Vatican, September 19, 2023
On the eve of the publication of a “new” Laudato sì, the General Secretariat of the Synod intends to make its contribution to the conservation of creation by choices that will offset the residual CO2 emissions produced by the upcoming XVI General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops.
Through the financial support of the SOS Planet Foundation and the technical contribution of LifeGate, already tested at the 2019 Synod Assembly, part of the remaining CO2 emissions will be offset thanks to projects that will generate a carbon “credit”, thus balancing the accumulated “debt.”
The project chosen to compensate emissions, which responds to the criterion of integral ecology as proposed by the encyclical Laudato sì, brings together the ecological aspect, attention to the local area and concrete help for the lives of the populations involved. The identified project, implemented in Nigeria and Kenya, aims to disseminate efficient cooking stoves and water purification technologies to households, communities and institutions. The new technologies will significantly reduce the consumption of nonrenewable biomass and fossil fuels for cooking and boiling water. This will result in a significant improvement in air pollution that is directly correlated to respiratory disease and mortality rates, especially among women and children, consequently improving the overall health of the affected populations. The project will use proceeds from the sale of carbon credits to support local partners engaged in the production, distribution and maintenance of the related technologies.
“Never have we so hurt and mistreated our common home as we have in the last two hundred years. Yet we are called to be instruments of God our Father, so that our planet might be what he desired when he created it and correspond with his plan for peace, beauty and fullness.” (Pope Francis, LS 53)
