Climate Change Archives

Faith-based groups welcome first U.S. contribution to Green Climate Fund

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Faith-based organizations welcomed the recent announcement that the United States made its first $500 million contribution under a four-year, $3 billion pledge to support the Green Climate Fund that is helping developing countries respond to climate change. “It’s important that the U.S. really come through with their commitment to the Green Climate…

Philippine nun: DiCaprio’s speech reflects churches’ concern on resources

MANILA, Philippines (CNS) — “Be like Leonardo DiCaprio.” Ucanews.com reported that was the call of Sister Aloha Vergara of the Handmaids of the House of God, who said DiCaprio’s speech at the Feb. 28 Academy Awards “reflects the people and the churches’ position on the protection of the environment.” The Hollywood actor said climate change…

Socially responsible investors press companies to do the right thing

WASHINGTON (CNS) — If it’s spring, it must be corporate annual general meeting season. For investors concerned about corporate accountability and transparency, it’s one of the busiest times of the year. The annual general meetings give shareholders the chance to publicly engage corporate leadership on hot-button issues such as human rights, climate change, sustainability, lobbying…

Pope: Stopping climate change, poverty go hand-in-hand

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Heads of states at the U.N. climate change conference in Paris must do everything possible to mitigate the effects of both climate change and poverty “for the good of our common home,” Pope Francis said. “The two choices go together: to stop climate change and curb poverty so that human dignity…

Catholics to U.N. summit: Warmer temperatures are just part of the problem

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Yeb Sano, former climate change commissioner for Philippines, is so concerned about global warming that he and other Catholic pilgrims are walking 900 miles from Rome to Paris for the U.N. climate change conference. It’s time, Sano believes, for world leaders to sign a binding agreement that helps reduce the impact of…

If people love God, they must care for what he has made, says cardinal

COLUMBUS, Ohio (CNS) — The lead consultant on “Laudato Si’,” Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment, said that although it’s a document of nearly 40,000 words, its message can be summed up in one sentence. “We cannot love God when we do not appreciate or care for what God has made,” Cardinal Peter Turkson said…

College presidents in statement back pope’s leadership on climate change

WASHINGTON (CNS) — About 100 U.S. Catholic college presidents have signed a document supporting Pope Francis for his leadership on climate change efforts and committing their institutions to doing all they can to foster “open, honest” dialogue on climate issues and help form “global ecological citizens.” Since the pope’s encyclical on climate, “Laudato Si’,” was…

Philippine bishops tackle climate change during general meeting

MANILA, Philippines (CNS) — The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines tackled climate change on different fronts and also addressed a host of other issues, from equitable education to sovereign disputes at its biannual plenary session July 6-13. Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan, newly re-elected president of the conference, told Catholic News Service that the…

California governor says he carried ‘Laudato Si” to climate summit

TORONTO (CNS) — California Gov. Jerry Brown, in Toronto for the Climate Summit of the Americas, said he is traveling with a copy of Pope Francis’ environmental encyclical “Laudato Si’” and “going through it carefully.” “I like the language in it, which is not the language of markets,” Brown told a press conference July 8,…

Antillean bishops offer action steps to address climate change

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago (CNS) — Bishops from across the Caribbean region invited people to read and study Pope Francis’ upcoming encyclical on the environment so that they “become better stewards of creation.” Writing a “Declaration on Climate Change,” the bishops of the Antilles Episcopal Conference urged people to consider the spiritual and…