Oil executives due to discuss climate change with the Pope

THE world’s most powerful oil executives have gathered in the Vatican for a meeting with Pope Francis to discuss the industry’s sins against the environment.

The chief executives of BP, Exxonmobil, Norway’s state oil company and Italy’s Eni are expected to meet senior Vatican officials, including the pontiff, for a closed-door discussion of their role in helping to tackle climate change.

BP’S Bob Dudley, Exxonmobil’s Darren Woods and Eni boss Claudio Descalzi will join Larry Fink, the chief executive of investment giant Blackrock, at the event, which is being organised by Notre Dame University.

The talks are likely to pile pressure on Big Oil to clean up its energy activities amid rising calls from environmental shareholders to reduce their investments in fossil fuels.

Ahead of the talks, Neil Thorns, of Catholic aid agency CAFOD, said: “If energy companies are serious about caring for our common home, they need to take the Pope’s advice and hurry up with shifting their priorities – and therefore their money – from fossil fuels to renewables.”

Pope Francis has emerged as a surprise environmental activist since becoming the 266th pope in 2013. He has called on the world’s 2.1bn Catholics to take urgent action to tackle climate change, and branded the destruction of the environment a sin.

In his 2015 encyclical, Pope Francis said climate change was real and mainly “a result of human activity”.

“Reducing greenhouse gases requires honesty, courage and responsibility,” he said. “Those who will have to suffer the consequences … will not forget this failure of conscience and responsibility.”