Climate Trends, 2016 (NASA image)
Climate Change
The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) adopted a Statement of Conscience on climate change in 2006, referencing the UUA’s Seventh Principle: “As a people of faith, we commit to a renewed reverence for life and respect for the interdependent web of all existence.” It calls on us to “join with others to halt practices that fuel global warming/climate change, to instigate sustainable alternatives, and to mitigate the impending effects of global warming/climate change with just and ethical responses.”
Below is a report on this year’s UN climate change conference and on the actions UUA recommends we take to reduce our CO2 emissions.
By Will Daniels
The United Nations-sponsored conference on human-caused climate change—the 26th Conference of the Parties, or “COP26”—wrapped up in Glasgow, Scotland, on Nov. 13.
Expectations for the conference were high, due in part to the requirement in the 2015 Paris Agreement that countries update specific targets for greenhouse gas reduction every five years. The Paris Agreement called for limiting the increase in average global temperature since preindustrial times to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), and to an absolute limit of no more than 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F). Countries also were asked, but not required, to provide a long-term outlook, such as when they expect to be carbon-neutral.
151 of the 197 countries attending this year submitted target pledges. By the UN’s own estimate, those pledges are not enough to “keep 1.5 alive,” as the conference rallying cry had said. They are probably not even enough to meet the maximum “acceptable” temperature increase (2 degrees C or 3.6 degrees F). However, they do promise, finally, to effect a small overall reduction in emissions. While that may represent only a small decrease in potential warming, it could be important psychologically.
Coming to the fore in this conference, aligning with the climate and climate-justice focus of the Unitarian Universalist Association, were the equity issues. Less-developed countries highlighted the failure of developed countries to fund assistance for technology and adaptation at the promised $100 billion per year. Demands were also heard to compensate vulnerable, poor countries for “loss and damage” that has occurred and will occur from human-caused climate change. The final agreement text pledges to fulfil the assistance commitment and then to increase it. The agreement acknowledges the concern for loss and damage, but is noncommittal regarding that funding.
The point made repeatedly by less developed countries is that countries such as the U.S., the U.K., and European Union members reaped the benefits of industrialization while increasing C02 concentrations in the atmosphere to climate-changing levels. Therefore, they should not only decarbonize their own economies, but contribute generously to the less-developed countries’ efforts to do the same. Wealthy nations also need to allow more carbon emissions in undeveloped countries as they improve their standards of living.
If there is a descriptor for this climate conference, perhaps “the glass half full” sums it up. In response to the serious shortfall in achieving ambitious pledges, the Glasgow Pact asks countries to revise their pledges more frequently than every five years. This is intended to increase pressure on all countries to reduce burning of fossil fuels. Although achieving the 1.5 degree goal is barely likely, just possibly, countries could increase their commitments and efforts to make that target feasible.
CO2 Emissions Since Industrial Revolution – (NASA Global Climate Change Image)
Personal Practices
The UUA 2006 Statement of Conscience lists actions to decrease carbon emissions that we can take as individuals and as congregations:
- Reduce use of energy and consumption of manufactured goods that become waste
- Use alternative sources of energy and encourage the development of such sources
- Choose the most energy-efficient transportation means that meet our needs and abilities
- Determine personal energy consumption and pledge to reduce our use of energy and carbon emissions by at least 20 percent
- Reuse, recycle, and reduce waste
- Plant and preserve trees and native plants and choose sustainably harvested wood and wood products
- Eat and serve energy-efficient food that is locally produced and low on the food chain
- Use financial resources to encourage corporate social responsibility with reference to global warming/climate change
- Model these practices by committing to a life of simplicity and Earth stewardship
- Consume less, choose appliances that are rated energy-efficient (e.g., by the EPA Energy Star Program), and choose products and materials that are made from renewable resources and can be recycled at the end of their usefulness
- Commit to continue to learn about the science, impact, and mitigation of global warming/climate change and communicate this knowledge by teaching about and discussing the problems and dangers of, and actions to address, climate change
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