The ACT Alliance appeals to churches, faith groups, civil society, and governments to continue to increase ambition to combat climate change, and to keep the needs of the most vulnerable at the forefront of the negotiations and action.
Over 28,000 people from around the world were gathered in Katowice, Poland for the international climate conference known as COP24. The ACT Alliance delegation was very active in following the negotiations, raising awareness, and advocating for the needs of the most vulnerable people and communities in the world. In the eyes of the ACT Alliance, COP 24 confirmed the vast disconnect between ambition, urgency for action on climate change, and the political will of key governments. The Alliance emphasized its strong belief that this divide can and must be bridged.
“COP24 failed to deliver the best possible outcome to the most vulnerable people in the world,” said Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, General Secretary of the ACT Alliance. “We are pleased to see that loss and damage is included in the document to guide the implementation of the Paris Agreement. Including loss and damage helps to acknowledge the threat to vulnerable communities who are most affected by climate change. Climate finance needed a much more ambitious push to move the world beyond the commitments that have already been made and to help us to meet the goal of capping global temperature rise at 1.5C.”
We are disappointed that the COP did not put more focus on the scientific findings of the IPCC, and that climate skeptics have moved the debate backwards.
The IPCC report issued earlier this year lays out the likely effects of global temperature rise at different points, clearly demonstrating that increased ambition is required to keep global temperatures from rising more than 1.5C. ACT Alliance’s own study, that was released at COP24, concludes that without addressing climate change, it will be impossible for the world to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda.
“We expected stronger provisions in the Paris Rulebook to protect human rights and gender equality,” said Joycia Thorat, co-chair of the ACT Alliance Global Advisory Group. “We urge governments to ambitiously increase their climate commitments in the revision of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), making sure to include human rights and gender in the implementation of both mitigation and adaption measures.”
“It is important not to lose hope and to continue the struggle for climate justice, for all people and for the planet. Together we can still reverse the course, and we can do it with justice for all,” concluded Thorat.
For more information on the ACT Alliance’s work on climate action please contact Martin Vogel, Co-Chair ACT Climate Change Group (martin.vogel@svenskakyrkan.se) or Håkon Grindheim, Climate Advisor, Norwegian Church Aid/ Kirkens Nødhjelp (Hakon.Grindheim@nca.no).
