climate change – ACT Alliance

COP27 concludes with a big breakthrough for the most vulnerable

Climate-induced loss and damage, situations where adaptation is inadequate or no longer an option, is a growing threat around the world, especially in vulnerable communities. Over 30 years ago small island states tried to bring this topic onto the UN climate agenda. At the end of the UN Climate summit in Egypt, COP27, we can finally celebrate that Parties have agreed to establish a fund and to mobilise support to address these losses and damages.

Mattias Söderberg, co-chair of the ACT Alliance Climate Justice group says: “ACT Alliance is very happy for this political breakthrough. Those most affected by climate change should no longer feel forgotten. The global community has acknowledged their needs and agreed to act.”

“We join all global south negotiators in celebrating the COP27 commitment to a loss and damage facility,” says Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, general secretary of ACT Alliance. “This is the result of their determined action over many years, supported by civil society and faith actors.”

However, there are few other results from the summit to applaud. “As faith actors on the front lines, we see the impact of inaction on God’s creation,” says Bueno de Faria. “We know that urgent action is needed to address the impacts of climate change, which more and more affect the poorest and most vulnerable people, those who have done the least to contribute to climate change. It seems that Parties at COP do not understand or are oblivious to the urgency of the climate emergency.”

Mitigation

Report after report has been released showing that mitigation actions currently announced by the countries of the world are nowhere near ambitious enough to keep global temperature rise to 1.5C. Yet the level of ambition at COP27 to accelerate these efforts slowed rather than increased. ACT is especially missing a clear call for the phase-out of all fossil fuels and clear shift to 100% renewables, which is not too astonishing given the extremely high presence of fossil-fuel lobbyists in Sharm el Sheik.

“It is not acceptable that the rights of Indigenous peoples and human rights have been sidelined in the new agreement on carbon markets,” says Dr. Marianna Leite of ACT Alliance. “Similarly, the back-and-forth on the need to ground solutions in international law and science was appalling. We need to move away from false solutions and call out parties which have been obstructing negotiations and pushing for clearly ineffective solutions such as the so-called ‘circular carbon economy’.”

Adaptation

COP26 in Glasgow laid the path for increased financial support to help communities adapt so they can better survive droughts, storms, and the changing climate. The proposed doubling of adaptation finance would help address the urgent needs of subsistence farmers, fisherfolk, and many other communities.

“It is inexcusable that a year after agreeing to double adaptation finance, that promise cannot be advanced at COP27,” says Kata Kuhnert, youth delegate from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. “Support to help vulnerable states and communities adapt to more frequent and extreme weather events impacted by climate change cannot wait.”

Gender, Indigenous and Human rights

The rights of women and girls, in all their diversity, as well as the rights of Indigenous peoples and human rights were often sidelined in negotiations. These rights are virtually invisible in the texts agreed upon related to climate finance, mitigation and adaptation. “An intersectional gender lens cannot be an afterthought,” says Manal Shehade, ACT Alliance MENA Gender Community of Practice Chair and COP27 delegate. “The truth is that without finance, there will be no gender transformative climate action and without gender justice there is no climate justice.”

Action that does not address the gendered dimensions of the climate emergency can further exacerbate inequalities. At COP27, we needed to see gender-inclusive policies being mainstreamed. Instead, we witnessed the watering down of language and further delays. The discussions on the Lima Gender Work Programme and its Gender Action Plan were expected to be deferred to Bonn in 2023, due to disagreement between Parties on the related support required. This resulted in a pause in negotiations, and then in the final hours, an ‘agreed’ text was ‘bulldozed’ through.

Finance

The report led by Canada and Germany showed that developed countries had only managed to mobilize USD 83bn per year, rather than the 100bn promised by 2020. The expectation, that a clear plan for delivery of the shortfall so far and how to keep the promise in the upcoming years, would be established, was not met, only a vague call to meet the obligations remained. Efforts by parties to agree on which nations should be contributing funds to finance mitigation, adaptation and loss and damage work led to disagreement as historic emitters and middle-income countries with growing current emissions sparred over who should be included in the category of contributors.

There have been a number of pledges from states towards climate finance, but not at the scale needed to address the critical needs of communities and whether they are additional and new as requested – is questionable. In addition, there was little progress on climate finance, including adaptation and loss and damage finance. Without this finance, the Global South cannot adapt to the climate emergency and the debt situation will get worse.

“At COP27, there has been a lot of political posing with no real change to the status quo or accountability for the wrongs of the past,” says Prof. Cornelia Füllkrug-Weitzel, ACT Alliance Ambassador for Climate Justice. “At the end of the day, if polluters do not commit new and additional finance to tackle the current crisis—without further increasing the debt burden of vulnerable countries — their commitments will be nothing but empty words and they dramatically leave countries alone with the damages they have causes and continue to cause. This is irresponsible and lacks solidarity, regardless of their lip service to it.”

Conclusion

Savanna Sullivan, Program Executive for Youth for the Lutheran World Federation says that “To secure a safe planet for future generations, we need bold decisions for climate justice from all. We need to involve youth in the discussions. Not only do they bring important ideas and perspectives to negotiations and conversations now, but they are also the ones who will be in the room forty years from now. The investment we saw at COP27 in youth leadership and participation is an investment in the future of our planet.”

“Delays in international cooperation mean a delay in action in communities, where people are losing their homes, livelihoods, and even their lives every day. This cannot continue,” concludes Bueno de Faria. “We must keep our eyes on 1.5C and the deep emission cuts needed to get there, and on ensuring that climate justice is at the heart of all the work of this and all COPs.” And, equally important, Bueno de Faria added – “developed countries need to immediately operationalise and, therefore, mobilise new and additional finance for the newly created loss and damage funds.”

We must change the humanitarian “aid” model (and demand legally-binding climate law)

an interview with Patricia Mungcal, National Council of Churches in the Philippines

You are the Youth CoP coordinator and have been the excellent moderator for the new format launched in Karlsruhe the ACT o’clock. These gatherings were supposed to be thought-provoking conversations on difficult topics. What was the hardest and why?

The hardest was definitely approaching racism and decolonisation. These issues are deeply rooted in our daily lives, from the professional to the personal. For instance, by deciding to come to Karlsruhe I knew I could face discrimination. Whether we acknowledge it or not, these biases are embedded in our systems and also apply to churches, humanitarian relief and development organisations.

We get so much financial support from the global north that it’s difficult to bring this topic to the table preserving its dignity. When discussing “aid”, there is a high risk to sound or being perceived as a beggar.For instance, I don’t want to beg for climate finance! The climate and economic injustices that we have been seeing for decades are now systemic and are perpetuated by political systems that are responsible for creating the premises for these injustices.

Also, in these settings – when we have 30 minutes to discuss loaded topics- it’s a fine balance to preserve the dignity of the issues at stake and the history that many of us share; when for decades we have been treated like subjects to financial “aid” granted by the political whims of some.

Luckily, a conversation has already started. In ACT our churches are already working on it. We are looking at the problems in the face and we are not only acknowledging them but we are “repenting” and correcting our ways. But we need to dig deeper. The fellow panellists participating in the ACT o’ clock were so humble and willing to open up without hubris that it gives me hope.

You are involved in Disaster Risk Reduction in the Philippines and now that the climate crisis is unfolding faster than expected. Someone said today: Our future is on fire. Climate Change is having an impact on the most disadvantaged communities. I am thinking about Typhoon Haiyan or most recently the floods in Pakistan. What do you think we must do to advance the climate agenda and make communities more resilient and do you think that the Paris Agreement has failed these communities?

I want to talk about what we do at the National Council of Churches in the Philippines. Since Typhoon Haiyan happened we have ramped up our DRR and our climate programme. We have actively involved the local communities. Farmers who are most susceptible to drought; fishermen in Cebu who are bearing the consequences of the acidification of the oceans; and last June we also included indigenous communities to learn from them and share our knowledges. Since the Philippines is a developing country – and here I bring up the colonisation angle again – climate change is having a hard footprint on our chance to develop. We are trying to meet the basic needs of communities while confronting an uncertain future.

We are doing this by being aware that we “can’t simply “climate adapt” into climate justice”.

That’s why we need to ramp up the advocacy at national and international levels. We must stop open pit mining; the monopolies of crop farming; the fossil fuels. When it comes to the Paris Agreement, I would like to acknowledge the importance of the common but differentiated responsibilities. It was a win but it is not enough. Those who are most responsible for the climate crisis are not willing to share or be held accountable. As the common but differentiated responsibilities is not a legally binding agreement we are again subject to the whims of some. I think we need to add binding elements to the Paris Agreement – for instance on climate finance or loss and damage. But that’s the bare minimum.

There is much more we could think about. I think is time to consider this seriously and advocate for it.

As you know we are strongly committed to a localisation agenda which is not just tokenism but authentic. As a member of the ACT Alliance, what do you think the alliance can contribute more to supporting members at the national level and promoting a stronger locally-centred alliance?

ACT has been really serious on the localisation agenda. The alliance sees its importance and was one of the first to take a strong position. This is well and good, but to strengthen it further I think we also need to be serious and aggressive in mobilising the youth. We work at the grassroots level in all sectors. If you want to mobilise communities persuading and involving young people is a very important part of it. Pastors are already doing enough, but if you want committed people who have the energy, the time and the motivation to change the status quo that would be the youth.

Climate and gender justice are not stand-alone issues

The 66th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women is now underway. This is the UN’s principal intergovernmental body for promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment. This year the focus will be on the interconnection between climate change and gender justice, and ACT Alliance is working with our members to be a collective prophetic voice for justice. In preparation, ACT Members have been working together in strategy sessions, where ACT Alliance’s delegates exchanged views on the work they are doing at a national and the regional level, sharing how to advance understanding of the impacts of the climate crisis on women and girls in communities around the world.

Patricia Mungcal, of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines and co-chair of ACT’s Youth CoP, shared some alarming insights. “Young women and girls in disaster-stricken areas are more prone to gender-based violence,” she said. “Without policies based on mutual agreement, mutual respect, and recognition of territorial and patrimonial rights, the climate crisis will only exacerbate an ongoing economic crisis that endangers the lives of all people. Climate and gender justice are not stand-alone issues but are both centered around civil and economic justice.”

Joel Kelling of theAnglican Alliance, based in Jordan, and a member of the MENA Climate Justice Community of Practice raised a key issue shared by other participants. “How do we engage people in the severity of the situation when we don’t typically have rapid onset natural disasters here?” he said. “The city of Alexandria in Egypt might be under water in 50 years, and yet there is a distinct lack of immediate and urgent action in response.” Financial support is crucial and must be channeled towards communities, he said. The good news is that there are churches in the Middle East that are beginning to provide more support for climate and gender justice.

Sostina Takure, who is the coordinator of the ACT Zimbabwe Forum highlighted how changes in climate patterns are affecting rural women and girls and food security in communities. Zimbabwe, like many other countries, relies heavily on agriculture to support their economy. “Recently there has been a mixture of natural weather phenomenon, and also politics, that have contributed to our economy dying,” she said. The region has experienced extreme droughts and devastating cyclones which affect communities’ livelihoods.

Human rights abuses, specifically abuses against women and children, have increased due to economic and political insecurity. Women still cannot own land in Zimbabwe and access to education is limited. Rural women have little access to information and are often not included in decision-making and knowledge sharing activities. Although women living in urban areas may be more educated, they are still being excluded from conversations about climate justice and climate solutions.

Zoyara Urbina of LWF and the LAC Gender Equality Community of Practice spoke about how the most impoverished countries are struggling to cope with a climate that is changing too quickly for them to adapt to or mitigate the effects. The region is known for its biodiversity, yet Central American countries are already showing the negative effects of climate change. As in other parts of the world, rural communities are affected the most and this is now part of the daily lives of millions of people.

ACT Alliance is advocating at the UN Commission on the Status of Women in many ways. We are coordinating Side and Parallel Events, lifting up the voices of national and regional members on the frontline of the climate crisis. We are also working as a delegation to strategically reach out and influence the Member States. Working with sister and ecuemnical agencies, we are hosting a virtual exhibition booth at CSW66, which is a space to connect and raise awareness of the role faith-based actors are playingat regional, national and local levels, to achieve gender and climate justice.
Central to our participation in this space is to highlight the voices of those living in communities affected by the climate crisis. Delegates are sharing stories, information, tools and solutions to advance gender and climate justice.

You can visit our exhibition booth here, which also includes a programme of events.
To learn more about what ACT is doing at CSW66 check out our dedicated page: www.actalliance.org/csw

To add your voice, tweet your insights on gender and climate issues by using the hashtags #TheRoad2Equality and #CSW66

How to engage with COP26 happening in Glasgow

COP26 begins this November 1 in Glasgow, UK after a pause of nearly two years, and runs until November 12, with several faith activities scheduled just before it starts. The first COP since COVID-19 spread around the world, COP26 promises to be an important moment to address delayed climate justice promises and future investments.

What are the issues this year? The latest report from the IPCC (the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) shows that if the global temperature continues to increase, the chance to keep that increase below the scientifically recommended maximum of 1.5 degrees Celsius will disappear. The NDCs (national climate plans) submitted for this COP, if successfully implemented, would lead to a rise of 2.7 degrees. 1.5 degrees is still possible, but it requires immediate and ambitious emission reduction commitments.

There is an urgent need for vulnerable countries to adapt to the dramatic impact of climate change which they currently experience, and to address the resulting loss and damage. This need will increase steadily as the global temperature increases. Adequate finance, investment and the political will to act will be required for a just result.

The summit must be a success, or the climate emergency will become even worse.

ACT Alliance’s Key Asks

ACT’s key asks for COP26 include:

A call for scaled-up ambition in emission reduction commitments
That women in all their diversity participate equally in all climate change decision-making processes.
Separate finance targets for mitigation, adaptation and loss and damage. Loss and damage finance must be its own category in the post-2025 finance architecture.
Developed countries must meet their climate finance commitments, and climate finance must be split evenly between mitigation and adaptation.
A recognition that COVID-19 has created opportunities for all countries to restructure their economies to enable people and planet-centred solutions.
All articles of the 2015 Paris Agreement must become operational. However, ending without a decision on carbon trading will be better than a bad decision.

ACT in Glasgow

The ACT delegation will be reporting regularly from COP26. News on two new ACT reports (one on Gender, one on Climate Finance) blogs from Global South members, media releases, videos, interviews and more will be provided each day. Sign up for the ACT COP26 Communications google group by sending an email asking to be added to: fiona.connelly@actalliance.org. Please note that each person who wants to be added must send their own email request.

Virtual engagement

Many events are being streamed live this year for those who can’t be in Glasgow. Here are a few highlights. More will be posted on our COP26 communications google group (see above) and social media (see below). Register soon! Here are just a few ways you can be involved:

Sign the Pray and Act petition. Available in Spanish and English.

Watch the Pray and Act webinar on Faith Engagement at COP26.

Sunday, October 31, 16:30 GMT: Join the interfaith Talanoa Dialogue which includes Zoom dialogue rooms.

Tuesday, November 2, 19:30 GMT: Watch the livestream of the Pray and Act Faith in Action petition hand in ceremony.

Stay posted for more news on livestreamed ACT events.

Social Media

Follow ACT on social media, where we’ll post about events, reports, news and special quotes from some of our ACT members.

Twitter, twitter.com: ACT Now for Climate Justice/ @actclimate. Find or share COP26 news with these hashtags: #ActforClimate #COP26. If you are discussing the impact of climate change on women and girls, don’t forget to use the hashtag #TheRoad2Equality
Or Facebook, facebook.com ACT Now for Climate Justice /@actclimate