Catholic Climate Covenant believes the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to roll back federal protections designed to reduce carbon emissions from the power sector is deeply flawed. At a moment when the science is clear, and the impacts of climate change are increasingly visible in communities across the country and around the world, weakening safeguards against carbon pollution moves us in precisely the wrong direction.
This decision is not simply an environmental policy matter. It is a moral issue.
As Pope Francis wrote in Laudato Si’, “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?” (#57). We are living in that moment of urgency. The question before us is whether we will act with courage and foresight — or whether we will let short-term interests outweigh our responsibility to one another and to future generations.
“Powerful interests from the tech and fossil fuel industries are flexing their muscle and have an open ear in this administration, which has little regard for the poor and vulnerable,” said Catholic Climate Covenant Founder and Executive Director Dan Misleh. “This has been demonstrated in so many ways, including the deportation of immigrants — many without due process — the elimination of USAID, drastic cuts to health care, food programs, and other federal assistance to those most in need.”
Climate change makes these injustices even more consequential. The people who have contributed the least to the climate crisis often suffer its greatest consequences. More intense heat, flooding, storms, drought, wildfires, crop failures, and other climate-fueled disasters threaten human life, livelihoods, homes, and communities. And the burden will fall not only on people living today, but on generations yet to come.
Catholic Social Teaching calls us to recognize our interconnectedness and our responsibility to care for our common home. Protecting creation is inseparable from protecting human dignity and standing with the most vulnerable.
“I encourage everyone in the Covenant’s network to make their voices heard,” Misleh said. “This disregard for climate science means more people will suffer from climate-fueled weather catastrophes, subjecting current and future generations to untold suffering.”
The climate crisis demands action, not retreat. We cannot afford to look back and know that we understood the urgency, yet chose not to act. As Pope Francis reminds us — and as Pope Leo XIV continues to echo through his papacy today — the time to act is now.
