The 2023 UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, otherwise known as COP28, can be a turning point in the energy transition, Pope Francis said on Monday.

“If we believe in the capacity of human beings to transcend our petty interests and to think on a grand scale, we cannot give up on dreaming that #COP28 will lead to an acceleration of the energy transition,” said the Pope on X, formerly Twitter.

“This Conference can be a turning point,” he added.

Francis, who has made environmental conservation and the green transition a central theme of his pontificate, is due to attend the Climate Change Conference from December 1 to 3 despite recent flu-like symptoms attributed to a lung inflammation.