Loretto at the UN Finds Hope in COP30 Process on International Human Rights Day

Last month we invited our friends far and wide to join us as members of an informal Loretto/BVM+ virtual delegation to the United Nations annual climate talks (COP30) in Belém, Brazil. We had over 75 people sign up, and many took part in one of our three orientation events.

During COP30, we hosted 13 online reflection sessions, where attendees shared information, resources (articles, Instagram posts, podcasts, songs, books, videos) and more. We made connections to the Laudato Si’ movement. We also appreciated our participants from Ireland, the UK, Kenya and Spain, who helped keep our country’s media coverage of COP30 in perspective. You can access our shared preparation/reflection google document and experience some of the richness of our learning journey.

On Friday afternoon we hosted our summary, “COP30 Highlights & Next Steps,” with a few special collaborators, and you can watch the recording below. The screenshot shows most of the folks who attended.

As anticipated, the event brought plenty of people-power to prayerfully confront the corporations still pushing for extractive models of production. There were many Indigenous Peoples present, and many, many voices supporting environmental human rights defenders who see lakes, rivers, oceans and other species of life as kin. New tools introduced included the Ocean Breakthroughs Dashboard and, from U.N. Women, the Gender Equality and Climate Policy scorecard. 

Even though the final document did not have much of the text we had wished for, we have hope going forward for moral movements like the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, a creative effort to create a concrete, binding plan to end the expansion of new coal, oil and gas projects and manage a global transition away from fossil fuels in a way that is fast, fair and forever. We deeply appreciated being part of the global movement organizing for positive change, and also appreciated resources shared by similar groups organizing parallel delegations, such as the virtual observer’s guide put together by Quaker Earthcare Witness.

So, why am I writing about our Loretto/BVM+ COP30 virtual delegation on Dec. 10, International Human Rights Day? Because the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment — which was passed by the U.N. General Assembly — is now officially a binding norm of international law. It can be used as a basis for holding nation states accountable for climate inaction, particularly regarding fossil fuels. States must take urgent, stringent measures to curb emissions, regulate polluting actors and provide reparations for climate harm. Here’s a link to an excellent blog post for those who wish to dig deeper, but the good news is that though our country did not send a delegation to COP30 the world is recognizing, slowly but surely, that we all share this one beautiful, limited, precious planet.