FATHER
LIAM SAYS: By now we have probably become familiar with the term
‘COP21’. It stands for 21st
Conference of Parties and refers to the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC). The acronym
COP21 reminds us of how long these talks have been going on and all the while
our global environmental health continues to decline.
COP21 opened in Paris last Monday and continues
until next Friday. It aims to get all
196 countries in the United Nations to agree to put measures in place in their
own countries that will confine increases in global temperatures to two degrees
above pre-industrial levels. For the
first time in more than two decades of negotiations it is hoped that binding
agreements on action can be achieved.
Some scientists think that an increase of one and a half degrees will
result in irreparable damage. We are now
at one degree above. In advance of this
December event 160 countries have signed pledges setting out what they intend
to do. The European Union has submitted
its plan and Britain, of course, is a partner to this. No member of the European Union has gone to
the Conference with its own individual position. But the E.U. is committed to reducing
emissions of toxic gases by at least 40% by 2030.
On Monday last many world leaders gathered in Paris
for a leaders’ day. With the recent
barbarity in the French capital on everybody’s mind, that awful Friday was
marked in a formal way. On that same day
each country briefly set out their position on climate change to the
conference. It is planned that the Paris
conference will send out a strong signal that poor and vulnerable countries
will be supported in their efforts to make the necessary changes. Many of those most affected by climate change
had a disproportionately minor part to play in polluting the environment. These countries do not have the resources to
build the infrastructures to mitigate against climate change or to make the
adaptations required. To achieve some
degree of fairness there has to be a transfer of funding or technology from
richer (mostly western) countries to these poorer countries. This was something Pope Francis emphasised in
his encyclical ‘Laudato Si’.
The share of the 40% reduction in emissions that
the EU has signed up to and that each member of the Union has to shoulder will
be determined during negotiations in Brussels next year. Let us hope they will emerge on friendly
terms from this encounter!
At the start of his pastoral visits to a number of
African countries, which ended on Friday, Pope Francis stressed the importance
of reaching an agreement in Paris - an agreement that truly would be
proportionate to the scale of the problem.
The stark choice, he said, was either to ‘improve or destroy the
environment.’ In a long address in
Spanish at the United Nations Regional Office in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital,
he said it would be ‘catastrophic’ if particular interests prevailed over the
common good of people and the planet or if the conference were manipulated by
business interests. High powered
delegates from the Vatican are taking part in COP21.
It is extremely important that the government, the
business world and private individuals exploit renewable energy and cut back on
fossil fuels. New technologies are
making energy efficiency easier and more attractive. Remote technology is so advanced that it can
control home heating on the other side of the world! Decarbonisation may cost some jobs but the
whole field of renewable energy can also create many jobs and boost tax
revenues and bring health benefits. The
more our planet is damaged, the fewer jobs can it sustain. There is no future in toxic fuels.
One way or another the hard work begins after
COP21. We have to look again at our
lifestyle. In his much acclaimed
environmental document ‘Laudato Si’, Pope Francis urges citizens to hold their
leaders to account. He also stresses
that as individuals each of us must examine our attitude to our environment and
seek out ways to be better stewards of God’s wonderful creation. Incidentally your signatures calling on the
government to renew its environmental efforts were presented at 10, Downing
Street prior to the Prime Ministers departure for Paris. 40,000 signatures were collected by CAFOD and
its sister organisations in Scotland and Ireland. I think people are losing confidence in the
effectiveness of presenting lists of names to governments. Only half a million Catholics worldwide
signed petitions on this issue. This
surely does not reflect the degree of importance we attach to global health. Our
fifty panels will, hopefully, be up and running by Friday when COP21 concludes
on a happy note – we hope and pray.
