Pope Francis tells oil bosses world must reduce fossil fuel use

Pope Francis has told oil company chiefs that the world must switch to clean energy because climate change risks destroying humanity.

 Pope Francis made his comments at an unprecedented Vatican conference.

“Civilisation requires energy, but energy use must not destroy civilisation,” he said at the end of a two-day conference at the Vatican.

The pontiff said climate change was a challenge of epochal proportions, and that the world needed to come up with an energy mix that combatted pollution, eliminated poverty and promoted social justice.

The unprecedented conference, held behind closed doors at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, brought together oil executives, investors and Vatican experts. Like the pope, they back scientific opinion that climate change is caused by human activity and that global warming must be curbed.

Read The Guardian story by Reuters in the Vatican City - “Pope Francis tells oil bosses world must reduce fossil fuel use.”