COP26 Blog 4: Churches maintain pressure for Climate Justice

Westminster candlelit prayer walk for start of COP26 on Monday night

Does the Catholic Church recognise the climate crisis as more than just one issue among many justice Issues? Does it recognise that the UN 26th Conference on Climate Change (COP26) in Glasgow is a critical summit for global climate action and limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees this century from pre-industrial levels?

I would say, "Yes". Just as at the landmark Paris Climate talks of 2015, the Catholic Church has been an influential voice on behalf of our wounded Earth and poor communities.

COP26 is such a vital moment that the Vatican has sent a delegation headed by Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin. The Holy See seeks to amplify the voice of the most affected and promote their inclusion in the climate justice negotiations. The financial compensation for 'loss and damage' experienced by so many poor people will be a key ask, particularly for the Global South, and one that the Vatican will be monitoring. Substantial funds are needed to help the countless communities harmed by the climate crisis and for those who have lost land due to rising sea levels and salination of agricultural land.

"The young, who in recent years have strongly urged us to act, will only inherit the planet we choose to leave to them, based on the concrete choices we make today," said Pope Francis in his message to COP26, read out today in the main conference hall by Cardinal Parolin. It was overshadowed in the media by PM Boris Johnson's simultaneous live press conference, but it is part of the conference record.

Pope Francis called for richer countries, "to take a leading role in the areas of climate finance, decarbonisation in the economic system and in people's lives, the promotion of a circular economy, providing support to more vulnerable countries working to adapt to the impact of climate change and to respond to the loss and damage it has caused." He called for the cancellation of foreign debt, to release finance for the climate emergency. "At the same time, we have come to realise that it also involves a crisis of children's rights," he added, "and that, in the near future, environmental migrants will be more numerous than refugees from war and conflicts." He urged nations, "to prepare a future in which our human family will be in a position to care for itself and for the natural environment."

Meanwhile, the grassroots groups were also campaigning today. Catholics on six continents united ahead of COP26 to push the 'Healthy Planet, Healthy People' petition. I signed it some months ago myself, and Columban missionaries were amongst those promoting it. The petition was handed over to COP26 this evening during an Interfaith event at St George's Tron Church in Glasgow. The church was packed with representatives of the Laudato Si Movement, Lutheran World Federation, Islamic Relief and others. More than 150 people joined online from as far afield as New York, Quito, Rome, Brasilia, Nairobi, and the Holy Cross Church in Vancouver.

Lorna Gold of the Laudato Si Movement was one of those handing over signatures of more than 115,000 individuals and 432 partners. The petition has been an initiative of the Movement to promote the implementation of the Pope's encyclical 'Laudato Si'. A key call is to recognise human-induced climate change and biodiversity as part of one and the same crisis and to implement nature-based solutions. An accompanying letter said, "it is our responsibility as Catholics to lift up the voices of the most vulnerable and advocate on their behalf."

And other initiatives include young Catholics from Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda and Zimbabwe engaging with COP26 here as part of Faiths4COP26. Tomorrow, Jesuit Missions, the international development office for the Jesuits in Britain, will set out on a pilgrimage for climate justice, which will see 28 pilgrims walking 52 miles from Edinburgh to Glasgow during the summit. The pilgrims include four Jesuits and their journey will culminate with joining the Global Day of Action for Climate Justice march through Glasgow city centre on Saturday.

And let's remember thousands of initiatives at a local level, ranging from a candle-lit procession for COP26 in London yesterday by Westminster Justice and Peace, to a COP26 poster displayed outside St Benedict's Church in Garforth, to prayers for the summit's success being said in parishes globally.