Southern African Catholic Delegates Urge High-Emitting Economies to Deliver on Climate Funding

Catholic delegates from Southern Africa are calling on industrialized, high-emitting nations to fulfill their climate funding commitments. In a statement released October 17, the group urged these economies to move from making promises to implementing concrete actions to address their historical responsibility for global warming.

The appeal follows a workshop on Justice, Peace, and the Integrity of Creation held from October 12 to 16 in Pretoria, South Africa. Organized by the Inter-Regional Meeting of Bishops of Southern Africa (IMBISA), the gathering included bishops, priests, religious men and women, and lay people from nine countries: Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, São Tomé and Príncipe, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.

The delegates noted that while Southern Africa contributes a small share of global greenhouse gas emissions, the region faces an asymmetrical burden of climate injustice. They reported that warming in the region's interior, along with severe droughts, tropical cyclones, and floods, has destroyed infrastructure and homes. The group also linked water scarcity and outbreaks of cholera and malaria to the forced displacement of millions of people into overcrowded urban centers.