COP26. What is it?
Some exciting news I received earlier this week: I have been accepted by the Christian Climate Observers Program (CCOP) to attend COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland in November!
The reason I am telling you about this is because you will be hearing more from me over the coming months as to what this is all about (thus one reason to start the blog back up). This experience will also be helpful for the work we are doing on the Creation Care Team in the Diocese of Missouri. CCOP’s purpose is “to train, including with a Christian perspective, a new generation of Observers for the Paris Process so that the Church may make the most effective contribution possible to all subsequent COPs.” I will be sharing in the credentials of an NGO observer organization, officially recognized by The United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Action (UNFCCC). This means I will be attending the annual Convention of the Parties (COP) and granted access to the COP 26 conference grounds. The “Parties” are the national governments who participate in the Paris Agreement and who thus send negotiators to the COPs. “The Paris Process” is a term which refers to all the work that the nations do, during or outside the COPs, to advance the goals of the Paris Agreement. Only governments are parties to the Paris Agreement, but the UNFCCC recognizes that many others have a lot at stake as well. They call us “Non-Party Stakeholders.” “Observer” is an official term with a long history at the United Nations. Non-profit organizations, like our Christian ones, are given “Observer Status,” and are thus allowed to participate on a limited basis in the work of the UNFCCC. At a COP, the UNFCCC has invited us to “engage in:
developing position papers and making formal submissions;
holding bilaterals with government delegates;
showcasing and advocacy through press conferences and side events and exhibits;
making joint constituency statements in the plenaries; and
preparing for dialogues and briefings”
The most important work of an observer, however, is not done at a COP, but rather from a COP. I will be reporting back to you and the Diocese about what I observe in an attempt to more effectively mobilize everyone for climate action. Basically I will attempt to “interpret” what I observe through a biblical framework and to act prophetically and priestly.
The COP "Parties," in this sense, are the nations that will be participating in joint climate action. Lowell Bliss (one of my groups organizers) elaborates in his book People, Trees, and Poverty, "it is all the nations, including North Korea and Russia, including Qatar and Bolivia who were hold-outs at previous COP's, including war-torn Syria who became the last nation to sign the current climate agreement, including the low-lying island nations like Tuvalu and the Maldives who may be overwhelmed by sea level rise and no longer exist when future COP's convene." Lowell goes on to reflect that through this conference and his presence there, he is in the most literal sense, encountering the panta te ethne, "all the nations" of the Great Commision of Matthew 28:19. Likewise, my presence at this conference can be an intersection of where care for the environment connects with God's mission among the nations, of calling all peoples to abundant life in the Kingdom of God, and by listening to them and their concerns for their community by caring for their temporal needs as God initiates his redemption of the entity of creation. Or, as Lowell paraphrases the commission in Acts 1:8 "In the power of the Holy Spirit, you will be the witnesses of my compassion and glory wherever the nations gather.”
This task is a heavy one, especially considering all the negative and politicised reactions here locally toward climate change and the Paris Agreement. For this reason I desire your prayers and support. I'm out of my element with this one! Would you commit to praying for me, the conference, and the future of climate work in the Diocese of Missouri?
