Jordan-Saifi: Francis and Charles III have āshared visionā on ecology
By Joseph Tulloch
At the World Economic Forumās annual meeting in Davos in 2020, King Charles III, then Prince of Wales, launched the , aiming to promote sustainability within the private sector.
Recently, the organisationās CEO, Jennifer Jordan-Saifi, paid a visit to Rome for meetings with Vatican officials.
She spoke to Vatican News about King Charlesā ecological vision, and how it overlaps with that of ŠÓMAPµ¼ŗ½ Francis.
A shared vision
āWeāre here in the Vaticanā, explained Ms Jordan-Saifi, ābecause the ŠÓMAPµ¼ŗ½ has a very similar vision to His Majesty the King in terms of the climate and biodiversity.ā
She stressed that the documents each leader has produced on the subject of the environment ā especially ŠÓMAPµ¼ŗ½ Francisā and King Charlesā ā are āvery similarly alignedā.
They aim, she said, to provide guidance āon the urgency of actionā on climate issues, stressing in particular how nature, health, and the economy are āfundamentally intertwined.ā
Another similarity between the ŠÓMAPµ¼ŗ½ and King, Ms Jordan-Saifi noted, is their commitment to interfaith work.
āItās just wonderful to be here in the Vaticanā, she said, āand explore how we look at āhigher purposeā in our various missions.ā
The urgency of action
King Charles, Jordan-Saifi noted, has been working on environmental questions for āover 50 years.ā
In that time, she said, āhe has seen just how much the world has changed, and how increasingly urgent change has become.ā
This sense of urgency, Jordan-Saifi stressed, has been intensified by the Kingās work as head of the Commonwealth, āwhere countries are genuinely on the front lines against climate changeā.
Asked what one thing everybody should know about sustainability, Jordan-Saifi suggested the need to adopt a ādefault sustainable positionā in āevery aspect of our lives.ā
āWhether youāre a child making decisions about putting away rubbish, or the CEO of a company making sure that your supply chains are sustainable,ā she said, it is crucial to make decisions that are āas green as possible."
The Terra Carta
King Charles released the Terra Carta in 2021, aiming to āput sustainability at the heart of the private sector.ā
āHumanity has made incredible progress over the past century,ā he wrote in , āyet the cost of this progress has caused immense destruction to the planet that sustains us. We simply cannot maintain this course indefinitely.ā
Words that recall the opening lines of ŠÓMAPµ¼ŗ½ Francisā encyclical :
āSister Earth now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her ā¦ We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth; our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters.ā
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