NOVEMBER SPECIAL: COP30 and Inter Faith Week

Every single United Nations climate conference (COP) comes with fierce criticism. But how do we distinguish between criticisms that are fair and rooted in climate justice from those that are made in bad faith?

In this section, you’ll find bite-sized articles and videos that explain what is at stake in as jargon-free a manner as possible. They’re not detailed policy briefs, but bigger picture pieces that can help us join the dots between the different priorities at COP30 and beyond.

First, a series of articles to set the scene:

• This Big Issue feature lays out the main issues at stake at COP30
• This article in The Conversation argues that UN climate summits do work, just not in the way that their staunchest critics think
• UN climate talks don’t occur in isolation — they are part of a global climate justice movement with growing momentum. To refresh your memory, in July this year, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a landmark opinion affirming that national governments have a binding legal duty to prevent climate harm and protect human rights from the impacts of climate change

One recurring criticism of the the climate COPs that is well-evidenced is the presence of lobbyists from the fossil fuel industry that have played a significant role in blocking progress. This interference and influence of big polluters at UN conferences has a long and shady history. 

• The Guardian, with the help of DeSmog, has exposed how Exxon funded thinktanks to spread climate denial in Latin America
• The longer version of this investigative piece by DeSmog meticulously shows the copies of cheques Exxon mailed to the  Atlas Network in the 1990s to turn Latin America against climate treaties
• COP30 also coincides with the 30th anniversary of the execution of the Ogoni Nine — environmental activists in Nigeria, led by Ken Saro-Wiwa, who were fighting peacefully to protect the Niger Delta from oil giant Shell. Noo Saro-Wiwa’s reflection about her father’s legacy is a must-read. 

Ever since we mobilised interfaith involvement at COP26 in Glasgow, 2021, Faith for the Climate has highlighted the urgency of addressing climate-related loss and damage. In recent years, faith groups have been making the case for addressing non-economic loss and damage — the social, psychological, cultural, and spiritual impacts of the loss of homes, loss of territory, loss of cultural heritage, loss of local knowledge, and loss of loved ones due to climate-related disasters.

• This blog by Franciscans International traces the history of discussions about non-economic loss and damage at the UN
• In the wake of Hurricane Melissa in the Caribbean, Cyclone Montha in South Asia, and Typhoon Fung-wong in the Philippines, this article in The Conversation explains the psychological costs of major storms, including ‘environmental grief’ and ‘deep anticipatory anxiety’

Amid the headlines of genocide and war in Gaza, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ukraine in recent years, military emissions are worsening climate change significantly — yet they remain obscenely under-reported. 

• This blog by the Conflict and Environment Observatory explores how, at a time of growing military spending, the expanding military emissions gap is undermining climate accounting and ambition

Against this backdrop, there is growing recognition of the profitability of the renewable energy sector. Unfortunately, this is increasingly taking the form of rich countries in the Global North rushing to the Global South to extract the minerals, labour, and materials needed for their renewable energy transitions.

How do we distinguish between false, unjust solutions to the climate and nature crises and real solutions? In June, Faith for the Climate hosted a two-part webinar as part of the Great Big Green Week that remains a relevant and informative primer.