WCC News: African faith coalition weighs COP30 - and what comes next

Faith leaders, climate negotiators, and African civil society actors will gather virtually on 12 March around a question that has not gone away since the negotiations ended in Belém, Brazil: did COP30 actually deliver for Africa? 18 November 2025, Belém, Brazil: A group rallies for a just transition to renewable energy in Africa, at the United Nations climate summit COP30 taking place in Belém, Brazil, on 10-21 November 2025. Photo: LWF/Albin Hillert 11 March 2026 Organised by GreenFaith Africa and the All Africa Conference of Churches, with the World Council of Churches (WCC) as a partner, the Post-COP30 Interfaith Debrief and Strategic Planning Meeting will bring youth, women, Indigenous Peoples, theologians, and policymakers into a shared reckoning - weighing what was won, naming what was left unresolved, and forging a faith-grounded advocacy path toward COP31 and COP32. The one-day virtual meeting opens at 11:00 EAT (09:00 CET / 08:00 GMT) under the theme "From Belém to Africa: Translating COP30 Outcomes into Faith-Led Climate Action for Africa." Rev. Dr. Lesmore Gibson Ezekiel, director of programmes at the All Africa Conference of Churches, will offer a keynote address on faith-centred climate leadership after COP30. Voices from Nigeria, Ghana, and Tanzania will bring testimony on oil spills, mining, and extractive industry damage, and pressing the harder question of whether COP30's loss and damage commitments reach anywhere near these communities' actual realities. Rev. Henrik Grape, WCC senior advisor for Care for Creation, Sustainability, and Climate Justice, will represent the WCC, offering a reflection on the intersection of faith diplomacy and climate policy - and what the Belém outcomes genuinely mean for vulnerable communities and least developed countries. "COP30 in Belém moved the dial on loss and damage financing, but for communities across Africa and other vulnerable regions who are living the consequences of a crisis they did little to create, commitments on paper must translate into justice on the ground," said Grape, WCC, one of the speakers. "Faith communities have a vital role to play - not simply as advocates, but as moral witnesses who refuse to let the world look away. As we move toward COP31 and COP32, the World Council of Churches stands in solidarity with African and multi-faith voices calling for a just transition rooted in care for people, the planet, and future generations." The afternoon turns to the numbers and the negotiations: climate finance, gender and youth justice, the Global Goal on Adaptation, and what the Belém Action Mechanism genuinely means for African economies trying to move away from fossil fuels without being left behind. Commitments made in Belém remain only a beginning for communities bearing the heaviest climate burden with the lightest historical responsibility. COP31 in Turkey and COP32 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 2027 are closer than they seem. This meeting exists to draw lessons from Belém, sharpen African engagement with the group of negotiators, and make certain that African and multi-faith voices are not an afterthought when the next round of negotiations begins. Register for the conversation here  Ecumenical Decade of Climate Justice Action  WCC COP30 coverage here See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 356 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches Chemin du Pommier 42 Kyoto Building Le Grand-Saconnex CH-1218 Switzerland