In his encyclical Laudato si‘ Pope Francis puts a clear question mark to the strategies of “buying and selling carbon credits” (171). At the Conference “Our Common Home” (www.bc.edu/commonhome) John Holdron (Assistant to President Obama for Science and Technology) said the Vatican to be too dismissive towards technological or market solutions to climate change. He might be right if those solutions were driven by economy and new types of profits only! He might be wrong if those solutions are part of a comprehensive moral framework using all the trigger points making the moral factory work!

“The strategy of buying and selling “car- bon credits” can lead to a new form of specula- tion which would not help reduce the emission of polluting gases worldwide. This system seems to provide a quick and easy solution under the guise of a certain commitment to the environ- ment, but in no way does it allow for the radi- cal change which present circumstances require. Rather, it may simply become a ploy which per- mits maintaining the excessive consumption of some countries and sectors.” (Laudato si’ 171)