“1.5 degrees is on life support” This is the judgement of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres following COP26 this month in Glasgow. Delayed from 2020 due to the COVID pandemic Glasgow was the most important climate conference since Paris in 2015. 

There were notable wins on reducing methane, re-foresting, and the Glasgow Climate Pact is the first where ‘fossil fuels’ were explicitly named as part of the problem. But for all this the outcomes are disappointing. The last-minute hijacking of the agreement by China and India to ‘phase down’, rather than ‘phase out’ fossil fuels left COP President Alok Sharma visibly upset, and more worryingly provides cover to nations (Australia, China, Saudi Arabia, Brazil and others) to go as slowly as possible, not to act with the urgency needed. 

There were undeniably deep issues with the COP from the beginning. As was noted by Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis at a Green Zone event; with most of the world’s population professing a faith the absence of faith leaders, or a day focused on faith within the official negotiations was a missed opportunity. Likewise, there were several events in both Blue and Green Zones and in the wider civic response which spoke to the challenge of climate displacement/migration. Yet this subject; where two of the most pressing challenges of the coming decades intersect, was absent from the government’s agenda. When we know that 80% of the world’s most vulnerable eco-systems are under the protection of indigenous people, and the conversations and press statements from the COP made frequent reference to this point the activists themselves were predominantly outside of the official negotiations not able to contribute their wisdom, let alone lead the negotiations as we probably need them to. 

Questions around loss and damage were raised but not addressed, and the $100 billion Copenhagen (COP 21, 2009) settlement on rich countries funding developing nations was again kicked down the road and not properly delivered on. The UK governments’ slashing of international development funding and aid earlier in the year sent a clear signal to the world on this issue, and doubtless Sharma and his team found (to use an old metaphor in Tory governance) their bats broken by the team captain before stepping up to the wicket.

Challenges around attending the COP have been exacerbated by COVID-19, and costs of attending priced out many who would have been expected to attend. Issues around access to vaccines was already disproportionately keeping people from poorer, global south countries out. But the decision to discriminate vaccine status on the basis of geography; those from South America, Africa and South Asia double-jabbed with Pfizer, Moderna, and Astra-Zeneca were still to face quarantine and isolation on arrival, when those from North America and Europe didn’t remains a shameful and unexplained mark on the UK government.

It is far easier to see the successes outside of the official events. Glasgow and Scotland as a whole were on show, and all the delegates, protesters, and even visiting police officer’s I spoke to had enjoyed their visit, and had found all of us welcoming, hospitable, and engaged with the events. Figures varied but at least 125,000 people turned out on the Saturday for the centrepiece of the Global Day of Action marching through the city. Churches across the city and beyond had opened their doors for events and people across Scotland had opened their houses to provide affordable accommodation through the Homestay network. The faith events, in individual traditions, ecumenically, and on an interfaith basis were highlights of the two weeks for many, both visitors and locals. The homily given by our Bishop President William Nolan at the COP Mass received spontaneous and unprecedented applause and a standing ovation by those gathered. The prayer vigil ’24 Hours for the Climate’ organised by Catholic young adults working and volunteering for the Columban Missionaries, Pax Christi, the Assumptionists, and ourselves bought together contributors from around the world in prayer, with thousands of viewers throughout the day, messages being sent to us from lay people, men and women religious, and clergy from 6 continents, and capturing experiences of the impacts of the climate crisis from nearly 20 countries which were shared with all negotiators at the COP.

Ahead of the Paris COP in 2015 Pope Francis released his encyclical Laudato Si. Six years on his message was on the lips of many of the church leaders. His call that we must hear and respond to “the cry of the earth, and the cry of the poor” presenting a fiercer challenge to us all, beyond the urgent need to stop and reverse global warming. With the COP media coverage competing at home with issues of government corruption, and in the days since the longstanding challenges of poverty and the Home Office’s performative cruelty towards asylum seekers once again dominating debate it is clear that we still have a very long way to go. 

1.5 degrees in on life support. But it isn’t dead. The energy and determination of activists, especially young people will not move on, or disappear. The climate crisis is a topic of conversation across the country and will not be going away. COP27 will take place in Sharm el-Sheikh next year. We have twelve months to keep the conversation going and ensure that our governments follow through with actions not just words.