1.5C degrees for global warming was the target agreed in the Paris Treaty. Our planet has already reached this tipping point between February 2023 and January 2024. The last decade was the hottest on record. While exceeding the limit for a month or a year, is not catastrophic in itself, we are clearly heading in the wrong direction towards scorching heat, raging wildfires and deadly floods.
We are racing beyond the global temperature rise of 1.5C. Maintaining the 1.5 degree goal is now unachievable. What happened in Nepal seems to be due to melting glaciers. We are squandering our children’s future by destroying our relationship with the environment.
A new report from the UN Environment Program, Limiting Overshoot predicts 2.6 degrees by the end of the century based on current climate policies. “There are no good outcomes if we remain above 1.5°C. Across the globe, extreme heatwaves are already proving that climate impacts will strike faster, hit harder, and last longer – costing more lives and causing deeper disruption,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UN Environment Program.
The best we can hope for is holding temperatures at 1.8 degrees but only if governments implement policies to drive global warming down. Cutting greenhouse gas emissions is a key step.
At the Pacific Leaders Forum this week, Vanuatu’s Climate Minister Ralph Regenvanu called on Australia to stop expanding its fossil fuel extraction and exports. “Australia is not doing enough. Australia is a major producer of fossil fuels. We all know fossil fuels are the primary driver of the climate crisis, … the very least a country like Australia should be doing is stopping future expansion, and it’s not doing that.” Many Pacific Islanders face loss of their way of life and complete submersion beneath rising seas.
In Australia, 12 new coal mines or expansions have been approved with 1,725 million tonnes of lifetime emissions. There are 31 additional proposals for new or expanded coal mines currently waiting for Federal Government approval. Australia is the third largest exporter of fossil fuels in the world with 70% to 88% of Australia’s black coal production sent overseas. This needs to stop with a phased just transition especially for the coal mining communities that will be impacted.
The Pacific Council of Churches is calling on Australian churches to support the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, an alliance of nation-states, civil society and faiths working to secure a global just transition from coal, oil and gas.
Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (ARRCC) is promoting the treaty in Australia. It is calling on churches and faith communities to sign a “global faith letter” supporting the Treaty.