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COP24: Open Letter to World Leaders
04 December 2018
This year at COP24, members of the Renew Our World leadership team will meet with national delegations attending the talks. They will present this open letter from 62 influential Christians to the negotiators. They are calling for more action on climate change during the negotiations. Over 5,000 Christians from across the world have also joined this call in prayer and action.
We invite you to join the Renew Our World Campaign and join us as we seek to act on behalf of our world.
Climate change is having devastating impacts across the world right now. Rainfall is less reliable, and there are more droughts and more floods. That means for some there is no food to eat, homes are being washed away and communities are being completely destroyed, never to be rebuilt again. The poor are being trapped in intergenerational poverty.
Christians across the world are responding to this urgent issue. From communities already being hit by the changing climate to those who have contributed most to the problem, we are taking action together. Climate change is the greatest challenge to our generation and as recognised in the IPCC report, the time is short to take action. We now ask you to respond by stepping up your climate commitments and implementing policies that put the world on track for 1.5°C.
We’re standing with you, as you work to scale up and implement the Paris Agreement, and we urge you to do more to avert the catastrophic consequences of climate change and to protect the most vulnerable people who are impacted first and most significantly.
We recognise the importance of the Paris Agreement and so we call on you to:
- Step up action, accountability and ambition and agree fair, robust and transparent guidelines to fully implement the Paris Agreement.
- Act now to ramp up legally binding and timebound climate commitments, with strong national policies, to limit global warming to the safe level of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
- Establish trust and credibility in the international process by delivering the $100bn that was promised in 2009. This is urgently needed for the most vulnerable countries to tackle and adapt to climate change – and commit to more of what we know works including:
- Transitioning to 100% renewable energy, particularly using local solar power to reach those in poverty more cheaply, more quickly and more reliably than polluting fossil fuel power plants.
- More sustainable, low-emission agriculture, to stop communities going hungry, and be more resilient to floods and droughts caused by climate change.
This is the greatest challenge of our generation. Every fraction of a degree of warming is going to matter. As Christians we are fully aware of the injustice climate change is bringing to people living in poverty and to our planet. That’s why we are committing to live sustainably, raise our collective voice in advocacy and also pray and worship in a way that inspires great change. The church – the world’s largest network – urges you to lead the way forward and lose no time in stepping up your climate commitments.
To see full list of all signatories to this letter click here.