By agreement with the Vatican, Planktos/KlimaFa is now pleased and
honored to announce that the Holy See plans to become the first
entirely carbon neutral sovereign state, and it has chosen KlimaFa
ecorestoration offsets to achieve this historic goal. In a brief
ceremony on July 5th the Vatican declared that it had gratefully
accepted KlimaFa's offer to create a new Vatican Climate Forest in
Europe that will initially offset all of the Holy See's CO2 emissions
for this year.
His Most Reverend Eminence Cardinal Paul Poupard presided at the
event and stated, "As President of the Pontifical Council of Culture;
I am honoured to receive this donation from the leaders of
Planktos-KlimaFa. This donation means an entire section of a national
park in central Europe will be reforested. In this way, the Vatican
will do its small part in contributing to the elimination of polluting
emissions from CO2 which is threatening the survival of this planet.
"As the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, had recently stated, the
international community needs to respect and encourage a 'Green
Culture,' characterized by ethical values. The Book of Genesis tells
us of a beginning in which God placed man as guardian over the earth
to make it fruitful. When man forgets that he is a faithful servant of
this earth, it becomes a desert that threatens the survival of all
creation..."
Pope Benedict XVI's inspiring guidance strongly reinforces an
increasing Vatican environmental concern articulated by Pope John Paul
II in his 2001 Blueprint for the New Millennium, "How can we remain
indifferent to the prospect of an ecological crisis which is making
vast areas of our planet uninhabitable and hostile to humanity?"
Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, head of the Pontifical Council of
Justice and Peace, reaffirmed this warning at the Vatican Conference
on Climate Change and Development this April, "For environment... read
Creation... Man must cultivate and safeguard God's Creation."
According to Planktos CEO and KlimaFa Managing Director, Russ
George, "The Holy See's increasingly creative environmental leadership
is both insightful and profound. Not only is the Vatican steadily
reducing its carbon footprint with energy efficiency and solar power,
its choice of new mixed growth forests to offset the balance of its
emissions shows a deep commitment to planetary stewardship as well. It
eloquently makes the point that ecorestoration is a fitting climate
change solution for a culture of life."
Dr. David Gazdag, KlimaFa's Managing Director in Budapest, added,
"We believe this Climate Forest initiative clearly reflects the
Vatican's deep commitment to both environmental healing and the
welfare of the poor. Besides their local ecological and global
climatic benefits, these projects offer many rewarding new
eco-forestry jobs to struggling rural communities and increasing
eco-tourism employment opportunities as these beautiful woodlands
mature."
The new Vatican Climate Forest will be created in Hungary's Bukk
National Park under the auspices of the KlimaFa Climate Parks program.
Its dimensions will be determined by the Vatican's 2007 energy usage
and the success of its current emission reduction efforts. KlimaFa has
received EU JI Track 1 approval to plant thousands of hectares of new
native species, mixed growth forests under the permanent protection of
European national park systems. Its initial projects are being
conducted in collaboration with Hungary's government, Academy of
Sciences and National Parks Directorate.
Planktos/KlimaFa has further committed to work with the Vatican
and the Pontifical Council of Culture to develop methods to calculate
the CO2 emissions of individual Catholic churches and offer
ecorestoration options to turn their carbon footprints green.
Budapest-based KlimaFa, Kft is the EU forest subsidiary of climate
ecorestoration pioneer Planktos Corp (OTCBB:PLKT), which also has
offices in the US and Canada.
Television footage of the Vatican ceremony with Cardinal Poupard
and Planktos/KlimaFa's director is now available to media outlets.
For further information please visit www.klimafa.com and
planktos.com.
