The year 2024, the hottest ever recorded worldwide, marked a crucial stage in the climate crisis. It was the first calendar year in which the global average temperature rose more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels — the very threshold the 2015 Paris Agreement aimed not to cross. January 2025 further aggravated this trend, becoming the hottest month ever observed. The impacts are hitting low- and middle-income populations with increasing severity, both in developing and industrialised countries. The cry of the earth and the cry of the poor grow louder.

Meanwhile, negotiations in Geneva for a treaty to curb plastic pollution ended in failure. Initiated in 2022 under the aegis of the United Nations, the process had already suffered a first breakdown in late 2024 in Busan, South Korea. For ten days, over 180 delegations gathered on the shores of Lake Geneva but failed to overcome deep divisions, resulting in a second consecutive breakdown in efforts to reach an international plastics agreement.

COP30, scheduled for 10–21 November 2025 in Belém, in the Brazilian state of Pará, is expected to mark a turning point in global climate action. The presidency of the conference has called on the international community to join in a common and determined effort to confront the climate crisis decisively and to avert the dramatic consequences foreseen by scientists.

For Catholics, the Jubilee of 2025 is an invitation to be “pilgrims of hope,” bearers of healing and peace in a wounded world, by addressing the roots of injustice: cancelling unjust and unpayable debts, feeding the hungry, and promoting climate justice. In the spirit of the Jubilee, men and women religious around the world have decided to mobilise for climate justice, urging governments to make real commitments to protect the Earth and its most vulnerable communities — turning faith into concrete action. Indeed, the International Union of Superiors General has launched a worldwide campaign, calling on all religious communities to sign a petition for ecological and social justice in the lead-up to COP30 in Brazil. The text addressed to governments states:

“I am deeply worried about the current climate crisis. Its most serious effects are already being felt worldwide—destroying communities, threatening coastal areas due to rising sea levels, and putting livelihoods at risk through ecosystem collapse.

“I believe we are not doing enough to address this urgent crisis, and we must promote concrete actions on the path to COP30. We need to learn from past mistakes, such as delays in phasing out fossil fuels, rushed last-minute agreements, and unfulfilled financial commitments regarding climate. Our government must acknowledge the climate emergency and act with the urgency it requires. In so far, I urge you to consider—both when revising our country’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and in the negotiation positions for COP30—the key calls of this campaign:

• Cancel the debts of poor countries, as unjust and unpayable debts should not compromise resources for climate adaptation and mitigation efforts.
• Strengthen the Loss and Damage Fund (FRLD) by allocating sufficient resources to tackle the severe effects of climate change.
• Set clear targets for a fair energy transition that aims to reduce CO2 emissions, considering historical responsibilities, respecting human rights—especially Indigenous rights, valuing and protecting nature, and prioritizing sustainable livelihoods over profit-driven models.
• Set clear goals to develop a global food system based on food sovereignty and agro-ecological practices; one that promotes culturally adapted methods for production, transformation, distribution, and food consumption.”

Those who sign this petition commit to presenting it to their government, recalling their adherence also to the Declaration of the campaign “Religious Life for Climate Justice, Turning Hope into Action” (www.ecojesuit.com/cop30).

The COP process remains essential to achieving progress in the fight against climate change. Pope Francis has affirmed: “What is needed is to establish global and effective rules that can ensure this universal safeguarding” (Laudate Deum, no. 42). And Pope Leo XIV reiterated: “Our mission to care for creation, to promote peace and reconciliation, is the mission of Jesus, entrusted to us by the Lord. Let us listen to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor, for this cry has reached the heart of God. Our indignation is His indignation; our work is His work” (Homily, 9 July 2025). It is an invitation to work together to build a world where all may have life, and life in abundance (John 10:10).

Today, the world finds itself immersed in a “polycrisis”: a constellation of simultaneous crises that influence each other. On the one hand, Pope Francis speaks of a Third World War “in pieces”; on the other, the climate crisis produces devastating effects. There no longer seems to be any red line capable of containing conflicts, while the arms race generates new debts and diverts resources away from social services, adaptation, and climate mitigation. The multilateral and diplomatic approach appears in decline, while the logic of the “law of force” prevails over the “force of law.” Human rights and peoples’ rights are trampled upon, inequalities grow as a result of unjust economic structures, pushing millions below the poverty line and driving the planet beyond its capacity for regeneration.

Through the campaign – that you can sign also - Religious Life for Climate Justice, Turning Hope into Action (www.ecojesuit.com/cop30), religious congregations aim to collect 30,000 signatures, in an advocacy effort that will press COP30 to adopt effective and concrete decisions against climate change, in defence of the well-being of the planet — our common home — and of the peoples who inhabit it.