Pope Francis is a huge advocate for climate change…

Pope Francis is set to return to the UAE, this time to Dubai. Pope Francis will be landing in Dubai on December 1 and will be here for three days until December 3, 2023 for the Cop28 summit.

According to The National, Pope Francis made the announcement during an interview on channel RAI on Wednesday, November 1, 2023. As per the daily newspaper, Pope Francis spoke about the topic of global warming stating ‘We are still in time to stop it. Our future is at stake, the future of our children and our grandchildren. A bit of responsibility is needed.’

In the past, Pope Francis has challenged world leaders warning them to slow climate change before it’s too late.

Details of the Bishop of Rome’s visit have not been revealed, but we will be keeping an eye on any announcements.

The news of Pope Francis attending comes a day after we learned that King Charles III is coming to Dubai to speak at the opening ceremony of COP28 on December 1, providing a welcome address to world leaders.

Pope Francis was last in UAE in Abu Dhabi for a landmark three-day visit from February 3 to 5, 2019. The visit coincided with the UAE’s celebration of the Year of Tolerance. It was the first time a Pope was ever in the UAE. The Pope celebrated Holy Mass at Zayed Sports City Stadium where he had a congregation of 135,000 people in attendance.

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What is Cop28?

wasl plaza dome expo 2020

The Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is an international summit that has been taking place since 1995. The summit is held annually unless decided otherwise by the parties. This year is an important year as it is seven years after the initial Paris Agreement (the international treaty on climate change), with seven years to go until 2030.

The conference is where world leaders gather to work together on solutions that tackle the most pressing climate change issues. There are now a total of 199 parties involved in the convention, this is made up of a total of 198 states plus the European Union. This year marks the 28th annual summit which will be held in the UAE, in Expo City, Dubai from Thursday, November 30 until Tuesday, December 12.

Public tickets for COP28 aren’t available yet, with prices still TBC. For a full schedule of the two-week summit and tickets once they are released click here.

COP28, Expo City, Dubai, Thu Nov 30 to Tue Dec 12. cop28.com

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