Praying for COP30
Sovereign God, you chose to be born in a humble place,
among the poor and the shepherds.
Today you call us again… to Belém.
This time not guided by a star, but led by urgency,
by threatened life, by a groaning land. (From ‘A Journey to Belem’ – prayer for COP30, A Rocha)
From the 10th to at least the 21st of November, delegates will meet in Belém, Brazil, for COP 30, the latest round of UN climate talks. Brazil, which has just announced the fourth consecutive year of reduced deforestation rates, aims to move countries from discussing the Paris Agreement to implementing it more fully, and also to promote voluntary progress through the Action Agenda. Two key areas particularly need progress. The first is the next round of national climate plans, known as Nationally Determined Contributions. At present, not all countries have submitted theirs, and those that exist fall far short of the emissions reductions need to meet the Paris goals. We pray that governments bring to the conference a willingness to strengthen their commitments, offering clear and credible targets to reduce emissions and showing clearly how they intend to achieve their goals … including through a just transition from fossil fuels, as agreed at COP28.
The second main issue is finance. COP29 set a “new collective quantified goal” for climate finance – but it is still not clear where the funds will come from, how communities will access them, and on what terms. The past and current COP presidencies have been tasked with presenting a ‘roadmap’ – we pray for clarity and a genuine commitment to helping those who are suffering climate impacts but have not contributed significantly to climate change.
Throughout the COP, Green Christian members will be meeting each day at 8 AM UTC for ten minutes to pray for the talks. Do join in! You can also find prayer points by following the talks in their technical detail with IISD and Carbon Brief, or receive more general daily updates from EcoJesuit.
Further written prayer materials are available from A Rocha, CAFOD, EcoJesuit, Green Christian, Tearfund and Our Voices Matter. .
A prayer from Revd Dr Mike Perry:
God of creation and mercy, as nations gather in Belém guide leaders to choose truth over delay and courage over comfort. Strengthen by your Spirit the will to cut emissions, protect forests, and fund adaptation and loss and damage so that communities in poverty may flourish. Give courage to the Indigenous guardians of the Amazon. Inspire your church to pray, to speak, and to live faithfully for the healing of the earth you love. We pray in the name of your Son our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom all creation is bound together. Amen.
Further reading: Mike Perry’s one-page summary of what COP30 is and why it matters
