Climate crisis COP

As COP30 starts in Brazil today, Jamie Williams, Senior Policy Advisor on poverty reduction, explains the urgency behind the global gathering and what Islamic Relief will be doing at this year’s COP.

It’s COP time again! Countries are getting together to talk about how to deal with climate breakdown. This time, in Belém, Brazil from 10 to 21 November.

Say that again? Climate breakdown! For 10,000 years, people have been able to rely on Earth’s weather systems. They could predict the seasons and know when to respond – by planting or harvesting, moving themselves or their livestock, arranging to keep warm or stay cool. It used to be said that in South Asia you could set your clock by the arrival of the monsoon rains.

But no more. The predictability that we have relied on, to provide our food, organise resources, make plans to travel, build and repair, is gone.

Humanity has dealt with natural disasters over all those years. But now we are faced with un-natural disasters caused by our exploitation of coal, oil and gas and the greenhouse effect resulting from their use. Extreme weather, unprecedented storms and heatwaves, drought and sea-level rise have brought extra suffering to millions of people across the globe.

The challenge

We are facing soil degradation, food insecurity, proliferating displacement and social breakdown. For years we have known that it is imperative to restrict global heating to 1.5° above the levels prior to industrialisation, and deal with the inevitable consequences of the heating that has already occurred.

And in response, the United Nations has set up treaties, conventions, agreements, human rights, environmental and customary law, and mechanisms for responding. This is the Convention on Climate Change for which the Conference of Parties (COP) begins its thirtieth annual meeting next week.

For the tenth year, and the seventh as officially accredited observer, Islamic Relief will be following progress and, with our allies, intervening on behalf of the most disadvantaged families and communities for whom we work.

Islamic Relief’s revised Climate Policy 2025, entitled Put it Out! sets out our positions on the issues at Belém. Read it here and donate here to our ongoing work to help those people most in need to overcome poverty and their vulnerabilities to the climate emergency.