US president Donald Trump has been presented with a 192-page letter from Pope Francis explaining why the world should fight against the issue of climate change.
Pope Francis issued the encyclical back in 2015, just months before almost 200 countries signed the historic Paris Agreement on climate change - widely considered a large part of former President Obama's legacy.
In the document, Pope Francis critiques consumerism and irresponsible development, bemoans environmental degradation and global warming, and calls on all people of the world to take "swift and unified global action".
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He also writes that climate change is a "global problem which has grave implications: environmental, social, economic, political, and for the distribution of goods."
Given that the US is one of the biggest emitters of carbon in the world, its cooperation with the agreement is vital in the fight against global warming.
The Trump administration has often played up the president's business acumen and experience running a global corporation. Pope Francis' letter also addresses the ties between multinational corporations and climate change.
It says: "The pollution produced by companies which operate in less developed countries in ways they could never do at home, in those countries in which they raise their capital: We note that often the businesses that operate this way are multinationals. They do here what they would never do in developed countries or the so-called first world."
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President Trump has repeatedly denied the existence of climate change, calling it a "hoax".
He has labelled the scientifically proven phenomenon as a ruse, perpetuated by the Chinese government. A viewpoint which he appears to have relaxed a bit after his face-to-face meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
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President Trump has recently come under fire from UN deputy secretary general Amina Mohammed.
Mohammed has accused President Trump of "treading water" regarding a decision on the future of the US' involvement in the Paris climate change agreement, on which the fate of millions of people depends.
During his campaign against Hillary Clinton, Trump promised to "cancel" the historic agreement, under which countries must ensure that the average global temperature does not rise 2C above pre-industrial levels.
President Trump has delayed announcing his administration's position up to this point. However, it is widely thought that he will be forced to make a statement at the G7 summit in Italy next weekend.
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Source: The Independent
Featured Image Credit: PA ImagesTopics: Donald Trump
