Bishops in Peru issue call to combat climate change

Catholic bishops from around the world issued an urgent call Saturday for greater action to combat global warming and reduce "climate injustice."

Religious leaders of all faiths should work together "to work sustainable agreements to promote the care of our planet," the clergy members said in a statement issued by the Episcopal Conference of Peru in Lima.

"Climate change creates poverty and leads to an increase in injustice."

The bishops gathered here from Bangladesh, Brazil, France, Peru and South Africa on the margins of a United Nations meeting of envoys from some 200 countries that got underway Tuesday.

The UN representatives are here for two weeks of meetings to create the framework for a climate agreement to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

That global climate change accord—final details of which are to be hammered out in Paris next year—would go into effect by 2020.

A recent push by the Catholic Church to fight climate change has been driven by Pope Francis, nicknamed "the green Pope" because of his commitment to environmental concerns.