The focus of the first part of the ‘One Climate, One World’ campaign was to seek a fair and binding global agreement on climate change in Paris that had the needs of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable at its heart.
Find out more about CAFOD’s climate change campaign [ Ссылка ]
In June 2015 the Pope released his encyclical Laudato Si’, a letter calling for a new dialogue about the future of our planet and the environmental challenges we face, which was the subject of a huge amount of media speculation and interest. Our campaign recognised the powerful voice that the Catholic community has, aligned with the popularity of Pope Francis, in putting forward the moral argument for strong action on climate change at a critical point.
To support this policy change, we worked with international Catholic agencies and with the Holy See to advocate for a strong deal during the climate talks and mobilised the Catholic community in England and Wales to call for change.
We mobilised supporters in every single constituency in England and Wales by launching a parish petition. The petition was directed at David Cameron but we also asked petition organisers to send a copy to their MP as well. This led to some MPs to deliver the petition to David Cameron themselves.
We also added our petition signatures together with other organisations in the Global Catholic Climate Movement which gathered 900,000 signatures and endorsements from a number of senior church leaders. This was handed over to Christiana Figueres in person ahead of the climate talks.
We worked together with the international Catholic network CIDSE to connect Catholic activists in Paris. Campaigners from the UK joined together with other CIDSE groups to pray and campaign together. Inspired by Pope Francis' call to care for our common home, these campaigners had an opportunity to learn from each other and bring this back to their parishes and communities. This was a transformational experience for many of the campaigners who have been fired up on their return to give talks, press interviews and to go further with their campaigning.
We also joined wider mobilisations to ensure a strong Catholic presence. Supporters joined an interfaith event before attending the people’s climate March in November and went on a pilgrimage to Paris with other faith groups who walked the 200 mile journey from the UK to Paris. One CAFOD supporter from this group was invited to join an interfaith delegation meeting French President Hollande during the UNFCCC talks. Find out more about CAFOD’s response to the Paris talks : [ Ссылка ]
Alongside this, there was a strong lifestyle element to the campaign: showing the world we want, not simply demanding it from world leaders. We worked with the Catholic communities in England and Wales to unpack the messages in the Papal encyclical Laudato Si’ and to facilitate dialogue on how we care for our common home. We produced a popular study guide on the encyclical and within this pointed supporters to changes they could make in their own lives. We also made two Laudato Si’ animations on caring for our common home which have been used extensively by primary and secondary schools.
Take our latest action on climate change: [ Ссылка ]
---
CAFOD works in communities across Africa, Asia and Latin America, helping people to tackle the poverty and injustice they face. We work wherever the need is greatest, with people of all faiths and none.
Learn about CAFOD: [ Ссылка ]
