Sadiq Khan will meet the Pope this week as he heads a delegation of city leaders from around the world at a ‘crucial’ climate summit at the Vatican. The Mayor of London, who flies out tomorrow, Wednesday, May 15, is expected to discuss tackling the climate crisis with Pope Francis, including how the city’s ultra low emission zone (ULEZ) has ‘drastically reduced harmful emissions from road transport, setting a high standard for cities globally’.
In addition, as London’s first Muslim mayor and the first in the Western world, Mr Khan is expected to discuss with the Pope ‘how cooperation between different faiths can be a catalyst for unity, as well as a driving force behind action to protect the planet’. Mr Khan will be the first Mayor of London to have a private audience with a Pope at the Vatican.
The mayor will also speak to other world leaders at the ‘Climate Crisis to Climate Resilience’ summit this Thursday, May 16, hosted by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. His team says it is a ‘rare opportunity to share ongoing strategies and challenges that London and other global cities face in the realm of climate action’.
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It comes after Pope Francis outlined an ‘urgent call to action’ in his Laudate Deum.
Mr Khan said: “I am truly honoured to have been invited to participate in this key summit hosted by His Holiness Pope Francis, bringing together leading political, civic and religious leaders to tackle the biggest global threat we face today.
“I am determined for London to continue to be a world leader in tackling the twin dangers of air pollution and the climate emergency, but the need for coordinated global action has never been so urgent.
“As mayor of one of the most diverse cities in the world, where we celebrate the huge contributions of different religious communities, it will also be an honour to discuss how faith and cooperation between different faiths can be a force for so much good.”
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