Archbishop Justin addresses faith leaders ahead of COP26

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has addressed the first of a series of online meetings between international faith leaders in preparation for the COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow in November 2021.

The Archbishop said: "The Covid-19 pandemic has forced the world to look at how we have been living and operating, when so much of what was considered ‘normal’ was not possible. We have been confronted by our behaviour: by our sin; our greed; our human fragility; our exploitation of the environment and encroachment on the natural world. For many this uncertainty is new. But many more around the world have been living with uncertainty for decades as the grim, real and present consequence of climate change. To think it is a problem of the future rather than a scourge of the present is the blind perspective of the privileged. We look around and see that Mozambique has been hit again by tropical storms. In Nigeria, desertification has contributed indirectly to conflict between people competing for dwindling resources. Floods and cyclones have devastated crops in Melanesia, risking poverty and food insecurity.

"But the pandemic has also revealed our capacity for change; the opportunities for repentance; the potential for hope amidst suffering.  We have learnt much about our interconnectedness, and our need for one another. It has been a revelation to many of us: we cannot go on as we have been."

You can read the transcript of his remarks as delivered here.