Pope Urges World Leaders to Do More to Tackle Climate Change

 Pope Francis, flanked by a grandmother and grandson (names not available) appears at his studio's window overlooking St. Peter's Square at The Vatican for the Sunday's blessing, on the 3rd World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly, Sunday, July 23, 2023. (AP)
Pope Francis, flanked by a grandmother and grandson (names not available) appears at his studio's window overlooking St. Peter's Square at The Vatican for the Sunday's blessing, on the 3rd World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly, Sunday, July 23, 2023. (AP)
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Pope Urges World Leaders to Do More to Tackle Climate Change

 Pope Francis, flanked by a grandmother and grandson (names not available) appears at his studio's window overlooking St. Peter's Square at The Vatican for the Sunday's blessing, on the 3rd World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly, Sunday, July 23, 2023. (AP)
Pope Francis, flanked by a grandmother and grandson (names not available) appears at his studio's window overlooking St. Peter's Square at The Vatican for the Sunday's blessing, on the 3rd World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly, Sunday, July 23, 2023. (AP)

Pope Francis said on Sunday that recent heat waves across many parts of the world and flooding in countries such as South Korea showed that more urgent action was needed to tackle climate change.

"Please, I renew my appeal to world leaders to do something more concrete to limit polluting emissions," the Pope said at the end of his Angelus message to crowds in St. Peter's Square.

"It is an urgent challenge, it cannot be postponed, it concerns everyone. Let us protect our common home," the pope added.

Francis has called on the world to rapidly ditch fossil fuels and made the protection of the environment a cornerstone of his pontificate. He noted in his landmark 2015 "Laudato Si" (Praised Be) encyclical that the planet was "beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth".

On Sunday, the pope expressed solidarity with those who were suffering from the climate crisis and those helping them.

Parts of the southern United States have baked in a record-breaking heat wave, while extreme temperatures have also been recorded in China and southern Europe, including Italy and Greece.

A wildfire raging on the Greek island of Rhodes forced thousands of tourists and island residents to shelter in schools and indoor stadiums on Sunday after they were evacuated from coastal villages and resorts.



‘More and Faster’: UN Calls to Shrink Buildings’ Carbon Footprint

 Snow capped mountains are seen behind the downtown Los Angeles skyline, California, US, March 7, 2025. (Reuters)
Snow capped mountains are seen behind the downtown Los Angeles skyline, California, US, March 7, 2025. (Reuters)
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‘More and Faster’: UN Calls to Shrink Buildings’ Carbon Footprint

 Snow capped mountains are seen behind the downtown Los Angeles skyline, California, US, March 7, 2025. (Reuters)
Snow capped mountains are seen behind the downtown Los Angeles skyline, California, US, March 7, 2025. (Reuters)

Countries must move rapidly to slash CO2 emissions from homes, offices, shops and other buildings -- a sector that accounts for a third of global greenhouse gas pollution, the United Nations said Monday.

Carbon dioxide emissions from the building sector rose around five percent in the last decade when they should have fallen 28 percent, according to a new report by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).

It said emissions had plateaued since 2023 as climate policies began to have an impact, particularly green building standards, the use of renewable energy and electrified heating and cooling.

But the building sector still consumes 32 percent of the world's energy and contributes 34 percent of CO2 emissions, the report found.

"The buildings where we work, shop and live account for a third of global emissions and a third of global waste," said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP.

"The good news is that government actions are working. But we must do more and do it faster."

She called on nations to include targets to "rapidly cut emissions from buildings and construction" in their climate plans.

The report said that while most of the countries that signed up to the 2015 Paris climate deal -- nearly 200 have signed -- mention the sector, so far only 19 countries have sufficiently detailed goals in their national carbon cutting plans.

The report said that as of 2023, important metrics like energy-related emissions and the adoption of renewable energy "remain well below required progress rates".

That means that countries, businesses and homeowners now need to dramatically pick up the pace to meet the 2030 emissions reduction targets.

- 'Critical challenge' -

Direct and indirect CO2 emissions will now need to fall more than 10 percent per year, more than double the originally envisaged pace.

The rollout of renewables is a similar story.

The share of renewables like solar and wind in final energy consumption rose by only 4.5 percentage points since 2015, well behind the goal of nearly 18 percentage points.

That now needs to accelerate by a factor of seven to meet this decade's goal of tripling renewable energy use worldwide, UNEP said.

The report urged countries to accelerate the roll-out of renewable technologies and increase the share of renewables in the final energy mix to 46 percent by 2030 -- a rise of around 18 percent.

It also called on policymakers to increase energy efficiency retrofits to include better design, insulation and the use of renewables and heat pumps.

More work also needs to be done to improve the sustainability of materials like steel and cement, whose manufacture accounts for nearly a fifth of all emissions from the building sector.

But the report did say that circular construction practices were increasing in some areas, with recycled materials accounting for 18 percent of construction inputs in Europe.

The authors urged all major greenhouse gas emitters to take action by introducing zero-carbon building energy codes by 2028, and called on other countries to create and tighten their regulations within the next 10 years.

The report highlighted positive national policies from China, France, Germany, Mexico and South Africa among others.

But it said financing remained a "critical challenge".

In 2023, it found that global investment in energy efficiency in buildings fell seven percent from a year earlier to $270 billion, driven by higher borrowing costs and the winding back of government support programs, notably in Europe.

Those investments now need to double -- to $522 billion -- by 2030, it said.