COP29: Preserving and Protecting God’s creation

This week as Moderator of the Uniting Church Synod of NSW and ACT, I will attend the United Nations annual climate change conference, COP29, in Baku, Azerbaijan. By my side will be indefatigable advocacy duo of Alice Salomon and Andrew Bradley representing the Uniting Climate team.

Climate action drives our Church’s Future Direction commitment to care and protect God’s creation. For God so loved the earth.

Azerbaijan sits in a region which is a hotbed of civil, cultural and political unrest, landlocked by Iran, Russia and Armenia. A fitting place to discuss climate change given a hotbed also means soil that is unusually warmer than its surrounds.

The conference will attract tens of thousands of delegates from around the world, including some of the world’s most powerful international leaders. As leader of the Uniting Church Synod of NSW and ACT you may like to know what role I will play.

As many of you know, I was born in a small Pacific Island called Tonga. As a girl I remember the terror of cyclones sweeping through our village; the screaming winds, blackouts, and the sound of metal being ripped from roofs. As I got older, these cyclones increased in intensity and velocity, although I only experienced them vicariously in my home in Australia through distressed phone calls from relatives and loved ones. Australia - the same country that was burning the fossil fuels that were inadvertently creating the devastation and trauma my loved ones were experiencing.

In 2023, Australia ranked 55th out of 63 countries in the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI), receiving low rankings in the categories of greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy, climate policy, and a very low ranking for energy use. The Federal Labor Government has introduced mechanisms and polices to speed up the shift towards clean renewable energy and made an initial investment in the Pacific Resilience Facility, however they continued to approve 26 new fossil fuel projects and three coal mine expansions.

As I learnt more about climate change, I realised that it is not just our Pasifika brothers and sisters, like Tonga, Tuvalu and Kiribati, that are bearing the brunt of global warming. Soaring energy prices and increasing cost of living pressures are bringing some of our state’s most vulnerable and financially disadvantaged people to their knees. Compounding this problem is the fact that some of NSW and the ACT’s most disadvantaged suburbs are the hottest in summer.

As many of us approach the festive holiday period with a sense of enthusiasm, many more families are dreading a summer of extreme heat knowing they won’t be able to afford to cool their homes. Sweltering in 41-degree heat in a house without air conditioning is not something I recommend having experienced it growing up in a housing commission in Griffith, NSW.

My role at this international summit is to bring these local stories and experiences to the seat of power. To stand with the powerful people in suits and be a voice for the little girl in Kiribati who is terrified the next storm will sweep her school away or the single mum in Sydney’s West who lies awake at night in the sweltering heat worrying how she will pay her energy bills.  

I encourage all of you to walk with me on this journey and act in your local congregations and communities to protect and preserve God’s Creation. No action, effort or stand is too small.

For more information on how you can act please visit Uniting Climate.

Note: The Synod of the Uniting Church NSW and ACT recognises and strongly condemns the human rights abuses perpetrated by the Azerbaijan government on Armenian Christians.

The Synod is calling on the Azerbaijani government to immediately release its Armenian hostages and allow the safe return of Armenians to Nagorno Karabakh.

The Uniting Church opposes, unequivocally, any act which threatens the lives, community and property of any sovereign nation.

The Moderator, Alice Salomon and Andrew Bradley (from Uniting Climate).