Neil Thorns, the Director of Advocacy for CAFOD, was the guest speaker at the Southern Dioceses Environment Network on Monday 15th January, 12.45-2.00pm, to give feedback to participants on the UN Climate Conference (COP28) held from 1-12 December 2023 .

Neil was present at COP28 in Dubai and has attended a number of previous COPs as a member of the Vatican delegation

For his presentation, Neil identified four headline outcomes from COP28:

1. Agreement on a Loss and Damage Fund
2. The UAE Consensus: Transition away from fossil fuels
3. Dubai – Baku – Belem Roadmap
4. Recognition of Food

He reported on each issue in more detail, explaining the significance of each and what it means for Catholics in the UK going forward.

1. Agreement on a Loss and Damage Fund

‘Loss and Damage’ is when poor communities overseas can no longer adapt to the effects of climate change but need to be able to respond when disasters occur. How do they get the resources they need?Developed countries who have done the most to cause the climate crisis have a responsibility towards these communities. ‘Loss and Damage’ has been kicking around for a long time in climate circles and in climate negotiations and a fund was finally agreed in principle Sharm El-Sheikh last year at COP27.

Operating the Fund was agreed on the first day of COP28 and money was put into it. Not enough money was put in, but what was important was that all the major countries contributed. For example, the US paid around $27 million which is just peanuts! The UK, in comparison has paid $45 million and the UAE $100 million. How that money is spent is going to be really important. It is also significant that ‘Loss and Damage’ will now be included for the first time in the Global Stock Take Process.

The Vatican is very interested in ‘Loss and Damage’ and especially non-economic ‘Loss and Damage’ – e.g. spiritual, cultural sites, language etc. The Vatican strongly supports ‘Integral Human Development’ so will continue to take a major interest in this aspect.

Neil said that people often ask, ‘Why do COPs have to happen annually? There have been 28 of them, are they achieving anything?’ His answer is ‘Yes!’ The pace may be slow, but the important thing is that we keep moving forward each year. The Global Stock Take Process is an important part of this. It is important to get things into the negotiations because then they get monitored and countries are accountable going forward. This was one of the biggest things to come out of COP28 and a big win for the first day.

2. UAE Consensus

Host countries like to get agreements named after themselves and so now we have the UAE Consensus arising as an outcome. COP28 was focused on the Global Stock Take that was agreed in Paris at COP21 in 2015 and came into force in 2020 whereby countries have to submit reports on how far they are doing to meet the principles of the Paris Agreement to keep global warming temperatures below 1.5C by 2050. All eyes were on COP28 to see if an end to Fossil Fuels would be included in the next Global Stock Take. Making a ‘transition away from fossil fuels’ was eventually included in the final agreement. It may not have been expressed in the strongest language – and was not what the Pope called for – but it was the first mention of an end to fossil fuels in a COP agreement. It is true there were a lot of caveats! For example, it didn’t call for taking away subsidies from fossil fuels, but we can start chipping away from this base.

3. Dubai – Baku – Belem Roadmap

COP29 will be in BAKU, Azerbaijan, in 2024 which is another oil state and will feature another COP president with oil company links.

COP30 will be in BELEM, Brazil in 2025 – a city in the Amazon rainforest.

These next two COPs are expected to be about finance. As Neil said, ‘Money makes the world go round!’ and at these next COPs progress of the Climate Fund will be closely scrutinised. A Climate Fund to enable developing countries to make adaptations was agreed in 2009 and set at $100bn per year. This target was meant to be reached by 2020 but is still only partially met. A ‘New Collective Quantified Goal’ has to be agreed this year in Baku to ensure that money gets to those countries for adaptation and loss and damage. Currently we using existing money to meet these commitments. For example, the UK is using part of the Overseas Aid Budget. This is essentially robbing Peter to pay Paul so we need innovative ideas on finance, such as a tax on international shipping. Levels of debt will be have to be addressed and debt cancellation considered as international finance architecture currently makes it difficult for developing countries to get loans, creating debt cycles that prevent spending on climate adaptation. The UK currently borrows money at 1 or 2%, while for Bangladesh it is 7 or 8%. There will also be questions about who pays? Should it be the historic big emitters? Or more recent emitters like Saudi Arabia, who don’t currently have any obligations to pay. A France-Kenya initiative to explore these options will report back to COP30 in Brazil.

4. Recognition of Food

A third of greenhouse gas emissions comes from our food and food systems. Food now needs to be considered in national plans. We can now include it in the whole aspect of deforestation. 150 countries are now pledged to include Food in their climate plans.

What Next?

The Vatican played an important role by talking about ending fossil fuels and talking about food and is in a position to ask for an ambitious Global Stock Take in these areas. The BBC reported on the Pope’s talk, read by Cardinal Parolin as the Pope himself was unable to attend due to illness. Media reports – especially the BBC which has a global reach – have an impact in COP spaces.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-67599985

The rate of action is accelerating as we head towards 2025. The UK is heading into an election year and we can use this to promote improvements to our Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). We need to let our elected representatives know what we want in terms of climate ambition.

Q & A with Neil

Q. How useful is a focus new tech e.g. solar panels? There are always side things happening alongside COP. More renewable energy deals were done at COP28 than ever before, which is a good thing. People at COP were talking about ‘carbon capture and storage’ but experts say it has very little impact so we can’t rely on it. Solar energy is making a huge difference. Especially in the US Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Bill has had a huge impact in creating green jobs. Tech linked to jobs makes for social change.

Q. What about the Vatican follow-up? Loss and Damage is a priority as I said earlier and talking about ending fossil fuels. The Catholic Church celebrates a Jubilee Year in 2025 and the Vatican is looking into how this can be linked to Brazil 2025 and COP30. Pope Francis said during the Covid pandemic that we don’t come out of a crisis the same. We come out either better or worse. Can we ensure that we come out better, with a better economics and better outcomes for the poorest?

Q. Can we push the CAFOD Fix the Food System even more? The Pope said in Laudato Si’ that ‘everything is connected.’ We have to link food with everything else and seeds is a big part in that. As CAFOD we can make some progress making sure that seeds find a place in the food plans for individual countries.

We then split into small breakout groups to discuss the questions: 
1) What is your response to the outcomes of COP28? 
2)What will you be focusing on for the environment in 2024?

Members of the Network were encouraged by the positive messaging from Neil. Participants asked how they might encourage people to be hopeful but at the same time make things like taking multiple flights socially unacceptable and wanted to be more confident in speaking up for the climate with family and friends. Members are focused on taking local actions, with several planning to taking part in the Christian Climate Action 10-Day Vigil in Lent. Some are involved with Greenpeace.

Participants also agreed that, while we are glad to hear that progress is being made, we need to make it known that progress needs to be faster, especially in this election year. CAFOD and SVP are working together on election material that will encourage Catholics to push for climate action this year.

Colette Joyce, Westminster Justice and Peace Co-ordinator, who convenes the Network said: “We are really grateful to Neil for representing us at COP28 and for his comprehensive reporting and analysis. Knowing that we can have an impact on the international processes helps motivate us to keep going with climate action on a local and parish basis.”

About the Southern Dioceses Environment Network

Future meetings for the Southern Dioceses Environment Network take place this year on:

12 February, 12.45-2.00pm
11 March, 12.45-2.00pm
13 May, 12.45-2.00pm
10 June,12.45-2.00pm
8 July, 12.45-2.00pm
9 September, 12.45-2.00pm
14 October, 12.45-2.00pm
11 November, 12.45-2.00pm
9 December, 12.45-2.00pm

KEY CLIMATE DATES