COP28 – unity, action, hope? 

'The news on the climate front can be hard to bear at times - so we are asking you to pray with hope to the God of hope for COP28'

A reflection ahead of the COP 28 climate conference (30 Nov - 12 Dec) from the Baptist Union Environment Network with Dave Gregory, alongside Laura-Lee Lovering and Steve Tinning

 
Twenty-five years ago I was working at the Hadley Centre for Climate Change and Research, part of the UK Met Office. One morning, a friend involved in the UN International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) gave a presentation on future predictions of climate change.

That lunch time, we went for a walk together.  I commented to him that the model projections scared me. To which he replied, “Me too!”

I guess this experience has come to mind as 2023 is likely to see another record passed for the warmest year. Over the past 25 years those fears have been borne out. I have slowly watched the predictions of those early climate models become a reality. As another US climate scientist Michael Mann active from those days commented in a recent New Scientists podcast, ‘the warming of the world is on track.’

I’ve also watched and prayed over the UN Climate Conferences over the past three decades. Beginning in 1995 with COP1 in Berlin, and at the end of November time we have COP28 hosted by the United Arab Emirates (30 November until 12 December).

Nations will again gather, trying to deepen commitments to reduced carbon emissions. They will seek to agree “loss and damage” funding for developing nations strongly impacted by climate change yet who have contributed little to it. 

I’d like to say I’ve watched the thermometer of hope gradually rise through these COPs. Yet, while the science tells us we need to act with urgency many – including the UK government - continue to hold back. 

Yes, it’s urgent, they say. We are committed to net-zero by 2050. But 'we need to do it without costing the earth', they add.

Yet delaying action is costing the Earth. And the people of the Earth. 


'It feels as if we’re in an escalating showdown between human caused global warming and the earth’s normal climatic systems'

As Baptists, BMS World Mission helps us to connect with people around the world who are being impacted by climate change in their everyday lives. Laura-Lee Lovering, BMS World Mission Creation Care lead, lives in Northern Peru where they have been experiencing shifting weather patterns.

She shares, 'It’s been a particularly interesting year to be living in Perú. The weather had already been acting quite strangely with three consecutive years of La Niña – the opposite of El Nino - bringing colder and drier weather than usual. That all changed last Christmas.

'La Nina suddenly departed. I’d heard of the warm, wet, El Niño phenomenon before I lived here, but it was something that happened, sometimes disastrously, to other people. Now, temperatures soared, torrential rain caused flash flooding, rivers broke their banks and landslides took out villages and roads.   

'By New Year, the wastewater system for the city of Piura where I live was saturated, so they switched off the water supply for days at a time. Even as the rain stopped, the standing water remained and the mosquitos appeared.

'By Easter, northern Peru was suffering the country’s worst ever outbreak of dengue fever, a mosquito-borne disease without vaccine, that can lead to internal haemorrhaging and even death. I didn’t get ill or flooded, but I realised that I was very close to those ‘other people’ who did – we were now attending the same church in town.

'El Niño has been gathering strength all year. This September was the warmest on record. Everyone here is wondering how bad the flooding will be this time; the world is already warmer than it was for the previous worst El Niño disaster in 2017. It feels as if we’re in an escalating showdown between human caused global warming and the earth’s normal climatic systems.

'From Perú, this seems to be quite a dangerous game to be playing.'


'A growing number of churches responding to the issue of climate change'
 
I said that watching the predictions of climate models become reality has been a scary watch. Yet, they did not get everything quite right. They failed to predict the extremes of weather we have increasingly seen over the past few years – heat waves, storms, droughts, melting of sea ice. These are happening more frequently and lasting longer than the models predicted.

They found it difficult to predict the frequency and intensity of El Nino. With the warm water of El Nino off the coast of Peru continuing to grow through the rest of this year and on into 2024, the record temperatures of this year are likely to be broken again next year.

Over the past three years, BUEN, BMS World Mission, and JPIT have been raising the issue of climate change among Baptists Together. Calling us to live as Whole Earth Disciples, sharing in God’s mission to the whole of creation.  Recognising Jesus’ bigger gospel that encompasses the whole of creation for “through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”  (John 1:3-5)

I am glad to say we have seen a growing number of churches respond to the issue of climate change. There’s been an increase in the number of churches join ARocha’s Eco-Church scheme. A recent survey by Baptist Insurance suggests that 80 per cent of churches see this as important part of mission. 

So, we come to you in hope. Asking you to pray with hope to the God of hope for COP28. Yes, the news on the climate front can be hard to bear at times. Yet we follow Jesus – “the light shining in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it”. 

Members of BUEN, BMS World Mission and JPIT have prepared a short prayer video to help your prayers for COP28 which starts on 30 November and goes on to 12 December 2023. 

Highlighting some of the main issues facing COP28, it can be used individually, in small groups and during worship. It also begins with a reflection from the new “God Saw That It Was Good” films on environmental issues to be released by BUEN at the start of 2024.

The prayer video can be viewed on YouTube, and below:

Dave Gregory, Convenor BUEN – Baptist Union Environment Network, with Laura-Lee Lovering, BMS World Mission Creation Stewardship Co-ordinator, and Steve Tinning, Baptist Union Public Issues Enabler, and member of JPIT – Joint Public Issues Team

The Baptist Union Environment Network aims to raise awareness and respond to the environmental crisis. For more click here.  

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