TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A Taiwan delegation headed by Deputy Environment Minister Shih Wen-chen (施文真) met with Pope Francis after attending a conference about climate change, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Friday (May 17).

Shih and National Tsing Hua University Institute of Law for Science and Technology Professor Fan Chien-te (范建得) had been invited to the event by Cardinal Peter Turkson, chancellor of the Pontifical Academies of Sciences, and by its president, Joachim von Braun.

During the May 15-17 conference titled “From Climate Crisis to Climate Resilience,” Shih represented Taiwan to sign the Vatican’s Planetary Protocol for Climate Change Resilience, MOFA said. She also presented Taiwan’s net zero-emission policies in two speeches, while Fan talked about energy transition and the use of AI.

The event was attended by mayors of major world cities and by prominent figures from the United States, including California Governor Gavin Newsom and New York Governor Kathy Hochul. MOFA said it would continue exchanges with the Vatican, Taiwan’s only official diplomatic ally in Europe, about topics of global importance.