Every year world leaders gather at the Conference of the Parties – or COP –for the United Nations Convention on Climate Change to discuss solutions to control global warming and create sustainable alternatives for life on Earth.
Every year many of us are disappointed with the result. Are we going to be disappointed again?
Bareesh Chowdhury, a researcher for CAFOD partner Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA), who has attended several times, says: “This is not to say the process is not valuable! If anything, the increasing interests in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process shows that climate change is at the forefront of people’s concerns about the future of humanity. And while each year at least some modest, if inadequate, gains are made, the complaints of global movements revolve around the lack of urgency.
This year, in Belem, Brazil, some 45,000 people will attend, including heads of state and government officials, climate scientists and policy experts, representatives from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), journalists and media personnel, business leaders and sustainability advocates, indigenous community representatives and civil society groups. There will undoubtedly be a lot of communication between them and agreements made, which will not make the headlines. This, surely, is to be applauded.
The Brazilian president and environment minister say this will be a historic summit because it is “a COP in the Amazon, and … the meeting will provide an opportunity to focus on the needs of the Amazon, show the forest to the world, and present what the federal government has done to protect it.”
We now know that Prince William will attend on behalf of the King, together with Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, who said “Britain will be working with those other countries at COP30 and our friends from Brazil to push for greater global action on issues from clean energy and finance to forests and adaptation.” He also said that, in their workplaces, in their schools, in their communities, in their places of worship, people up and down Britain know that tackling the climate and nature crisis is the right thing to do for today’s generations and future generations.
In addition, the Deputy Prime Minister, David Lammy, went to the United Nations last month to make a statement about COP30 in which he said:
“climate change is demonstrably not a distant threat, or tomorrow’s problem. It is an emergency – one that we must address with urgency.
“But let’s be honest, the people paying the price, the hardest and deepest of prices, are those who contributed the least to this crisis. The most vulnerable in the most volatile places.
“COP30 must be a turning point—one that delivers credible pathways to course-correct and accelerate action. To show the world that we will act – together and with urgency – to keep 1.5 degrees in reach. Not just for our own sakes, but for those communities of people who contributed so little to the problem and suffer so much from its effects.”
So we live in hope. But do we, as individuals, have to just watch and see what happens; or is there anything we can do about it ourselves?
Here are some thoughts:
Pray! CAFOD have a useful, simple prayer for COP30
Bidding prayers at Mass. Ask for these to be included; again, CAFOD have a number of these on their website.
Inform our parishioners in our parish newsletter. You are free to use extracts from this article.
We can join CAFOD in sending a message to Ed Miliband
We can let our own MP know how much we care: chttps://www.writetothem.com/
We can take part in a Global Day of Action for Climate Justice on November 15th, 2025, e.g. Clifton Cathedral – Bristol Cathedral Pilgrimage: or look for one near you. The Climate Justice Coalition are holding one in London and around the country.
We can commit to as sustainable a lifestyle as possible – be vegetarian, or better still, vegan, organic, buying eco-friendly products, etc., as much as possible.
Brian Austin.
