In an interview with an Italian television channel, Pope Francis confirmed his participation in the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP28, which is scheduled to be held in Dubai

from December 1 to 3, 2023.

During the interview with Italian television channel RAI1 on November 1, 2023, Pope Francis announced his intention to attend COP28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. This will be his 45th trip abroad since 2013, and his second visit to the United Arab Emirates, following his 2019 trip.

In the interview, Pope Francis emphasized the urgency of addressing climate change, stating, "There is still time to stop [climate change]. Our future is at stake. The future of our children and grandchildren. We need some responsibility."

He also shared the story of how he expedited the drafting of his encyclical Laudato Si’ in 2015, at the request of Ségolène Royal, the then French Minister of the Environment, to ensure that the document was published a few months before the COP21 conference in Paris. He mentioned how several officials in the oil industry sought appointments with him after Laudato Si’ was released, seeking to justify their positions. Pope Francis praised the Paris meeting as "the best meeting of all," but expressed concern that progress on climate issues had stalled in the aftermath of COP21.

In his latest environmental document, Laudato Deum, published in early October as a "sequel" to Laudato Si’, Pope Francis critiqued subsequent climate conferences that followed the one in Paris. Photo by Long Thiên, Wikimedia commons.