The climate crisis cannot be solved by technology. A challenge from the Pope that concerns us as engineers.

On Wednesday October 4, Pope Francis signed a new apostolic exhortation on climate, eight years after his green and social encyclical "Laudato si'". In "Laudate Deum", Francis takes a firm stand against climate skeptics and urges world leaders to take action, before it's too late.
Over the course of the pages, the author of Laudate Deum takes on a decreasing tone, criticizing, as he had already done in Laudato si', "the idea of infinite or unlimited growth, which has excited many economists, financiers and technologists". In this vein, he also opposes the idea that the climate crisis could be solved, or rather circumvented, by technology. "Assuming that any future problem can be solved by new technical interventions is a homicidal pragmatism, like a snowball effect", he insists.

Excerpts from the Journal La Croix, October 5, 2023