Repsol, BP, Sinopec, ConocoPhillips, Equinor, Chevron.
A small group of demonstrators gathered outside a Vatican
gate. One held a sign reading "Dear Oil CEOs - Think of Your
Children".
Francis, who has made many calls for environmental
protection and has clashed over climate change with leaders such
as U.S. President Donald Trump, said the ecological crisis
"threatens the very future of the human family".
"WE HAVE FAILED TO LISTEN"
He implicitly criticised those who, like Trump, deny that
climate change is mostly caused by human activity.
"For too long we have collectively failed to listen to the
fruits of scientific analysis, and doomsday predictions can no
longer be met with irony or disdain," he said. Discussion of
climate change and energy transition must be rooted in "the best
scientific research available today".
Last year, Trump rejected projections in a report by his own
government that climate change will cause severe economic harm
to the U.S. economy.
Trump also announced his intent to withdraw the United
States from the 2015 Paris deal to combat climate change,
becoming the first country to do so among 200 signatories.
Francis, who wrote an encyclical - a significant document on
Church teaching - in 2015 on protection of the environment, and
strongly supports the Paris accord, said time was running out to
meet its goals.
"Faced with a climate emergency, we must take action
accordingly, in order to avoid perpetrating a brutal act of
injustice towards the poor and future generations," he said.
"We do not have the luxury of waiting for others to step
forward, or of prioritising short-term economic benefits."
Oil companies have come under growing pressure from
investors and activists to meet the Paris goals.
Companies including Royal Dutch Shell, BP
and Total have laid out plans to expand their
renewable energy business and reduce emissions, though many
investors say they will have to do more.