There is just one week to go at COP24 as negotiations continue to finalize the Paris rulebook for the implementation of the Paris Agreement. The commitments by parties to fight climate change needs to be kept at the highest levels now in order to deliver on the crucial tasks ahead.                                          

“There is no time to wait – time is running out for the world to keep the global temperature under 1.5°C. Reaching the 1.5 is still within our reach but it depends on the political will to take ambition on climate action”, said Martin Vogel, co-chair of ACT Alliance’s Climate Change Group.

The first week in Katowice did not result in much progress in the textual deliberations and much of the heavy work load has been pushed to the ministers to deal with in the second week.

“It is crucial that ministers don’t take the easy way out now by leaving out the contentious issues in order to make progress on the rulebook. The implementation of the Paris agreement must continue to build ambition to achieve the changes that are needed for the world to keep temperature rise to 1.5°C”, Vogel continued.

In the backdrop of the COP the IPCC report on 1.5°C has also managed to have an impact on the talks.

“It is clear that stepping up climate action is urgent – especially for the countries on the frontlines of climate change – like the small Island states whose mere existence is threatened by the effects of climate change,” said Floris Faber, Director of ACT Alliance EU.

ACT Alliance is following the negotiations in Katowice where ACT continues to call for action and a robust set of rules and guidelines for the implementation of the Paris agreement.

“Transformation will remain an illusion if parties don’t step up their work to deliver the Paris Rulebook”, concluded Faber.

For more information, please contact:
Martin Vogel, Co-Chair ACT Climate Change Group martin.vogel@svenskakyrkan.se 
Floris Faber, Director, ACT Alliance EU Floris.Faber@actalliance.eu

XXX

ACT Alliance is the world’s largest network of churches and agencies engaged in humanitarian, development and advocacy work.  ACT has 151 members working in communities in over 125 countries to create positive and sustainable change in the lives of poor and marginalised people regardless of their religion, politics, gender, sexual orientation, race or nationality in keeping with the highest international codes and standards.

Let me be clear. We need climate action, and we need it now! As shown in the recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), we need to act immediately to ensure that global temperatures do not pass the 1.5ºC target, and we need to strengthen the resilience and adaptive capacities of people and communities around the world. In developing countries, these actions will only be achieved if funds and support are made available, putting climate finance on the list of items discussed in the negotiations.

At the current talks at COP24 in Katowice, climate finance is a challenging agenda as the positions of developed and developing countries are far apart. The discussions are focused on the rules for accounting climate finance as the 2020 deadline for mobilising the USD 100 billion (bn) target is rapidly approaching, and there is still no agreement on the form of money that will be counted as part of the USD 100bn.

Developed countries are pushing for flexible rules, where all kinds of financial instruments are accepted as part of this financial target. USA, Australia and Japan have previously proposed to include non-concessional loans, export credits, insurance and a category for undefined finance called “other” instruments. If this proposal is agreed on, developed countries would be able to count any various financial flows and claim to have delivered on their promises. While the USD 100bn seems to be a lot of money, if existing private investments in developing countries were counted, we would easily reach the financial target.

Developed countries are eager to deliver on the agreed USD 100 bn target, and this is understandable, as unfulfilled promises are difficult to handle in politics. However, we must remember that the fulfilment of the promise is only a means towards the goal of promoting climate action. If the USD 100bn target is reached just by changing the labels on existing flows, we will not see the increased ambition that parties are calling for.

If we truly want to scale up ambition so that developing countries can increase their contributions to promote a green and resilient transition, then the finance talks must focus on how to generate more support, and not only on how to develop the rules which make it possible to fulfil existing agreements.

ACT Alliance member DanChurchAid has published an analysis on the accounting and reporting of climate finance. You can find the analysis here.

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Mattias Söderberg, Senior advocacy advisor in DanChurchAid. Was elected co-chair for the ACT Alliance advisory group on climate change advocacy and was the acting head of the ACT delegations to UN climate talks from 2010 to 2015. Was co-chair of the ACT EU climate change working group from 2007 to 2009, and head of the ecumenical COP15 secretariat in 2009. Mattias is originally from Sweden but lives in Denmark.

“…It is clear that the environmental crisis which is confronting the world will profoundly alter the future destiny or our planet. No one among us, whatever our status, strength or circumstance can remain unaffected. The process of change challenges present international policies. Will the growing awareness of “one earth” and “one environment’ guide us to the concept of “one humanity”? Will there be a more equitable sharing of environmental costs and greater international interest in the accelerated progress of the less developed world? Or, will it remain confined to a narrow concern, based on exclusive self-sufficiency…”

These stark words aptly describe the environmental state of affairs on earth and the challenges presented when driving home international policies to address the crises we face. The statement raises profound thoughts and questions regarding how we as human beings view unity.  It tasks us to look at the financial disparities that exist globally.  The speaker appears to have a sound grasp on the environmental issues we are currently facing. But there is a peculiar fact about this statement. This statement is an excerpt from the speech delivered by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India at the Stockholm Conference in 1972.  How is it that humanity’s accountability to God as stewards of the earth (our home) and of all of creation can still find relevancy and validity in a statement that is nearly a half-century old?  Is there really any viable explanation for us to have not moved the needle to resolve this crisis.  …likely not. Nevertheless, the excerpt describes and simultaneously tells us where we have to go.  The fate of future generations hinges on our actions or our inactions today.

The earth is paying a great price for humanity’s unchecked quest for prosperity. The greenhouse gases from human activity causing global warming result in inequitably distributed prices being paid around the globe.  The most vulnerable among us are paying a higher price,  that is, they are disproportionately impacted with unprecedented losses and damages.    

The earth is in pain with more frequent, severe and intensified weather patterns and temperature extremes. These extreme weather patterns are resulting in floods, droughts, wildfires, and sea level rising that are leading to the degradation of the earth.  We are truly in a dire situation, but there is hope- both scientifically and spiritually.

The 2018  report from the Intergovernmental  Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) notes that every bit of warming matters.   While the IPCC  states in its press release  that limiting global warming to 1.5°C would require “rapid and far-reaching” transitions in land, energy, industry, buildings, transport, and cities…”, it also states that “[l]imiting warming to 1.5ºC is possible within the laws of chemistry and physics but doing so would require unprecedented changes…”

Unprecedented changes must include financially supporting and implementing innovation.   Prime Minister Gandhi’s query regarding “one humanity” must be taken to heart and brought to fruition.  For we are all interlinked.  We must act with resolve to honour our accountability to God for all of creation.   We must heed the findings of the IPCC report.  We work to transition to a zero-carbon society as soon as possible. This transitioning as outlined in the report is not limited to one sector. We have to use our God given creativity and address the sources of greenhouse gases from all sectors.

Global GHG Emissions by Sector and IPCC 2014 and based on global emissions from 2010. Details about the sources included in these estimates can be found in the Contribution of Working Group III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.)

We must be able to say regarding our generation’s response to climate change that: “We did a good job.” We can envision what this might look like.  The transition occurs with no incremental harm or increase in poverty. No employees or communities are stranded.  This will entail the reduction in and the curbing of greenhouse emissions that provides fairness for all;  sufficient training and education for workers in new careers;   jobs with opportunities at fair wages; and workplace conditions that are void of health and safety hazards.  Workspaces are welcoming of all and remove barriers to success and upward mobility.  Workplaces proactively address gender and human rights in a manner that is free from biases, bigotry or prejudices.  There is authentic reconciliation of relationships and healing among those that exist on either side of the political divide. Societies are not prompted but act with measurable outcomes. We:

• Pray for guidance
• Become educated on the facts;
• Raise awareness in our communities;
• Love our neighbors (understanding that neighbors are next door and around the globe);
• Advocate for those disproportionately impacted; and
• Work to implement processes, programs and projects that create resilient societies.

We must embrace, own and act with bold empowerment whose genesis is rooted in the hope of our faith that is justified in God.

—–  
Ruth Ivory-Moore serves as The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s (ELCA) Program Director for Environment and Corporate Social Responsibility where she manages environmental, climate change, energy, rural and shareholder advocacy matters.
 

ACT Alliance youth from across the world have gathered in Katowice, Poland at the UN climate negotiations (COP24). We have come to raise the voices of young people in our communities and to push for climate action and justice.
 
Climate change is the biggest threat of our lifetime. Our generation of youth is the first that will grow up experiencing the impacts of climate change in their everyday life. We have not known a world without climate change, nor have we known a just world without pollution and exploitation.
 
Despite this, we still believe in this world and we hope that one day it could become ours. We have hope- hope in action, and our involvement in climate change confronts decision makers to change global structures.
 
My name is Mari, and I am a Changemaker from Norway. I am twenty-three years old, and I have worked on climate change advocacy for the past eight years. Through Changemaker I have learned that my actions count. Not only do my personal decisions count such as being vegetarian, buying second- hand items, and driving to Poland in an electric car. But so do my actions through political advocacy. SinceI was fifteen, I have lobbied decision makers, written articles in the media and held seminars and workshops for other young people.
 
I have pushed for climate action and climate justice together with youth from across the world, and it has worked. We have the Paris Agreement, renewable energy is cheaper, climate finance is increasing and governments, communities and businesses are becoming ‘green’.
 
But we are still fighting.
 
Here at COP24, governments are supposed to finalise the rulebook for the Paris Agreement so that it can lead to real reductions in emissions, efforts for adaptation and fair climate finance. It is a simple task. I say this because climate justice is simple, human rights, emission reductions and adaptation to the effects of climate change are all simple matters of justice. However, international politics are not simple.
 
Perhaps as a youth at COP24, we see these simple answers clearer than those who have been negotiating for decades. Climate justice implies that the countries that have gotten rich from exploiting and polluting the planet must pay for the costs associated with fighting climate change. All countries need to adapt and change their politics to fight climate change and to minimize its consequences. We all need to act now for climate justice!
 
Youth from ACT member organisations are key actors in the fight for climate justice as we are not afraid to be ambitious. By working together as an intergenerational ecumenical family, we are stronger, and we represent the people who will continue to be affected by climate change and will inherit this planet.

—–

Mari Hasle Einang is the vice president of Changemaker Norway and a dedicated climate activist. She is the official youth delegate of Norway to COP24.

While COP24 is meeting in Katowice, Poland, to find practical solutions to the most pressing environmental crisis of our times, the effects of climate change are already taking their toll on the most vulnerable communities worldwide.

The drought in Somalia is a clear example that more needs to be done in terms of coordinated humanitarian response to prepare for the threats of global warming. 

In 2016-2017 Somalia faced one of its hardest droughts in recent history. Four consecutive poor rainy seasons had pushed the country to the verge of famine with over half of the population in Somalia in need of assistance. The drought triggered large-scale crop failure and high levels of livestock deaths and sickness. 

The favorable rainfall during 2018 has helped end the shortage of water, however the adverse impacts of the severe drought persist, especially among shepherds who lost most of their animals and among people who were poverty-stricken and became displaced.

Due a concerted humanitarian response that involved among others, members of the ACT Somalia Forum, including Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe (DKH), Diakonia Sweden, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and Norwegian Church Aid (NCA), the country was able to avert famine. However, a lot still needs to be done on emergency preparedness and disaster risk reduction strategies to minimize negative impact of drought and other climate related causes. 

Setting high standards of accountability for emergency resources during the onset of disasters contributes to reaching vulnerable communities more effectively and reducing duplication of services to affected populations.

Norwegian Church Aid provided affected communities with immediate food access and life-saving WASH assistance, including the rehabilitation of water facilities, the distribution of water vouchers and the construction of sanitary services. 

NCA  reports that establishing a local structure is indeed essential to building local ownership and increasing the chances of success in the mainstreaming and replication phases. Local administrations play an important role in identifying the needs of the communities and in project implementation. Promoting participation and engagement with all stakeholders at local level is key to ensuring community awareness, support and project sustainability. 

Through its strong focus on community resilience, ACT Alliance promotes and implements emergency preparedness and humanitarian response that ensures the participation of affected communities, local and national stakeholders. Through its humanitarian coordination ACT members leverage the benefits of working together and build on existing partnerships to amplify the impact and effectiveness of humanitarian work. 

In 2018 alone, more than 128 million people across the world are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection. With more climate-induced humanitarian crises on the horizon, humanitarian relief organisations must invest in more effective, cost-efficient ways of delivering assistance to avoid duplications and swiftly respond to crises. 

ACT Alliance is thus working to strengthen the humanitarian capacity of its forums and national members through robust capacity and learning mechanisms and the establishment of an effective support mechanism that utilises available resources within forums and across geographic regions. These mechanisms will be defined by national forums based on their own contexts through up-to-date Emergency Preparedness and Response Plans (EPRPs), which will be made mandatory for all ACT forums beginning 2019.

“Climate change touches every fibre of our being together as community,” says Isaiah Toroitich, ACT’s global advocacy lead, in a conversation at COP24 in Katowice, Poland.  “There is an urgency for the world to respond to climate change.  As ACT Alliance, we know this- our members deal with it every day.  In Africa, ACT members respond to ongoing droughts that affect our humanitarian and development work.  In Asia, in Latin America, in the Caribbean we see similar levels of climate change related stresses on communities that are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.”

ACT brings a unique voice to the climate change negotiations .  “We have policy experts here in Katowice,” Toroitich explains,” who bring tremendous knowledge and experience on the technical side.  But we also bring practitioners. This year, we have people from the Uganda, Zambia, Europe, Kenya, South Africa, India, Bangladesh, Argentina and other Forums here.  They bring their own experience of the practical community-based solutions that work in their own context.” This combination of policy and practice helps ACT to raise up the voices of people in communities effectively, to input into the negotiations. 

“As part of the ecumenical family we bring, along with WCC and LWF, a voice of faith, the moral and ethical imperative to stand in solidarity with the vulnerable, to care for creation, and for each other as we respond to the needs that climate change brings to the world,” Toroitich adds.

ACT’s history of involvement in the COPs goes back to COP 15 in 2009, but some of our member organisations have engaged on climate change right from 1992 when the UNFCCC was established. “The most important thing for this COP,” Toroitich says, “is to develop the rules for the implementation of the Paris Agreement.”

The world came together in Paris and recognized the urgency of climate action, the need to be ambitious in keeping global temperature rise to 1.5C.  “But now we need to focus on how to make it happen.  What rules will guide us in implementing this ambitious, urgent Agreement.”

It is vital that a good rulebook is established at this COP, as the Paris Agreement must be operational by 2020.  According to Toroitich, “There is no time to waste!”

ACT would like to see a rulebook that will:

1. Enable climate action to keep to the 1.5C target. The rulebook must push for ambition and enable countries and the world to act urgently to ramp up their national commitments to cut their greenhouse gas emissions .
2. Enable accountability and transparency. The rulebook must enable countries to be  transparent and accountable  to their emissions reduction commitments and provision of climate finance. 
3. Focus on the vulnerable. The rulebook must be overtly supportive of the most vulnerable, including  developed countries who are at risk, and vulnerable groups within societies including women and indigenous people.

The next two weeks in Katowice will be critical in determining how the world will respond to the huge challenges before it.  And ACT will be in the thick of it, raising the voices of the vulnerable and advocating for an ambitious, accountable and just rulebook to shape that work.

04 December 2018

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SICK EARTH CALLING FOR CLIMATE ACTION

ACT Alliance is the world’s largest Protestant and Orthodox network of churches and agencies engaged in humanitarian, sustainable development and advocacy work. Climate change has been a primary advocacy issue for the Alliance since 2010.

What: A person in costume will represent a ‘sick earth’ and will express how their sickness relates to increasing global temperatures. ACT Alliance delegates will demand actions needed to save the sick earth – including messaging on climate finance, the inclusion of gender justice, rights-based adaptation, low carbon development – and action now for climate justice!

Who: ACT Now for Climate Justice Campaign of the ACT Alliance

Where: COP24, in the space just after registration and before entering Area B

When: December 4^th at 13:00  

For more information on the ACT Now for Climate Justice Campaign, or to request interviews with the sick earth or a person from the ACT Alliance delegation please contact Joanna Patouris at 665-108-114 or joanna.patouris@actalliance.org.

# # # # #

There can never be a more important time for churches to stand and walk in solidarity with the poor and climate vulnerable than now!

As the 24thConference of Parties to the UNFCCC kicks off in Katowice Poland (2nd- 14thDecember), there is a need for churches to work together in a well-coordinated effort to ensure that global leaders will make political and financial commitments that will enable swift actions towards limiting global warming to 1.5o C. One of the goals of this COP24 is for parties to finalize the rulebook of the Paris Agreement.

As a young person from Southern Africa, I feel if this COP24 does not achieve this goal, and the world continues on its harmful pathway, we will fail to limit global at 1.5oC. It is a great risk, one which will rob us as young people of our prosperous future. In my understanding if we fail to limit global temperatures to below 1.5o C we will reach a point of no return, a point we will experience heat waves, floods, erratic rainfall and many other forms of disaster linked to climate change which will greatly affect many economies. It is not the future we wish to live in.  My country Zimbabwe largely depends on rain fed agriculture hence climate change will have a direct impact on people’s livelihoods.

As a young person, my thoughts also go to the climate vulnerable young people in the “climate hotspots”-  countries in the horn of Africa, small Island developing states and many least developing states. We as young people are the future. The problems which will be left for us are far beyond what we can imagine.

It is my wish that this COP will address critical issues for developing countries such as loss and damage, and adaptation. It is also important that developed countries make commitments based on historical responsibilities to ensure adequate and predictable financial resources for developing countries to implement their post 2020 mitigation and adaptation plans. It is my wish that the COP will deliver a comprehensive and balanced operational guidance on the all the provisions of the Paris Agreement to ensure its effective implementation from 2020.

The world no longer has time. We need to reduce our carbon emissions now, it is important that the churches work together to offer hope to the climate vulnerable. Churches need to continue affirming that financial, political and technological solutions are still possible to limit global warming. The churches must continue to raise their moral voice in advocating for climate justice. Beyond the COP, based on the conviction that climate change is both an ethical and humanitarian issue. The ecumenical family must be ready to support the vulnerable in their time of need. The Church must also be the lead in shaping, changing the lifestyles and mind sets of people to think sustainably ensuring that we all contribute to reducing CO2 emissions.

The Time is Now!

—–

Collins Kudakwashe Shava is young active Zimbabwean. He is a youth representative from the ACT Alliance Zimbabwe Forum. He has an interest in mobilizing young people to contribute to the sustainable development agenda. As a public policy and governance student in Zimbabwe he has a passion for climate justice. He has been involved in climate change advocacy and research at both national and international level.

LWF, WCC and ACT Alliance reiterate calls for just implementation of Paris Agreement

As the United Nations climate summit kicks off in Katowice, Poland, global church organisations World Council of Churches (WCC), the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and ACT Alliance called for renewed global solidarity and urgency of action to support the communities at the frontline of climate change impacts.

“There is no more time to waste in short-term self-interestedness”, said Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, WCC general secretary, while urging the UN to ramp up pledges from participating nations, in order to be able still to meet the agreed-upon goal of no more than 1.5°C increase in global temperatures. “Urgent adaptation and mitigation measures, transformation of economic systems, deep behavioural change, and supportive national and global policies and institutional arrangements are needed now to avoid potentially catastrophic consequences of climate change”, he said. “In facing this existential challenge, hope lies in realising that sustainability and justice are two sides of the same coin”, Tveit added.

Creation is not for sale

For LWF general secretary, Rev. Dr Martin Junge, a deep transformation is needed to limit the continued global warming. “As people of faith we know well how God wants this world to be and what God wants for human beings and calls them to be in this world. Our message to the churches and to the world is that creation is not for sale. As churches we should focus on that vision and engage in action for climate justice”, he said.

The Katowice Climate Change Conference, 2-15 December, is the 24th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 24) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). “The LWF engages with climate justice as a matter of intergenerational justice and our delegation at COP24 consists of young leaders actively involved in the topic of climate change and advocacy in their churches. They are issuing clear call, to the current generation, for future generations. Because climate change won’t disappear by declaring that it doesn’t exist”, added Junge.

Support adaptation and resilience

Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, general secretary of ACT Alliance, noted that the implementation of the Paris Agreement depends largely on the rules and guidelines that will be further developed at COP24. “It is critically important that the rules enable an ambitious and just implementation of the Paris Agreement, rather than watering it down”, he said. 

“Our call for climate justice and climate action is urgent. We are faced with unprecedented crises. Communities and countries are losing their territories in the Pacific to rising sea levels. Floods and droughts are causing humanitarian emergencies in Asia and Africa”, said de Faria, as he referred to the recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on 1.5 degrees that provides scientific evidence of the need to act urgently to prevent catastrophic climate change.

“We are concerned that developed countries have not kept their promise to provide adequate climate change finance to support adaptation and resilience in developing countries. We are also disappointed that there isn’t adequate climate change finance, and so far it has not met the criteria of predictability, additionality and transparency”, he added. The head of ACT Alliance also stressed the wish to see the issue of loss and damage “receive support and to be included in the transparency framework of the Paris Agreement”.

The World Council of Churches, ACT Alliance and Lutheran World Federation represent more than half a billion Christians worldwide and have been engaged in climate justice advocacy work at local and global levels for the last decades.
 

For media inquiries, please contact Joanna Patouris, ACT’s Climate Change Communications Coordinator joanna.patouris@actalliance.org, +1-647-971-5360.

Climate change experts from the ACT Alliance network have published a report assessing the threats posed by climate change on the sustainable development goals (SDG) and disaster risk reduction. The report finds that warming of 1.5°C will severely impact climate-vulnerable developing countries, and urges more ambitious climate action. The report also identifies policy recommendations to maintain the possibility of staying at 1.5°C global warming.

Titled ‘Enhanced Climate Action in Response to 1.5°C Global Warming: Scaling up Nationally Determined Contributions,’ the research focuses on climate impacts in particularly climate-sensitive regions in which ACT members and partners are present. The report features case studies from the Marshall Islands, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Jordan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Central America (including El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua), and the European Union. 

Bold climate commitments are needed by 2020 to respond to the risks of 1.5°C warming, as highlighted in the IPCC Special Report earlier this year. The authors state that climate change is affecting the most vulnerable populations and is hindering progress made towards the SDGs, particularly the goals related to poverty, health, water and sanitation.

“We are running out of time. As caretakers of creation, we need to hold governments to account and we must take action to prevent any further risk to human life and dignity. Commitments and messages of solidarity must be transformed into concrete climate action so that support is provided to those most in need,” said Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, General Secretary of ACT Alliance.

Africa and Asia are projected to experience 75 per cent of the global risks associated with increased temperatures, putting a tremendous burden on governments to achieve the SDGs.

“Without effectively aligning 1.5°C-consistent national mitigation and adaptation action with SDGs and disaster risk reduction goals, sustainable development will remain an illusion, leaving behind hundreds of millions of people,” the report reads.

ACT’s call for action is further rooted in the experiences of ACT members who note that climate change is depriving poor and vulnerable people of their fundamental human right to be free from hunger and extreme poverty. The report notes that scaled-up climate action to reduce climate impacts around the world is a humanitarian, human rights, development and justice imperative.

The report provides a ten-step plan of action for all governments to respond to the risks of 1.5°C global warming including; undertaking a gap analysis; ratcheting up mitigation; fostering climate resilience, and scaling up climate finance to name a few.

The next round of climate negotiations (COP24) is less than one week away and provides governments with another opportunity to increase their climate commitments towards the 1.5°C temperature target. ACT Alliance will present the report to government and civil society alike at a side event at COP24.

‘Enhanced Climate Action in Response to 1.5°C Global Warming’ was commissioned by the ACT Alliance Secretariat under its Global Climate Justice Project, To date, the report has been launched in Bangladesh for the Asia region and San Salvador for the Latin America and Caribbean region.

For media inquiries, please contact Joanna Patouris, ACT’s Climate Change Communications Coordinator joanna.patouris@actalliance.org, +1-647-971-5360.