Catholics attending the United Nations climate change summit in Turkey have urged countries to refocus on phasing out fossil fuels and delivering funds to communities facing climate impacts. Source: National Catholic Reporter.
COP31 began on Monday in Antalya, with Turkey and Australia co-hosting the 12-day conference tasked with enacting the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate. That historic deal committed nearly every nation on Earth to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times.
The UN meeting is the first since scientists acknowledged in August that it is “inevitable” that the world will reach and surpass 1.5 C by 2030, amplifying the risk of destruction from severe weather on societies and ecosystems.
Catholic organistions in Antalya say COP31 must turn the tide from making new commitments to implementing past ones.
“COP31 can be the moment the world moves from recognising the (climate) crisis to responding with the urgency and solidarity it demands,” Caritas Internationalis, the Church’s humanitarian network, said in a statement.
Numerous Catholic organisations have called specifically for COP31 to mobilise greater action on climate finance and a just transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
Both goals were included among the seven key priorities outlined by the Network of Catholic Climate and Environment Actors, which collaborates with the Vatican delegation at the climate COPs.
Catholic groups have called on developed countries to deliver on the past pledge to mobilize $300 billion annually, and as much as $1.3 trillion, in climate financing, primarily in the form of grants instead of loans that push developing countries further into debt. They said funding must also meet commitments to triple funds for adaptation, to at least $120 billion a year by 2035, to assist communities with adapting to the impacts of a heating world.
FULL STORY
Nations must advance climate funding, fossil fuel phaseout at COP31, Catholic groups say (By Brian Roewe, National Catholic Reporter)
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