Pope urges shift from emergency response to prevention on climate

Pope Leo XIV urged a shift on climate change "from emergency response to prevention", saying Thursday global warming was not just an environmental challenge but also one of social justice.

Natural disasters and heatwaves of increasing intensity "fall most heavily upon the poor", the US pontiff said during an audience with members of the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

Leo said it fell "upon communities with the fewest resources to adapt, and upon those whose livelihoods depend directly upon the land, the forests and the oceans".

"It follows that the climate question is not merely an environmental challenge, it is fundamentally a question of justice, human dignity and solidarity between peoples and generations," the pope added.

The head of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics regularly urges governments to take bolder decisions on climate change.

"We cannot respond to these challenges only after disaster has already struck," Leo said.

"We need to move from emergency response to prevention, from vulnerability to preparedness, and from short-term measures to a wise and far-sighted vision for humanity."

The pontiff also underlined the environmental costs in artificial intelligence (AI).

He stressed the "heavy demands on natural resources" -- due to the enormous amounts of energy and water current AI systems require -- and its significant contribution to carbon dioxide emissions.

"Artificial intelligence can be used for surveillance, manipulation and discrimination," said Leo, whose first papal encyclical, published in May, called for a "disarming" and regulation of AI.

"Sophisticated cyber capabilities and autonomous weapons may, when developed or deployed without adequate safeguards and human oversight, introduce new dangers to security and international peace," he said.

Leo XIV has consistently emphasised the need to protect nature, building on his predecessor Francis's landmark manifesto on the environment, which explicitly linked fossil fuel use and climate change.