Pope commits Vatican to net zero carbon emissions by 2050

(Reuters, 12 Dec 2020) Pope Francis committed the Vatican to 2050 deadline and pledged to improve environmental management in the world's smallest state.

Pope Francis urged countries on Saturday to work towards net zero carbon emissions and committed Vatican City - the world's smallest state - to reaching the target by 2050.

Francis, who has championed environmental causes since his election in 2013, told a U.N. climate summit the 108-acre (44-hectare) city-state surrounded by Rome would be doing its bit to fight climate change.

"The current pandemic and climate change, which are not only environmentally relevant, but also ethically, socially, economically and politically, affect, above all, the lives of the poorest and most fragile," he said in a video message to the summit.

"In addition to adopting some measures that cannot be postponed any longer, a strategy is needed to reduce net emissions to zero," Francis said.

He committed the Vatican "to reducing net emissions to zero by 2050," as well as intensifying environmental management efforts and furthering the rational use of natural resources such as water and planting more trees.

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Reuters, 12 Dec 2020: Pope commits Vatican to net zero carbon emissions by 2050