Statement from the COP30 Presidency on the death of Pope Francis

“We are faced not with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental,” wrote Pope Francis in Laudato si’, the first Pope's encyclical letter on the environment. The response to climate change, the Pontiff rightly said, requires “an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature.”

Pope Francis led not only as an example of human dignity, respect, and acceptance, but as a climate activist, a defender of nature, forests, indigenous peoples, and traditional communities. Laudato si’, published in 2015, and its defense of an ecological integral inspired the consensus that, a few months later, led to the adoption of the historic Paris Agreement.

Climate change, as Francis acknowledged, is an accelerator of poverty, inequality, and suffering, and climate change must be comprehensive and guided by solidarity. If nothing in this world is indifferent to us, the future of our common home urgently depends on swift, inclusive and effective collective action.

May the teachings of Pope Francis and his courageous leadership inspire us at a key moment to accelerate the implementation of the Paris Agreement and climate solutions. His legacy will inspire us at COP30 and in mobilizing a global effort to tackle climate change without leaving anyone behind.