The head the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis, has given a stark warning to 50 of the world's top oil company executives the threat to humanity fossil fuels. At a private, closed-door meeting the Vatican on Saturday, the pontiff urged the oil companies to switch to renewable energies the sake our planet. He told the executives that fossil fuels were a major driver climate change and that global warming represented a challenge "epochal proportions". He said the companies needed to act quickly, saying: "There is no time to lose." He warned that: "With each month that passes, the challenge energy transition becomes more pressing."
Pope Francis explained how important it was the world to transition to greener forms energy. He said: "The energy question has become one the principal challenges...facing the international community. The way we meet this challenge will determine our overall quality life." Francis said fossil fuels are a contributor to poverty, war and death the world as they affect, "the real possibility either resolving conflicts in different areas of our world or ...providing them new fuel to destroy social stability and human lives." He added: "Civilization requires energy, but energy use must not destroy civilization....Clean energy is a duty that we owe towards ...generations yet to come.
