Love our neighbours: Quaker call for climate justice at COP31
Quakers believe that every person has that of God in them and that we are all equal. That we have a duty to love our neighbours around the world and protect the earth we share. The climate crisis is upon us; there is no time left for avoidance or delay.
As world leaders gather in Antalya, Türkiye, for COP31 we hold them in the Light, wishing them the strength to act with integrity, and love.
The UK has the fifth largest economy in the world. If we do not lead, other countries will not act. We call on the UK government to pay its fair share of international climate finance, based on our historic responsibility and economic capability.
This could be achieved by making polluters including oil and gas giants pay for the pollution they cause. Measures such as taxes, subsidy removals and licensing refusals could all help ensure that those who caused the crisis support those who did least to cause it.
The crisis is here
This Super El Niño year, Britain has had a summer of relentless heatwaves and wildfires and an autumn of storms. For our neighbours in the Global South, the toll is worse. In Nepal, flash floods have left $4.7 billion of recovery costs. In North Africa, temperatures have approached 49 degrees Celsius.
The impacts of climate breakdown are right in front of us and multiplying. We may not be able to reverse the harm already wreaked, but we must work to lower the death toll and destruction and build a better future.
Flawed priorities
“In less than 18 days, the world spends more on arms than developed countries provide in a full year of climate finance" - Jeremiah Manele, Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands
The last few COPs have seen painstaking negotiations to send money to places most vulnerable to climate shocks. But the money is still not flowing.
Successive UK governments have claimed to be global leaders. But on climate finance, they have all dragged their feet. Aid and climate finance budgets have been slashed while military spending has been boosted.
This is not climate leadership. Building true security – security for people and planet – requires us to invest in a just, fair and more equal society, not one in which we point guns at each other.
Action not inaction
“What Scotland is already doing is what everybody else needs to be doing" - Lazarus Chakwera, former President of Malawi, commenting on Scotland's climate fund
Five years ago, the Scottish government became the first to commit money to communities facing loss and damage. To date it has spent £10 million and this week announced £2 million of new funding. The UK government should follow Scotland's example.
But the UK and Scottish Governments must also do more to cut emissions at home to reduce devastating climate impacts. This means not approving drilling in new oil fields like Rosebank and prioritising environmental and poverty-focused policies. Retrofitting housing, investing in community energy, and supporting oil and gas workers into future-proofed employment all help us protect one another and the earth we share.