Caritas Internationalis

By Christine Campeau,  UN Delegate, Caritas Internationalis The Copenhagen summit on climate change brought together 115 Heads of State and Government and more than 40,000 people applying for accreditation, which far exceeded the conference center’s 15,000 capacity, to reach a meaningful deal. No legally binding deal was reached and what was agreed fell sort of [...]

Rich countries’ words must match deeds on emission reductions Catholic development agencies call for integrity on final day of Copenhagen climate talks CIDSE and Caritas Internationalis, the largest development alliance in the world, say that the leak late yesterday of a UN report that proved that there is a significant gap between developed country rhetoric [...]

By Archbishop Celestino Migliore, Apostolic Nuncio, Head of the Holy See Delegation This conference reiterates how long it takes to create the clear and firm political will necessary to adopt common binding measures and adequate budgets for an effective mitigation and adaptation to ongoing climate change.

As all will have no doubt gathered from the media coverage, the COP has taken a number of unforeseen turns since the weekend, some predictable, some less so.

The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s announcement at Copenhagen today that the US will agree to $100bn per year for the poorest nations will help break the deadlock at the climate talks. Caritas England and Wales (CAFOD) Head of Climate Finance,Liz Gallagher representing Caritas and its sister network CIDSE in Copenhagen. She said: “Finally [...]

Tensions are mounting at UN talks on climate change in Copenhagen as world leaders head to the Danish capital. Talks went late into the night with little sign of compromise. Much work now faces the Heads of State as they arrive for the final days of the conference which wraps up on Friday. Civil society [...]

Read this entry in French Church bells in Copenhagen and across Denmark rang Sunday as part of a Caritas supported-campaign for climate justice. The bells tolled 350 times to mark the number that refers to what scientists say is a safe level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu led a rally in front of Copenhagen’s city hall to call for climate justice at the UN negotiations taking place here for two weeks. Thousands came to hear him speak and to witness a handover of over half a million signatures to the UN climate chief Yvo de Boer. Caritas and its [...]

Developments continue to come thick and fast as the first week of COP fifteen edges to a close. EU Heads of State were meeting in Brussels on Thursday and Friday with the Copenhagen conference high on the agenda. On the table was the proposal for the EU to move unilaterally from their 20% reduction commitment [...]