Humanist Climate Action COP26 Declaration

With COP26 now in progress, we write to welcome the UK’s leading role and to emphasise the importance of this decisive moment.

We urge governments and leaders to take this opportunity to show true leadership by rallying nations to do their part and commit to rigorous emissions reduction targets. The science is clear – we must try to keep global temperature rise below 1.5C or the consequences will be catastrophic for human beings and for all life on earth.

Following the 2019 Humanists International Reykjavik Declaration on the Climate Change Crisis, humanists remain committed to supporting the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Paris Agreement and the work of the scientific, engineering, and activist communities around the world in tackling this crisis.

We support the Multi-Faith Declaration for COP26 (published September 2021) and believe that peoples of all religions and beliefs should come together to advocate for global climate justice. Climate and nature breakdown will affect peoples of all beliefs and will not respect national boundaries. It is therefore essential that we call for determined action from governments, particularly on the following:

• urgent action to prevent climate change and stay below a 1.5oC temperature rise;
• promoting climate justice including support and funding for countries in the Global South which are most affected by climate change and have done least to cause it;
• a swift transition to sustainable new ways of using resources and generating energy;
• facilitation and promotion of low-carbon lifestyles; and
• following the best available scientific evidence and advice and challenging disinformation about the climate crisis.

We support the stated aims of the COP26 Coalition and call for urgent progress to be made at COP26.