Pope Francis warned on Monday warned that the world leaders meeting later this month for a UN climate summit must offer solutions to an “unprecedented ecological crisis.”

“COP26 in Glasgow represents an urgent summons to provide effective responses to the unprecedented ecological crisis and the crisis of values that we are presently experiencing, and in this way to offer concrete hope to future generations,” Francis said.

Pope is hoping to attend the UN talks and has issued the plea in writing to members of a Vatican-hosted conference called Faith and Science: Towards COP26.

It brought together scientists and religious leaders.

The Vatican participants were due to sign an appeal denouncing the “seeds of conflict — greed, indifference, ignorance, fear, injustice, insecurity and violence”, which in turn “cause the serious wounds we are inflicting on the environment, such as climate change, desertification, pollution and loss of biodiversity”, the pope said.

Also read | Women must play a greater role at the Cop26 summit, say rights groups

Anglican leader Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, one of the religious leaders attending the Vatican conference, said the world needed “a pilgrimage to a clean economy, which decreases carbon emissions and increases renewable energy development and use”.

“We have in the last 100 years declared war on the creation,” he said, calling for a “dramatic and rapid change in taxation and trade rules” in favour of a more sustainable economic model. 

“The world has just enough time to get this right,” he insisted.

Meanwhile, a coalition of feminist groups recently said that women must be enabled to play a greater role at the Cop26 summit.

This is because the needs of women and girls are being overlooked amid the global climate crisis.

Also read | Pope Francis offers prayers for the victims of Ecuador’s worst-ever prison riot

The Global Women’s Assembly for Climate Justice urged for action at the UN general assembly, including demands that world leaders meeting at Cop26, in Glasgow must end fossil fuel expansion and move to 100 per cent renewable energy.

Also, more than 120 groups have signed the call. This also includes demands to promote women’s leadership and equity, protect the rights of indigenous peoples, improve food security, recognise a human right to water, and to protect forests, oceans and other ecosystems.