Responding to a recent report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) highlighting that the period 2015-2025 is the hottest 11 years on record, Bishop John Arnold, Lead Bishop for Environmental Issues for the Bishops’ Conference, said:
“I was alarmed to see the recent World Meteorological Organization report suggesting that the climate is more out of balance than at any time in recorded history.
“We should be clear that this is happening as a result of human behaviour, and that it is within our power to alter our behaviour. As Pope Paul VI wrote, as long ago as 1971: ‘…another transformation is making itself felt, one which is the dramatic and unexpected consequence of human activity. Man is suddenly becoming aware that by an ill-considered exploitation of nature he risks destroying it and becoming in his turn the victim of this degradation.’
“But it is no good simply being aware, we need to act on our awareness of these events. Today, war throughout the world is systematically destroying the environment as well as human life. It is also taking attention away from the environmental crises. I ask people to pray for peace. I ask you to pray that those in a position of authority will turn their efforts towards promoting peace and also to promoting those actions that are necessary to enable us to look after God’s creation in the way He intended.
“As the late Pope Francis said: ‘What would induce anyone, at this stage, to hold on to power, only to be remembered for their inability to take action when it was urgent and necessary to do so?'”
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is the United Nations’ voice on the state and behaviour of the Earth’s atmosphere, its interaction with the land and oceans, the weather and climate it produces and the resulting distribution of water resources.
Its ‘State of the Global Climate report 2025’ states that the period 2015-2025 is the hottest 11 years on record, and that 2025 was the second or third hottest year on record, at about 1.43°C above the 1850-1900 average.
