Episcopal Church hosts climate action webinar ahead of annual UN conference

[Episcopal News Service] Ten years after nearly 200 countries signed the Paris Agreement promising to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to keep warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, global dependence and investment in fossil fuels still dominate the energy sector over renewable resources. And at the same time, surface temperatures continue to reach record levels, and severe weather events like droughts, wildfires, hurricanes, heavy rain and floods are increasing.

In advance of the 30th United Nations climate conference, COP30, The Episcopal Church hosted a webinar on “Climate Action and COP30,” where Episcopalians talked about climate mitigation projects and why creation care is important for everyone. 

In the Lakota language, “Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ means we are all related. But when we say that, we’re not just talking about people, we’re talking about plants and animals and all of creation,” the Rev. Isaiah “Shaneequa” Brokenleg, The Episcopal Church’s interim Indigenous Ministries missioner, said during the Oct. 27 webinar. She will represent The Episcopal Church at COP30, the 11th consecutive year The Episcopal Church has participated in the conference.

During COP30, world leaders, policymakers, climate scientists, activists, corporate executives and interfaith representatives will gather Nov. 10-21 in Belém, Brazil, to address multiple areas of climate change and environmentalism, including waste management, agriculture and more. In an interview with The Guardian ahead of the conference, António Guterres, the U.N.’s secretary-general, said overshooting the target in the Paris Agreement will have “devastating consequences” for the world.

Anglican Archbishop of Brazil Marinez Santos Bassotto, who also serves as bishop of the Amazon, has called for Indigenous voices to be at the center of the discussion. Brokenleg’s participation at COP30 will support the Anglican Communion delegation led by Bassotto.

“We’re really there to engage with all of [Bassotto’s] plans and her witness within Brazil and globally. We’re also there to play our part in the worldwide church’s witness on this topic,” Martha Jarvis, the Anglican Communion’s U.N. representative, said during the webinar. “We work ecumenically with other church denominations and with other faiths to say that this is an issue that matters to our God and to influence the negotiations, through symbolism, through one-to-one meetings, through the stories that we’re able to get the media to carry and through events that we host at the COP itself.”

COP30 will focus on the efforts needed to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the presentation of new national action plans and the progress on the finance pledges made at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. 

By engaging in climate action, “we are choosing justice over convenience,” the Rev. Lester Mackenzie, The Episcopal Church’s chief of mission, said during the webinar.

Barbara “Barbie” Okamoto Bach, co-chair of the Diocese of New Jersey’s environmental commission and a founding member of the House of Deputies’ Green Caucus, said that “baby steps” are key to long-term environmental impact.

For example, “Before asking the cathedral and all the congregations to eliminate disposable utensils and single use plastics from hospitality events – coffee hours, receptions – first we have to research and recommend appropriate compostable cups, plates and forks and spoons to replace volumes of trash,” she said.

Henry Bibelheimer, who volunteered with the Young Adult Service Corps in the Episcopal Church in the Philippines between 2018 and 2020, said he learned about asset-based community development while in the Philippines, including sustainable, cooperative approaches to banana and coffee plant harvesting.

“Organizations that function similarly to a co-op can be a powerful tool for community action,” he said.

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump decided to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement. No U.S. delegates are expected to participate in COP30.

“It’s a particularly important time to take a moment to consider, given some of the political narratives around us at the moment, where our church globally can play an important part in offering a different way, a third way [of approaching climate action],” Lynnaia Main, The Episcopal Church’s U.N. representative, said.

Episcopalians who are interested in participating in COP30 remotely can find ways to do so here. 

-Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.