COP31 Prayer and Protest
Green Christian members joined Christian Climate Action’s No Faith in Fossil Fuels prayers for COP31 and then the Stop Rosebank Last Chance Saloon protest at the Treasury on the middle weekend of COP31, Saturday 14 November.
The prayers focused on Oceania, with placards stating what these countries need from COP, with a central placard saying, “What they do not need is more carbon emissions.”
The prayers opened with:
Creator God,
Small island states in Oceania, are among the most vulnerable in the world as global warming makes sea levels rise, at this COP they plead, as they have for so many years, for urgent cuts to greenhouse gas emissions and they plead for more finance to help them shift to cleaner energy, adapt to a warming world, and repair climate-driven destruction. Lord we plead with them.
God, you call all people to justice and care for the earth,
Hear and grant these prayers.
The group then joined Fossil Free London and the Stop Rosebank Campaign at their “last chance saloon” protest on the steps of the Treasury, for singing, chanting and speeches.
Mark Francis of Christian Climate Action said:
Perhaps one of the few positives of the COP process is that it helps connect us, and remind us, of our global neighbours, and the situation that the climate & nature emergency leaves them in.
… let’s acknowledge the words of the President of the Marshall Islands at COP this week “Our response to the threat of overshooting 1.5C must be overwhelming, or the world we know is over”.
And so – into this situation – is it, on any level, possible to think that approving the massive Rosebank oilfield is a good idea ?
You can read his whole speech here.
Tyrone Scott of War on Want spoke about the anger he was feeling:
We’ve watched this week Andy Burnham stand up on that stage [at COP31] and declare that the UK is starting a new era of climate leadership. How can he stand up on that stage, just a week after approving the Jackdaw gas field, and declare to the rest of the world that we are entering a new era of climate leadership?
Are we living in an era of double-think and double-speak when we hear the things that they want us to hear and we see what plays out in front of us? … We hear people talking about new eras of climate leadership, yet we sit here today knowing our government might approve an oil field that will emit the same emissions as the 93 lowest emitting countries combined.
We need to pray and call for justice. This was closing prayer of the morning’s vigil:
Creator God, we pray for the COP process, that world leaders will somewhere find the courage to choose lasting solutions, with justice at the heart of every decision. We hold in prayer those representing the UK, that they will lead by example, including with the Rosebank decision, that they will use their influence to advocate for the vulnerable, both within our borders and across the globe, and that they will push for vital climate finance to help those who are suffering most from a crisis they did not create. God, you call all people to justice and care for the earth,
Hear and grant these prayers.
Amen
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