Catholics at COP28 join Pope Francis in call for end to fossil fuels

EarthBeat Weekly
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December 8, 2023

Flags can be see inside the dome during COP28, the U.N. climate change conference, at Expo City Dubai Nov. 30 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (CNS/Courtesy of U.N. Climate Change COP28/Christophe Viseux)

Here at EarthBeat, we spent time Thursday checking, double-checking and triple-checking that we've been using the word "unabated" properly in our reporting on the United Nations climate change conference, COP28, taking place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12.

In U.N. conversations, the term is usually used within the phrase "unabated fossil fuels" and refers to emissions that are not prevented from reaching the atmosphere, for instance through capture, removal or other measures.

Put another way, unabated fossil fuels have emissions that enter the atmosphere. Abated fossil fuels have emissions that have been prevented from doing so. Sort of.

While "unabated" is a key term being used in COP28 negotiations about the future of fossil fuel use, it remains ill-defined. And it seems we're not the only newsroom talking about it.

In a newsletter Thursday morning, the journalism consortium Covering Climate Now referred to negotiators' use of the term as "rhetorical trickery." "To be clear," they said, "'Unabated' refers to fossil energy sources whose emissions are not prevented from reaching and thus overheating the atmosphere — for example, through the use of carbon capture and storage technologies."

Later on Thursday afternoon, The New York Times sent a newsletter with the subject line "What does 'unabated' mean, anyway?" Answering that question, they say it "means doing nothing to remove carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from oil, natural gas and coal emissions. But the details are much more complex," and added "There is no agreed-upon definition of unabated."

A Q&A published by Carbon Brief on Tuesday stated, "There remains a level of uncertainty around what the associated term 'abated' actually means in practice. For example, could a coal-fired power plant capture 10% of the CO2 it produces and still argue its emissions were abated?"

If the final document agreed upon by nearly 200 nations at COP28 includes this term, it's going to be important that they also define it clearly. The Associated Press published a story also on Thursday saying, "Every sentence, every word — especially those about the future elimination of planet-warming fossil fuels — will matter at the U.N. conference."

NCR environment correspondent Brian Roewe reported Wednesday that a working draft of the final document issued Dec. 5 laid out options of calling for "an orderly and just phase out of fossil fuels" or "accelerating efforts towards phasing out unabated fossil fuels" or no mention at all of a fossil fuel phaseout.

What we do know is that Pope Francis and Catholics at COP28 support the first option. Francis has called for an end to the fossil fuel era, both before the Dubai climate summit and during it. And Catholics at COP28 in a letter delivered Tuesday to COP28 president Sultan al-Jaber urged nations to sign onto the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty in pursuit of a full fossil fuel phaseout.

Roewe has reported: "Numerous countries, alongside civil society groups including faith-based organizations, have pressed nations at COP28 to agree to the full phaseout of fossil fuels. That outcome is seen as unlikely, as others have proposed a 'phasedown' of 'unabated' fossil fuel use where emissions can't be captured before entering the atmosphere."

The global summit is set to end on Nov. 12, and negotiators will surely work through many iterations of the final document before issuing a final agreement. You can stay up to date on the latest news by checking EarthBeat's "COP28 Dubai" feature series.

Or you can sign up for the EarthBeat Daily newsletter to receive our newest stories in your inbox each morning.

What else is new on EarthBeat:

Why is the Catholic Church participating in a UN climate summit?

by Brian Roewe

Countries are the primary focus at the climate COPs, but they're far from the only participants. Since the 1992 Earth Summit, people of faith have been regular participants.

From afar, Pope Francis helps inaugurate first-ever Faith Pavilion at UN climate summit

by Brian Roewe

The first-ever Faith Pavilion at a U.N. climate change conference was inaugurated Dec. 3 in Dubai, with video messages from the pope and the grand imam of Al-Azhar, who both called the world to work for peace and preserving a livable climate.

Lebanon's Christians feel the heat of climate change in its sacred forest and valley

by Kareem Chehayeb, The Associated Press

The survival of Lebanon's cedar forest is in doubt, as rising temperatures due to climate change threaten to wipe out biodiversity and scar one of the country's most iconic heritage sites for its Christians.

Archbishop honored for 'shepherding' Puerto Rico after hurricane, amid economic downturn

by OSV News

Archbishop Roberto González Nieves of San Juan, Puerto Rico, "possesses a passionate heart that beats with a pastor's love for his people, for the people's growth and well-being, and for the future of the people of God in Puerto Rico," said Fr. Jack Wall, president of Catholic Extension.

Religious congregations could face untenable rising insurance costs

by Dan Stockman

Insurance expert Stephen Waldorf says that congregations are facing a triple whammy that will make insurance not only far more expensive, but in some cases unavailable. And all of it is driven by climate change.

Cardinal Tobin: Faith leaders can influence the world on climate change

by Joseph W. Tobin, Religion News Service

Cardinal Joseph Tobin: We must align our spiritual values with our actions toward the planet and each other.

William Wilberforce would be scandalized by the pro-factory farming EATS Act

by Charles C. Camosy, Religion News Service

Christians who share the vision of Pope Francis and William Wilberforce should oppose the EATS Act as a diabolical end-run around laws that attempt to respect God's created order.

'Laudate Deum': Another call to action

by Ana María Siufi

Sr. Ana Siufi analyzes Laudate Deum and invites us to a change of conscience.that leads us to recognize that everything is interconnected in a universal family.

What's happening in other climate news:

COP28: 'My religion inspires me to protect the environment' —Tania Sangha for BBC Asian Network

In a historic first, a US offshore wind farm delivers power to the grid —Michelle Lewis for Elektrek

Most Americans want to electrify their homes — if they can keep their gas stoves —Tik Root for Grist

US targets oil and natural gas industry’s role in global warming with new rule on methane emissions —Matthew Daly for The Associated Press

Trump Pledges to Expand Drilling to Pay for Senior Benefits —Stephanie Lai for Bloomberg

Final Beat:

On the sidelines of the U.S. bishops' annual fall assembly in Baltimore in November, El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz shared a story with NCR staff reporter Aleja Hertzler-McCain about how he prayed at the bedside of a 19-year-old migrant who had collapsed with heat stroke in the desert.

Seitz, who chairs the U.S. bishops' conference's committee on migration, said praying for dying migrants from Central and South America has become a regular part of his pastoral work near the United States-Mexico border, where migrant deaths have more than doubled in the past year.

Hertzler-McCain reported that in 2023, the majority of the 148 annual deaths "occurred between May and September, during the hottest summer on record in El Paso with temperatures over 100 degrees for 44 days straight. Globally, summer 2023 was the hottest on record, part of a warming trend scientists attribute to greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans burning fossil fuels."

"As climate change is making migration more deadly, it is also driving people from their homes in places like Central America," she reported — an important connection between the rise in heat-related migrant deaths at the border and climate impacts that continue to increase along with global temperatures.

Thanks for reading EarthBeat!

Stephanie Clary
Environment Editor
National Catholic Reporter
sclary@ncronline.org
Instagram: @stephanieclaryncr
Twitter/X: @scherp01