APNewsBreak: Mayors at Vatican seek ‘bold climate agreement’

Dozens of mayors from around the world demanded Tuesday that their national leaders take bold steps at the Paris climate talks this year, saying that could be the last chance to keep the Earth’s warming to levels still safe for humanity.

 

One by one, some of the 60 mayors invited to a two-day Vatican conference lined up to sign a final declaration stating that “human-induced climate change is a scientific reality and its effective control is a moral imperative for humanity.”

 

They were aiming to keep the pressure on world leaders ahead of the Paris negotiations in December. Pope Francis last month released an environmental encyclical that denounced what he calls a fossil fuel-based world economy that exploits the poor and destroys the Earth.

 

Francis told the gathering Tuesday that he had “a lot of hope” that the Paris negotiations would succeed, but also told the mayors: “You are the conscience of humanity.”

 

Experts have long said that cities are key to reducing global warming since urban areas account for nearly three-quarters of human emissions. Mayor after mayor made an individual plea Tuesday at the conference for the world to change its ways.

 

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