Spain – Alboan and Entreculturas call on the Spanish government: climate action cannot wait
Last November, the 26th UN climate summit, known as COP26, was supposed to be held in Glasgow from November 9 to 19, 2020. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the organizers decided to postpone the event, which will finally take place from November 1 to 12, 2021. Despite the postponement there is no doubt that it will be a decisive milestone for the future of our planet. This is an important decade for the fight against climate change, and the world needs more than ever an energetic response, which will make it possible to achieve the emission reduction targets proposed in the Paris Agreement, without forgetting the social and economic progress of poor countries, which are often the most vulnerable to the effects of the climate crisis and who contribute the least to global warming.
Although Covid-19 is a very serious global problem, climate change continues unabated. We need a social and ecological transformation to address the multiple crises of our time. It is not enough to allocate billions of dollars and euros to the fight against the coronavirus, it is necessary to spend it in a way that in view of climate change, we mitigate the problem and adapt to it.
For this reason, taking advantage of the European Council meeting that will take place on March 25 and 26, we have sent a letter to Pedro Sánchez, President of the Spanish Government, with a copy to Teresa Ribera, Minister for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, and to Arancha González Laya, Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation. In the letter sent, we call for Climate Action not to be put on the back burner, but also to strengthen cooperation between Europe and Africa on this issue.
This call comes from the Xavier Network, the Jesuit mission and development network, and the Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar, who note with concern how the urgencies created by the COVID-19 pandemic are displacing attention from other no less important crises, such as the fight against climate change.
As we argue in the letter, COP26 can be delayed, but the response to the climate crisis cannot. Faced with this uncertain future, we wanted to highlight a number of points to be taken into account:
1. Although Covid-19 is a very serious problem, climate change continues and is not abating. We need a social and ecological transformation to face the multiple crises of our time. It is not enough to allocate billions of dollars and euros to fight the coronavirus, it is necessary to spend it in a way that in view of climate change, we mitigate the problem and adapt to it.
2. Africa suffers the most (or perhaps the most) from Covid-19 as its existing debt and poverty problems have been exacerbated by the pandemic. A scenario that only makes the consequences of climate change and other plagues due to pollution and overuse of natural resources more aggressive towards the continent.
3. Europe, as one of the biggest polluters in history, must fulfill the commitments made in the Paris Agreement and Rio 1992. Directly by transferring or investing money and technology, or indirectly by helping Africa to improve its Risk Management Systems (DRM) and to fight against Illicit Financial Flows.
4. Time is running out and Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), which embody each country's efforts to reduce national emissions and adapt to the effects of climate change should be set not in relation to 1990 data, but in terms of the global CO2 budget remaining before the 1.5/2 degree threshold is crossed.
5. Synergies can be sought between the interests of Europe and Africa. For example, helping Africa to overcome fossil industry is more effective in combating climate change than cheating by exporting dirty industry to poor countries, thus polishing European statistics while shifting the pollution problem elsewhere.
6. Therefore, given the problems in the UN-sponsored COP process, the Jesuits advocate accelerating improved cooperation between the EU and Africa.
You can access the open letter sent to the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez (here).
You can also download the supporting document they have prepared to present our arguments (here).
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