We'll Always Have Paris (But Is That Enough?)

I LANDED IN Paris on Dec. 3, barely three weeks after the mass murder there of 128 people by armed extremists. On these same streets now gathered thousands from around the world—including from across the faith world—to hammer out an international agreement on climate change.

After checking in to my hotel, I made my way to the grand Notre Dame Cathedral for the ecumenical worship service organized by the Council of Christian Churches in France. While still blocks from the church, I began to hear the boisterous ringing of bells. Such joyous clanging from Notre Dame reminded the whole world that peace and hope were still possible, both on the earth and with the earth.

And the Climate Change Conference in Paris—COP 21, as it’s known—offered a needed opportunity to take a key step toward peace with the earth. The window to avoid total climate disruption is closing faster than many of us imagined possible.

I stepped into Notre Dame with awe—and an awareness that this kind of work requires prayer and miracles. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would worship in such a magnificent and historic place. The church was nearly full. I sat near the back. Voices from the choirs rang through the massive stone sanctuary. On such a cold evening, their beauty touched and warmed us with poetry and power. The worldwide church was in attendance, dramatically offering its gifts back to the Creator.

‘Leaders can’t afford to come home empty-handed’

Before COP 21, Bill McKibben—an environmental activist, author, and Methodist (and Sojourners columnist)—observed, “Paris isn’t the game, it’s the scoreboard. It shows us how much we’ve done—and haven’t done—over the years since Copenhagen (COP 15 in 2009), when we suffered a huge defeat. There is a big enough movement now—in no small part thanks to faith communities, patriarchs, popes, and the like—that we’ll see some progress in Paris. World leaders can’t afford to come home empty-handed.”

He was right. People of faith came to Paris from every corner of the earth. Some came as negotiators and political delegates, some as observers, and others as prophetic voices to hold political leaders accountable to the science and the moral imperative of safeguarding a living planet.

As a consequence of the November terrorist attacks, public marches for climate justice—which had been expected to draw more than 200,000 people—were cancelled by French authorities. In lieu of the marches, French activists called for a “global march” in solidarity with them. At the end of November, hundreds of thousands around the world took to the streets to make clear to the leaders headed to Paris that the whole world was watching. More than 570,000 people marched in 2,300 events in 175 countries, according to organizers, making it the biggest set of global climate change marches in history. “The charge from the streets for leaders to act on climate has been deafening, with record numbers turning out across the world,” said Emma Ruby-Sachs, campaign director for Avaaz, a global civic movement.

Prioritizing the global common good

The goal of the conference was to agree on steps that would stabilize atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations at a level low enough to slow down or even reverse dangerous disruption of our climate system. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said, “Leaders must prioritize the common good. Reducing the risks of catastrophic climate change is in the national interest of every country.”

In preparation for COP 21, U.N. diplomats asked for Intended Nationally Determined Contributions, actions each country would take to hold global warming to 2 degrees Celsius or less. These are not legal documents, and only 155 countries submitted them before the conference. The good news was that, unlike previous climate talks at this level, the biggest carbon emitters—the U.S., China, India, and several European countries—came to the table ready to deal.

The goal of COP 21 was to create a legally binding treaty. Instead of endorsing empty promises, such a treaty would commit nations to decreasing carbon emissions and promoting renewable energy sources.

Chien-Cheng Yang of the Tzu Chi Foundation, a Buddhist humanitarian organization, said that “it is absolutely imperative—for the sake of planet Earth and all life inhabiting it—that this year’s COP be less about discussion and more about action.” Climate change is not just a political issue, he said: “We must all do our part, by any means necessary, to reduce our carbon footprint and to reverse the damage done to our environment.”

While it was significant that China and the U.S., the two biggest carbon-emitting countries, committed in November 2014 to move away from fossil fuels, the need remains for a comprehensive plan to close the climate-risk gap between the poorest nations and the richest. “We want to help developing countries find a credible pathway toward low-carbon development,” said World Bank head Jim Yong Kim. But the poorest nations are powerless to influence their climate, unable to craft their own destinies without the powerful nations curtailing carbon pollution.

Religious leaders attending the conference recognized that people of faith and conscience are not doing enough to achieve climate justice. Jayanti Kirplani, of the global spiritual organization Brahma Kumaris, called people of all faith traditions to “change our lifestyle and learn to live simply.” Coal and petroleum must be left in the ground, the leaders said, to allow the shift to energy produced by wind, sun, and the tides. Bernd Nilles, secretary general of the International Alliance of Catholic Development Agencies, expressed an urgent need for “a transformational agreement ... that would include human rights and food security.”

Indigenous communities from around the world were also present. Actor and activist Alec Baldwin hosted the U.N. Development Program’s Equator Prize award ceremony where 21 Indigenous community initiatives were honored for their innovative local responses to climate change.

“You see from our projects what can happen when traditional knowledge is valued, cultivated, and respected,” said Farkhunda Ateel Siddiqi of the Rural Green Environment Organization in Afghanistan. “Our work has demonstrated that when free, prior, and informed consent is respected and Indigenous peoples and local communities have the right to determine, we achieve the kind of development we want. Where funding is channeled directly to Indigenous peoples and local communities, you witness inspirational climate adaptation strategies.”

The Indigenous leaders explained that they cannot wait for government officials to make changes to save the planet. Trees are being cut down and rivers are being polluted—threatening the very existence of the people whose lives depend on a sustainable environment. The awardees stated they are taking the fight for climate change into their own hands to stop the earth’s destruction and work toward sustainability and climate justice.

Hope as a driving force

At the end of the two-week climate summit, ministers from 195 countries adopted a framework that can help the world abandon fossil fuels this century and slow global warming. “The Paris agreement allows each delegation...to go back home with their heads held high,” said Laurent Fabius, France’s foreign minister and president of the conference. “Our collective effort is worth more than the sum of our individual efforts.”

The U.N. secretary general celebrated the result. “We have entered a new era of global cooperation on one of the most complex issues ever to confront humanity,” Ban said. “For the first time, every country in the world has pledged to curb emissions, strengthen resilience, and join in common cause to take common climate action.” Christiana Figueres, the U.N.’s chief climate negotiator, was delighted with the agreement. “One planet, one chance to get it right, and we did it in Paris. We have made history together. ...It is an agreement of solidarity with the most vulnerable.”

Rev. Einar Tjelle of the Church of Norway also celebrated the conference results. “To finalize an agreement on joint climate policy between all 195 parties in the world, on a demanding and complex cluster of climate challenges, is a miracle!” he said. “Paris is not the end. Now the transformation must go on.”

Less words, more action

However, in order for the Paris agreement to become legally binding, it must be ratified by 55 of the signatories. The end of fossil fuel subsidies and a global carbon pollution tax are still needed, as is massively increased investment in renewable energy sources.

Climate scientist James Hansen told the Guardian that until nations implement more stringent emission controls, the 1.5 and 2 degree targets are not realistic. “It’s just worthless words. There is now action, just promises. As long as fossil fuels appear to be the cheapest fuels out there, they will be continued to be burned.”

Alan Burns, a North Carolina-based climate activist, walked from Rome to Paris as part of the Fast for Climate pilgrimage. “The promises from negotiators simply acknowledged for the first time at the COP gathering that we have a crisis—but they shirked from the moral arguments,” Burns told Sojourners. “The voices of the masses will be needed to ensure that action promised at the national level is heeded.” Burns agrees with former international climate negotiator Yeb Sano, leader of the 1,500-kilometer pilgrimage, who said, “It will ultimately be up to the people themselves to make the changes necessary.”

What is the role of the Christian church in the movement for climate justice? “Churches and faith communities contribute to the change needed to address climate both at negotiations and at lifestyle [levels],” said Guillermo Kerber of the World Council of Churches. “Concern for vulnerable communities, and children among them, are a key concern for churches.”

But others warned that Paris is only a milestone. “The Paris agreement marked an important step as the most significant international deal yet on climate change,” said Brian Kaylor, author of Sacramental Politics: Religious Worship as Political Action, but it “remains woefully far from what is needed.” Kaylor wants the strong moral and public voices of faith leaders to continue to speak so that we can “accomplish what we need to prevent the most devastating of climate impacts from destroying the homes and lives of our neighbors in the global South and East.”

Some frame the path ahead in moral terms. “The human rights to have basic needs met—food, clean water and air, health services, and more—are limited or violated by climate change already for many people in the world,” wrote WCC general secretary Olav Fykse Tveit. “Who has the right to take away the hope of a future where the next generations can enjoy life in its abundance on this planet?”