A nossa casa comum

A guide produced by the Stockholm Environment Institute and the Holy See's Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, based on Pope Francis's encyclical Laudato si’. It outlines the interconnected crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and social injustice, urging a radical shift in economic systems and consumption patterns to protect the planet.

• The global climate crisis is primarily driven by economic and social systems reliant on fossil fuels, with the burning of coal, oil, and gas for energy, transport, and heating being the main cause of global warming.
• Biodiversity is in severe decline, with global wildlife populations decreasing by two-thirds since 1970. Freshwater plant and animal life has dropped by 84% in the same period, and the Amazon rainforest could become a dry, stunted landscape within 50 years without action on deforestation and climate.
• Water scarcity is a growing global challenge, with approximately 4 billion people experiencing severe water shortages for at least one month per year, predominantly in rural areas and poorer countries. By 2025, two-thirds of the population are projected to face water shortages.
• Air pollution causes millions of deaths annually: over 4 million from outdoor pollution (smog and soot) and at least 3 million from indoor pollution, primarily due to the use of coal, wood, and dung for cooking, which disproportionately affects women and children.
• Industrial agriculture is considered unsustainable, contributing to about one-third of greenhouse gas emissions and causing the loss of fertile soils and biodiversity. Meanwhile, one-third of food is wasted globally while hunger increases in over 50 countries.
• Current consumption levels, particularly by the wealthiest 20% who use 80% of global resources, are unsustainable; if current lifestyles persist, three planets would be needed by 2050. Plastic pollution is a critical symptom, with 12 million tons of plastic entering oceans annually.
• Environmental crises disproportionately affect the poor and marginalized. By 2050, over 140 million people in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia may be forced to migrate due to the climate crisis.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2023). A nossa casa comum. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/vatican-sei-v10-20231205-pt.pdf

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. A nossa casa comum. 2023. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/vatican-sei-v10-20231205-pt.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=A nossa casa comum |date=14 February 2023 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/vatican-sei-v10-20231205-pt.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2023nossa, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{A nossa casa comum}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2023}, month = feb, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/vatican-sei-v10-20231205-pt.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }