Latest news with #COP30
13 hours ago
- General
Catholics call for environmental action at Rio de Janeiro's iconic Christ the Redeemer statue
RIO DE JANEIRO -- Brazilian Catholic worshippers laid down an eco-friendly carpet in front of the world-famous Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday and called for the protection of the environment ahead of UN climate talks in the Amazon. Tapestries are a fixture of the Corpus Christi religious feast when Catholics celebrate what they believe is the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. This year, the colorful carpet was made from approximately 460 kilos (1,014 pounds) of recycled plastic caps. Over the past few years the Christ the Redeemer sanctuary has increasingly used the attention the iconic statue generates to spotlight environmental concerns. 'These caps could be polluting the environment. Today they're here as a carpet,' said Marcos Martins, environmental manager and educator at the sanctuary. 'It's the circular economy: we take the material, we're reusing it here and then we're going to reuse it again with an exhibition.' Just after day break and before the first flock of tourists arrived Thursday, Cardinal Orani João Tempesta led celebrations at the site overlooking Guanabara Bay and Rio's famed Sugarloaf mountain. The caps are 'a good reminder of our co-responsibility with ecology, of our concern for the environment, which are very characteristic of Christ the Redeemer,' Rio's archbishop told journalists. Thursday's celebration also paid homage to the late Pope Francis and his Laudato Si', a landmark environmental encyclical in which he cast care for the environment in stark moral terms. In the papal letter Francis called for a bold cultural revolution to correct what he said was a 'structurally perverse' economic system in which the rich exploited the poor, turning Earth into a pile of 'filth' in the process. 'The COP30 is coming up and we've just had the U.N. Ocean Conference. Nothing makes more sense than Christ being a great spokesperson for this issue,' said Carlos Lins, the sanctuary's marketing director. Earlier this month, the sanctuary held workshops, discussion groups and actions focusing on environmental preservation. The statue — perched on the Corcovado mountain -- is itself located in the Tijuca National Park. Brazil has been hit by a series of environmental disasters in recent years, including severe droughts in the Amazon, wildfires in the Pantanal and flooding in the south.
San Francisco Chronicle
18 hours ago
- General
- San Francisco Chronicle
Catholics call for environmental action at Rio de Janeiro's iconic Christ the Redeemer statue
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian Catholic worshippers laid down an eco-friendly carpet in front of the world-famous Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday and called for the protection of the environment ahead of UN climate talks in the Amazon. Tapestries are a fixture of the Corpus Christi religious feast when Catholics celebrate what they believe is the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. This year, the colorful carpet was made from approximately 460 kilos (1,014 pounds) of recycled plastic caps. Over the past few years the Christ the Redeemer sanctuary has increasingly used the attention the iconic statue generates to spotlight environmental concerns. 'These caps could be polluting the environment. Today they're here as a carpet,' said Marcos Martins, environmental manager and educator at the sanctuary. 'It's the circular economy: we take the material, we're reusing it here and then we're going to reuse it again with an exhibition.' Just after day break and before the first flock of tourists arrived Thursday, Cardinal Orani João Tempesta led celebrations at the site overlooking Guanabara Bay and Rio's famed Sugarloaf mountain. The caps are 'a good reminder of our co-responsibility with ecology, of our concern for the environment, which are very characteristic of Christ the Redeemer,' Rio's archbishop told journalists. Thursday's celebration also paid homage to the late Pope Francis and his Laudato Si', a landmark environmental encyclical in which he cast care for the environment in stark moral terms. In the papal letter Francis called for a bold cultural revolution to correct what he said was a 'structurally perverse' economic system in which the rich exploited the poor, turning Earth into a pile of 'filth' in the process. 'The COP30 is coming up and we've just had the U.N. Ocean Conference. Nothing makes more sense than Christ being a great spokesperson for this issue,' said Carlos Lins, the sanctuary's marketing director. Earlier this month, the sanctuary held workshops, discussion groups and actions focusing on environmental preservation. The statue — perched on the Corcovado mountain -- is itself located in the Tijuca National Park. Brazil has been hit by a series of environmental disasters in recent years, including severe droughts in the Amazon, wildfires in the Pantanal and flooding in the south. This week heavy rains killed at least two people in the southern region Rio Grande do Sul, just over a year after it was hit by the worst flooding on record.
Winnipeg Free Press
18 hours ago
- General
- Winnipeg Free Press
Catholics call for environmental action at Rio de Janeiro's iconic Christ the Redeemer statue
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian Catholic worshippers laid down an eco-friendly carpet in front of the world-famous Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday and called for the protection of the environment ahead of UN climate talks in the Amazon. Tapestries are a fixture of the Corpus Christi religious feast when Catholics celebrate what they believe is the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. This year, the colorful carpet was made from approximately 460 kilos (1,014 pounds) of recycled plastic caps. Over the past few years the Christ the Redeemer sanctuary has increasingly used the attention the iconic statue generates to spotlight environmental concerns. 'These caps could be polluting the environment. Today they're here as a carpet,' said Marcos Martins, environmental manager and educator at the sanctuary. 'It's the circular economy: we take the material, we're reusing it here and then we're going to reuse it again with an exhibition.' Just after day break and before the first flock of tourists arrived Thursday, Cardinal Orani João Tempesta led celebrations at the site overlooking Guanabara Bay and Rio's famed Sugarloaf mountain. The caps are 'a good reminder of our co-responsibility with ecology, of our concern for the environment, which are very characteristic of Christ the Redeemer,' Rio's archbishop told journalists. Thursday's celebration also paid homage to the late Pope Francis and his Laudato Si', a landmark environmental encyclical in which he cast care for the environment in stark moral terms. In the papal letter Francis called for a bold cultural revolution to correct what he said was a 'structurally perverse' economic system in which the rich exploited the poor, turning Earth into a pile of 'filth' in the process. 'The COP30 is coming up and we've just had the U.N. Ocean Conference. Nothing makes more sense than Christ being a great spokesperson for this issue,' said Carlos Lins, the sanctuary's marketing director. Earlier this month, the sanctuary held workshops, discussion groups and actions focusing on environmental preservation. The statue — perched on the Corcovado mountain — is itself located in the Tijuca National Park. Brazil has been hit by a series of environmental disasters in recent years, including severe droughts in the Amazon, wildfires in the Pantanal and flooding in the south. This week heavy rains killed at least two people in the southern region Rio Grande do Sul, just over a year after it was hit by the worst flooding on record. Scientists say extreme weather is happening more frequently due to human-caused climate change. ____ Follow AP's coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at
Time of India
a day ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Prioritise fossil fuel phaseout: Scientists urge COP30 President
Over 250 scientists from 27 countries, including India, have written to the president of this year's UN climate conference, urging him to make the transition away from fossil fuels a top priority for COP30 . Climate physicist and signatory Bill Hare handed over the letter in person to COP30 President Andre Correa do Lago during the mid-year climate conference in Bonn, Germany. "We strongly urge you to use your substantial global platform to champion a fast, fair, effective and full phaseout of fossil fuels. The science is clear: the burning of fossil fuels is driving climate change and its disastrous impacts on the lives and livelihoods of people all around the world," the letter read. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Paris Agreement , which aims to limit the rise in global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, while pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius. "Yet, a decade later, we remain well short of our goals. The last 10 years were also the 10 hottest years in history. The world has now exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming in a single year for the first time on record," they said. Citing major findings from the past decade of scientific literature, the scientists said that existing fossil fuel infrastructure alone makes the 1.5 degrees Celsius target unattainable. The signatories, including renowned physicist Paulo Artaxo and Friederike Otto, a professor at Imperial College London, said it will be impossible to avoid severe socioeconomic impacts, which will affect humanity for centuries, without a fast, just and planned transition away from fossil fuels.
Hindustan Times
a day ago
- Business
- Hindustan Times
India ‘disappointed' after talks at Bonn
India and several developing countries have expressed disappointment after a key climate finance discussion was excluded from the Bonn Climate Talks agenda, vowing to raise the issue at November's COP30 summit in Brazil. The dispute centred on Article 9.1 of the Paris Agreement, which mandates that developed countries provide financial resources to assist developing nations with both mitigation and adaptation efforts. The debate over the 9.1 agenda item proposal led to a 30-hour delay before talks could begin. 'We are extremely disappointed with the reluctance of developed countries to discuss their legal obligations to provide finance to developing countries,' said Amandeep Garg, additional secretary at ministry of environment, forests and climate change, who represented the Indian delegation. The Like Minded Developing Countries (LMDC) group and the G77 and China had proposed agenda items on both the legal obligation of wealthy countries to provide climate finance and another on unilateral trade measures. However, these were not adopted after the European Union and other developed nations refused to agree. 'Without enough affordable financial support, developing countries cannot address the challenges posed by climate change,' Garg said during his intervention at the agenda adoption session, backing the LMDC position. 'This is completely unacceptable. We do not understand how this process can engage in article 9.1 without which climate action in developing countries cannot be taken in scale, scope and speed' Garg added: 'It has been 10 years of the Paris Agreement and still the items which are required to be discussed, we are not discussing them.' Diego Pacheco, Bolivia's negotiator and spokesperson for the LMDC group, warned that the issue would resurface at COP30. 'Public finance from developed countries is a necessary condition for implementation of the Paris Agreement,' he said. 'You can deny us the starting point but be rest assured, the LMDC will raise these items at COP30.' The African Group also highlighted the implementation of Article 9.1 as critical to their region, emphasising the need to address resource provision for nationally determined contributions, national adaptation plans, and just transition measures. EU negotiators said their 'positions and motivations being mischaracterised' and urged parties to respect all positions in a constructive spirit. The agenda was finally adopted on Tuesday evening after extensive behind-closed-doors consultations. Simon Stiell, the UN climate chief, acknowledged the difficulty of the negotiations whilst urging progress on mandated items. 'The past 30 hours have been hard and have not reflected the urgency that we face,' Stiell said. 'Through cooperation and compromise, we have resolved the impasse. We must now move the work ahead.' This year's Bonn talks agenda includes discussions on Global Goal on Adaptation indicators under the UAE–Belém Work Programme, the UAE Dialogue on implementing global stocktake outcomes, the UAE Just Transition Work Programme, and the Baku to Belem roadmap to 1.3 trillion dollars. Avantika Goswami, programme manager at the Climate Change Centre for Science and Environment, said the European Union and its allies had blocked the G77's demand to discuss developed countries' climate finance obligations. 'The fight is not over, as the LMDC bloc and India have vowed to bring focus back to this at COP30,' she said. The dispute comes as climate change appears to be losing prominence in some international forums. The International Institute of Sustainable Development noted that G7 statements following recent talks between leaders in Kananaskis omitted references to climate change, with only the chair's summary making a passing reference to the issue. 'The G7 sidestepped climate change in the leaders' statements, despite acknowledging increased wildfires,' said Patricia Fuller, IISD president and chief executive. 'Previous G7 commitments to action on climate change remain on the books and must be delivered.'
