“The cry of the poor, united with the cry of the earth, resounded in recent days at the United Nations Climate Change Summit COP26 in Glasgow,” Pope Francis said last Sunday, the day after the summit closed.
“I encourage all those with political and economic responsibilities to act now with courage and vision,” he said. “At the same time, I invite all people of goodwill to exercise active citizenship for the care of our common home.”
The disappointments and grounds for hope widely shared this week were summed up by UN Secretary General António Guterres who tweeted last Saturday: “We must end fossil fuel subsidies, phase out coal, put a price on carbon, protect vulnerable communities, and make good on the $100 billion climate finance commitment to support developing countries. We didn’t achieve that at COP26, but we have building blocks for progress.”
Next year’s conference will be in Egypt and commitments are to be reviewed there. CIDSE, the network of Catholic social and environmental justice organisations in Europe and North America, which organised a side meeting on finance and walked in the Glasgow Climate March on 6 November, said COP26 “missed the chance to deliver real ambitious action and transformation”.
Josianne Gauthier, CIDSE secretary general, said: “The most vulnerable, such as Indigenous peoples and women, will keep suffering from this and there is still a tough fight for climate justice ahead of us.”
Soohwan Park, chair of the ecumenical organisation A Rocha International, said: “A Rocha is scaling up in many countries to support all Christians and churches to act effectively.” Seth Appiah- Kubi, chief executive of A Rocha Ghana, reported: “Now that our president has signed the Glasgow agreement to end deforestation by 2030 we hope our government will listen to local people and call off the mining plans which would destroy the Atewa forest for people and wildlife.”
Pope Francis announced on Sunday at the Angelus that registrations have opened for the Laudato Sì’ action platform, which aims to integrate the 2015 environment encyclical into church life. Already, more than 4,000 church bodies have committed to the initiative.
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