Leadership role in climate change

A visit by Pope Francis to the UN Environment Programme headquarters in Nairobi as part of his Africa tour will come only days before the beginning of the seminal COP21 climate conference in Paris. Speaking from the heart of Africa to the world, he is expected to again address climate change, an issue central to his brief tenure as Pontiff so far.

The Pope is in a unique position. As head of the smallest country in the world, his ability to legislate on climate change may have limited impact. But his religious authority speaks to 1.2 billion Catholics around the globe, and to even more people who look to him as moral leader. He has imbued the climate change debate with an ethical element that ties environmental issues to his vision of a just and equal society. His leadership on climate change has therefore had enormous impact.