„A moral imperative“: Schellnhuber speaks at Vatican climate meeting

04/29/2015 - In the run-up of the much anticipated encyclica on climate change by Pope Francis, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences hosted a workshop with researchers as well as religious, business and civil society leaders this week. The list of distinguished speakers in the Vatican included UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, the Nobel Laureates Yuan Tseh Lee and Paul Crutzen, Veerabhadran Ramanathan of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography/University of California, the economist Jeffrey Sachs of New York's Columbia University, and John Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. The goal was, according to the organizers, to build a global movement to deal with climate change and sustainable development throughout 2015 and beyond.
„A moral imperative“: Schellnhuber speaks at Vatican climate meeting

“Human induced climate change is a scientific reality, and its decisive mitigation is a moral and religious imperative for humanity,” the joint declaration of the workshop participants reads. “The world has within its technological grasp, financial means, and know-how the means to mitigate climate change while also ending extreme poverty (…). The world should take note that the climate summit in Paris later this year (COP21) may be the last effective opportunity to negotiate arrangements that keep human-induced warming below 2-degrees C, yet the current trajectory may well reach a devastating 4-degrees C or higher.”

 

Weblink to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences workshop and declaration: www.casinapioiv.va/content/accademia/en/events/2015/protectearth.html

Weblink to Statement by participating scientists: Climate Change and the Common Good:

Schellnhuber - Director Emeritus