Sustainability Commitment
Sustainability at WYD Lisbon 2023 refers to three main axes: economic sustainability, social sustainability, and environmental sustainability. Here we focus on environmental sustainability.
On April 22, Earth Day, the Local Organizing Committee (LOC), with the support of Lisbon City Council, Loures City Council, Electrão, ERP, EPAL, Lipor, Novo Verde, Sociedade Ponto Verde, SIMAR, Valorsul, Movimento Laudato Si', Corpo Nacional de Escutas, EFG, Associação de Limpeza Urbana, EGF - Environment Global Facilities and Grupo de Projeto para a JMJ Lisboa 2023 (XXIII Governo), published a fundamental text in which they committed to ‘make sustainability a central objective of the organization of the World Youth Day Lisbon 2023’ - consult the Commitment Letter here. These entities and organisations continue to work with the LOC to develop the strategy for the sustainability of the WYD.
As a result of the work of the Local Organizing Committee with various entities and institutions, a manual was prepared called, the "Manual of Good Practices for a Sustainable WYD: Young people caring for our Common Home". You can consult the Manual here (in portuguese). This Manual was written for all those who make WYD Lisbon 2023 possible: the Local Organing Committee, the Diocesan Organizing Committees, parishes, as well as entities and institutions that collaborate to effectively contribute to the care of Creation, as Pope Francis asks us.
As Pope Francis explains in one of his speeches regarding sustainability, the “economic and political objectives must be corroborated by ethical objectives, which assume a change of attitude, the Bible would say a change of heart”. In that sense, WYD commits itself in “the promoting and acting towards the development objectives which are sustained by our deepest religious and ethical values.”
Here we add Pope Francis’ appeal to pray for Creation:
In order to give young people an experience aligned with the synodal journey being lived in the Universal Church, a series of Rise Up Preparatory Gatherings is being proposed to take place at local level in April, May and June 2023, with content that will provide spaces for reflection, listening and sharing, on the themes: Integral Ecology, Social Friendship and the Great Announcement of God's Love. Each group will be able to organize the Preparatory Meetings according to its needs – support material and forms available here. The echoes that reach us from all over the world will be the starting point for the Rise Up Gatherings of WYD Lisboa 2023, which will focus on the themes of Integral Ecology, Social Friendship and Mercy, and will be organized in close collaboration with the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life.
As a pre-event of the World Youth Day Lisbon 2023, the IV International Congress on the Care of Creation is being organized, with the theme "Young people's commitment to integral ecology: Lifestyles for a new humanity," which will take place in Lisbon on July 31st, at the Catholic University of Portugal. This Congress will analyze five areas of human life: the economy, education and family life, natural resources, politics, and technology. You can find information about the Congress here. As in previous editions, the conference ended with a document: a final Manifesto signed by young people, as a result of discussion and basis for further future actions and reflections.
Commitment Letter
Together for a more sustainable World Youth Day
The Holy Father has challenged us to build an event of youth, an event life and strength. It is therefore with a fresh and creative mindset, as well as with lucidity and responsibility, that we look at WYD Lisbon 2023.
In August 2023, Lisbon will host an unprecedented event. It is vital that we learn from past editions while fostering creativity and innovation.
WYD Lisbon 2023 will be attended by Pope Francis’ encyclicals Laudato Si’ and Fratelli Tutti, and by the apostolic exhortation Christus Vivit. They invite us to take great care of our Common Home. The Holy Father says “everything is connected. Concern for the environment thus needs to be joined to a sincere love for our fellow human beings and an unwavering commitment to resolving the problems of society. (LS, 91). WYD Lisbon 2023 will bare in its very core the concept of “integral ecology”.
It is our mission to build the WYD Lisbon 2023 upon the sustainability goals adopted globally, the Laudato si’ Goals put forward by the Vatican, as well as the United Nations 2030 Agenda (SDGs), following the orientations of the Holy See.
This commitment relies on our temperance regarding resource usage, as well as our goodwill and honesty towards giving our utmost best. Let WYD Lisbon 2023 challenge us, so that each and every one of us “leaves this gathering much better informed than when we arrived” (Pope Francis to all the Youth organising WYD Lisbon 2023, May 2022).
Inspired by these values and moved by the Holy Father’s challenge that we live by the values of universal fraternity and care for our Common Home, together, we commit to:
Making sustainability a central goal in WYD Lisbon 2023!
We wish that WYD Lisbon 2023 becomes a reference in the global commitment towards sustainability and that it leaves behind a positive and long-lasting legacy for the general community, the organizing comity, the partners, the volunteers, and the pilgrims.
Our source of inspiration and primary indicators will be the goals referenced above.
Let’s build together the most sustainable World Youth Day in history!
