NYC Mayor to Participate in Vatican Conference on Climate Change Next Week

NEW YORK (Sputnik) — Mayors from throughout the world will address the issue of climate change next week at the invitation of Pope Francis, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement.

“The Pope has asked me to come, and other mayors to come to Rome and join that effort,” de Blasio said on Thursday. “We have to address climate change.”

On July 20, 2015, de Blasio will join 65 other mayors at the conference at the Vatican termed Modern Slavery and Climate Change: the Commitment of the Cities.

De Blasio noted that as a coastal city, New York is particularly sensitive to the issue of climate change.

“I think what the Pope is doing is very smart – to elevate the issue even further, to force actions by countries,” he added.

Hurricane Sandy, which affected much of the greater New York City area in 2012, was the second-costliest hurricane in US history, according to the US Federal Emergency Management Agency.

A 2013 study by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found that climate-change related increases in sea level have nearly doubled today’s probability of a Sandy-level flood recurrence as compared to 1950.