Christian climate activists stimulated by Glasgow

During the days of the summit, many people from Christian charities were present in Glasgow. Some have said that they would like to continue their work for the environment, as NCRonline.org reports.

The activists have been reading the text of the pact afterwards, saying that intentions are better than before. But not all commitments are strong enough, Premier Christian News reports.

Environment charity A Rocha UK said to Premier Christian News: “It failed to deliver on its two most important objectives: achieving a level of greenhouse gas reduction pledges... and delivering on the past promise to provide $100bn a year (by 2020) to help developing countries go green and adapt to climate change.

“The agreement, called the Glasgow Climate Pact, does, however, request countries to update their pledges in line with 1.5 degrees in the next year.

“More progress was made in recognising the seriousness and importance of some issues. Importantly, the text refers to the need to ‘phase down’ coal production and subsidies, although coal and oil-producing countries had this qualified to ‘unabated coal’ and ‘inefficient subsidies. At the last minute, the text was changed from ‘phase out’ coal to ‘phase down’.”

Richer nations should do more

Dr Ruth Valerio from Tearfund reflected a similar sentiment, saying: “COP26 failed to deliver on long-overdue promises or heed the loud cries of climate-vulnerable nations for any support in the face of increasing climate disasters. Whilst the pledges made at this summit have put some hope for a future below 2 degrees Celsius on the table, right now these are just words. We urgently need richer nations to turn this into reality, coming back in 2022 with 1.5 Celsius aligned climate commitments, consigning all dirty fossil fuels to the history books, and finally stumping up the long-overdue $100 billion a year to help vulnerable countries adjust to a more unpredictable and dangerous future.”

Rich nations washed their hands

Heidi Chow, executive director of Jubilee Debt Campaign –an organisation that urges governments to cancel the debt of developing countries– said: “Rich polluting countries have once again washed their hands of their responsibility for creating the climate crisis and betrayed lower-income countries by ignoring their demands for compensation.

“Climate vulnerable countries that are already saddled with mounting debt will be forced to take on even more unjust debt to pay for a crisis they did not create. This is a massive kick in the teeth to lower-income countries as wealthy governments continue to pass the buck onto the communities and countries most impacted while worsening both the debt and climate crises.”

Disappointed

The ActAlliance (working together with the Lutheran World Federation, LWF) had expected much more. “As people of faith, committed to care for creation and work for climate justice and the dignity of all, we are disappointed by the results from COP26 in Glasgow. What has been negotiated does not go far enough in offering concrete solutions to the climate crisis. Without details and actions, promises are empty”, the website says. “We must act now. Creation is not for sale.”

Christ, not climate change

Many churches in Glasgow have been on the side of the ‘green’ COP26 activists the past couple of weeks, but not all. The Peterborough Examiner published a column about the Tron Church in the city with the banner on it: “The world’s most urgent need is churches preaching Christ crucified, not climate change.” It hung there for a few days until it was ripped off.