Catholic Church leaders from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean have issued a strong collective appeal for urgent climate action ahead of the COP30 summit.
The prelates denounced what they describe as “false solutions” that perpetuate environmental destruction and deepen global inequality.
In a 31-page statement, episcopal conferences from across the Global South warned that the climate crisis has reached “an extremely serious” point, with 2024 marking a 1.55°C rise in global temperatures—above the threshold set by the Paris Agreement.
“The countries of the world have not responded with the necessary urgency,” the bishops said. “The Church will not remain silent. We will continue to raise our voice alongside science, civil society, and the most vulnerable, with truth and consistency, until justice is done.”
The document, titled A Call for Climate Justice and the Common Home: Ecological Conversion, Transformation and Resistance to False Solutions, is rooted in the teachings of Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’ and Laudate Deum, as well as Pope Leo XIV’s call for integral ecology and prophetic courage.
It was released ahead of COP30, set to take place in Brazil this November.
‘Not just a technical problem’
The bishops described the climate emergency as “an existential issue of justice, dignity and care for our common home.”
While acknowledging the role of science, they stressed that real solutions must address root causes—namely, extractivism, technocracy, and economic systems that exploit both people and nature.
They urged governments to uphold the 1.5°C target and called on industrialized nations to “pay their ecological debt with fair climate finance without further indebting the Global South.”
Among the demands are the phase-out of fossil fuels, an end to new oil and gas infrastructure, and policies that center on “the most vulnerable, including our sister Mother Earth.”
Critique of green capitalism
The bishops offered a sharp critique of carbon offsetting, market-based environmental policies, and what they call the financialization of nature.
These, they said, shift the burden of emissions to those who have contributed the least to the crisis.
“We reject the ‘false solutions’ of the financialisation and commodification of nature,” the statement said.
The bishops criticized mechanisms such as carbon offset schemes and carbon markets, arguing that they allow major polluters to continue emitting while burdening vulnerable communities and ecosystems.
They also warned that mining for so-called “clean energy” minerals such as lithium and cobalt has devastated communities in the Global South.
While supporting renewable energy, the Church leaders said such transitions must be “ethical, decentralised and appropriate,” and developed in consultation with affected communities.
“It is seriously contradictory to use profits from oil extraction to finance what is presented as an energy transition, without any effective commitment to overcoming it,” the document noted.
Call for a new model
The bishops proposed a radical transformation of the global economic system, one that prioritizes life, solidarity, and the limits of the planet.
“We propose a model aligned with planetary boundaries and with goals for degrowth,” the message stated. “A model that reduces demand and excessive consumption and promotes solidarity-based, circular, and restorative economies.”
The Church leaders also condemned the continued approval of new fossil fuel projects, saying: “It is neither ethical nor sustainable to authorise new exploration or expand infrastructure that perpetuates this dependence.”
Church as a prophetic voice
In addition to policy recommendations, the bishops affirmed the Church’s commitment to education, interfaith dialogue, and grassroots resistance. They announced the creation of an Ecclesial Observatory on Climate Justice, tasked with monitoring COP outcomes and tracking government compliance.
“The Church, in its prophetic mission, will not cease to raise its voice against ecological and social injustices,” the bishops said. “The cry of the Earth is also the cry of the poor.”
They called for a “historic coalition” between actors in the Global South and ethical partners in the North, urging collective action to dismantle systemic injustices and ensure climate finance reaches the most affected communities.
“May COP30 not be just another summit,” they said, “but a milestone of resistance, intercontinental coordination and real transformation.”
The statement was signed by Cardinal Jaime Spengler of Brazil, Cardinal Felipe Neri Ferrao of India, and Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo of the Democratic Republic of the Congo—presidents of CELAM, FABC, and SECAM, respectively.
“Our Churches of the Global South are not merely witnesses to pain,” the prelates said, “but seeds of a new future.”
