Many Americans draw, at least in part, upon their religious beliefs to guide their understanding and interpretation of climate change causes, impacts, and solutions. A new report that explores how American Christians view climate change examines the global warming beliefs, risk perceptions, policy preferences, and related moral values of three major groups of American Christians – Catholics, non-evangelical Protestants, and evangelicals. It also investigates how these groups currently view Pope Francis and the extent to which he is considered a trusted voice on the issue of global warming.

Nearly seven in 10 Catholics (69%) think global warming is happening, which is a slightly higher percentage than Americans as a whole (63%). A majority of non-evangelical Protestants also think global warming is happening (62%). Evangelicals are split between those who think it is happening (51%) and those who either don’t think it is (27%) or who don’t know (23%).

These are highlights of findings from the first report of a recently conducted national survey in the United States of America. It is titled: Climate Change in the American Christian Mind.

The report also finds that majorities of American Christians support policies that would help reduce global warming, including tax rebates for people who purchase energy efficient vehicles or solar panels (83% of Catholics, 80% of non-evangelical Protestants, and 74% of evangelicals), more research funding for renewable energy (81%, 81% and 73%, respectively), and requiring electric utilities to produce at least 20% of their electricity from wind, solar, or other renewable energy sources, even if it costs the average household an extra $100 a year (67%, 68% and 60%, respectively). They also express strong support for strict carbon dioxide limits on coal-fired power plants – the essence of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Clean Power Plan.

The study also included a number of questions on underlying moral and religious values related to climate change and the environment. For example, we found that most American Christians say the statement “God expects people to be good stewards of nature, which is not only here for human use” better reflects their views than the statement “God expects people to rule over nature, which is here for human use.” We also found that majorities of Catholics, Protestants, and evangelicals say it is important to them personally to care for future generations of people (82%, 82%, and 86% respectively), the natural environment (76% of each group), and the world’s poor (67%, 63%, and 77%), and that well over half of all Christians think reducing global warming will help future generations of people (67%, 60%, and 55%).

The report includes many more fascinating results, including measures of other religious values, trust in different religious leaders as sources of information about global warming, and current awareness (which is very low) about the Pope’s forthcoming encyclical on climate change and the environment.

With the submission by the United States of its climate action plan alongside those of Switzerland, the members of the European Union, Norway and Mexico, well over 30 countries have now made their contribution to the new, universal Paris climate change agreement of 2015.

Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said: “According to UNFCCC data, two thirds of industrialised countries covering 65 percent of greenhouse gas emissions from the industrialised part of the world have now set out their ambition for the new agreement which comes into effect in 2020 – importantly many of these contributions also speak to longer term aims representative of progressively increasing ambition over time.”

“Over the coming months, we expect many more nations to come forward to make their submissions public. The pace at which these contributions are coming forward bodes well for Paris and beyond,” she added.

More industrialised countries are expected to come forward with their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) over the next few months, followed by many developing countries.

Looked at from a global perspective using International Energy Agency data that takes CO2 from fuel combustion as a measurement proxy, the European Union countries, Switzerland, Norway, Mexico, and the United States account for approaching one third of world emissions.

World-wide Effort to Assist Developing Countries with Plans

In order to maximise the total number of nations contributing, a significant world-wide effort is underway to assist developing nations prepare their INDCs for submission, many of which are building on work linked with their Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) Governments, ranging from Australia, Germany and France to the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as UN agencies and intergovernmental organisations, are providing financial, technical and other assistance to around 100 developing countries.

These range from Bangladesh, Colombia, Senegal, Ethiopia and Gambia to Lebanon, Mali, Dominican Republic, Tunisia and Turkmenistan.

For example, the French government has committed around 3 million Euros to support the preparation of INDCs of approximately 20 Least Developed Countries including Small Island Developing States.

Other major players include the Global Environment Facility and the UN Environment Programme; the European Union through programmes such as Clima South, Clima East or ClimDev; Germany through the GIZ; and the US through various channels including the Low Emission Development Strategies
partnership.

Developed countries are also providing support through international initiatives and organisations such as the Low Emission Capacity Building (LECB) programme of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN).

“It is most encouraging to witness this government to government cooperation and how bilateral and multilateral organizations have stepped up and coordinated support to developing countries to ensure they get maximum benefit in preparing INDCs,” said Don Cooper, head of the UNFCCC’s Mitigation and Data Analysis programme.

“In order to deliver ambitious INDCs, countries and organisations have built on existing adaptation and mitigation planning and also specific policy processes to reduce energy consumption or promote clean energy and energy efficiency,” he said.

INDCs Initial Foundation of Long-Term Global Effort

Governments will reach a new, universal climate agreement in Paris, in 2015, which will come into effect in 2020. Their goal is an agreement where every country contributes now and into the future, based on national circumstances, to prevent global warming rising above 2C degrees and to adapt societies to existing and future climate change.

Ms. Figueres said: “In October we will produce a synthesis report aggregating the effect of all the INDCs submitted. The initial INDCs will clearly not add up to the emissions reductions needed to keep the global temperature rise under 2 degrees C, which is one reason why the Paris agreement must factor in a long term emission trajectory based on science”.

In addition Paris will need to outline how finance will be mobilised and scaled-up in order to support the action and ambition of developing countries now and over the decades to come.

Under the Lima-Paris Action Agenda, cooperative initiatives involving cities, business and others also need to be taken forward building on the many inspiring ones announced at the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Summit last September.

“In short ambition in Paris should reflect a progressive alignment of the global economy, over multi-decadal time periods, with what science is saying. This needs to be supported by an enabling financial and technological framework and subject to regular, rigorous reviews from 2020 onwards,” said Ms. Figueres.

“The pathway to success is today clear. A global peaking of emissions in the next decade, a deep de-carbonization of the economy world-wide and climate neutrality as soon as possible in the second half of the century. Paris has the potential, the promise and the responsibility to put the world on this ambitious but do-able path,” she added.

Recently in Cairo in Egypt, African Environment Ministers convened to discuss African’s Climate Change Challenge. On March 6 they agreed on a final declaration officially called “Cairo Declaration on Managing Africa’s Natural Capital for Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication.” Recognising the nexus between land productivity, food security and poverty eradication in Africa, they agreed to increase productivity in the use of natural resources in enhancing economic and social benefits for poverty reduction, job creation and sustainable development.  

The GEF CEO Naoko Ishii joined this high level meeting to present the GEF’s Integrated Approach Pilot programme on Fostering Sustainability and Resilience for Food Security in Sub Saharan Africa. With a growing population that will demand major increases in food production, the African continent is faced with increasing pressure on already fragile and stressed lands, and increase vulnerability of millions of smallholder farmers. 

“In a sense Africa is facing a perfect storm with food deficit, climate change impacts and rapid population growth,” Ishii said. “The key is to help small holders manage their natural capital in a sustainable manner—the land, soil, water, vegetation and genetic resources that are vital for continued and increased agricultural productivity.”  

The GEF as financial mechanism of global environmental conventions is well placed to help countries safeguard valuable ecosystem services that underpin sustainability and resilience of agricultural systems in the continent’s most vulnerable regions. The programme will engage a diversity of actors and partners at national and regional levels, to promote policy and investment options for scaling up interventions, and innovative tools for monitoring and assessment of ecosystem services. 

This approach will bridge the gap between traditional practices of smallholder farmers and intensified systems that seek higher yields, and at the same create opportunities to integrate environmental priorities into food production systems and food value chains. This in line with the commitment of countries to the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme of the Africa Union, and will be reinforced through a high-level partnership framework that involves development partners, scientific institutions, the private sector, foundations, and grassroots organisations.

Building a Solid Foundation for Sustainable Development

The Cairo Declaration is a reaffirmation of the vital role that Africa’s natural capital plays in underpinning sustainable and resilient development on the continent.  For more than two decades, the GEF has been a strategic partner supporting African countries to safeguard the continent’s natural capital. More than US$ 3 billion – nearly one third of all GEF resources to date – has been invested in Africa. In addition to major contributions to individual countries, the following represent a few highlights of regional efforts toward a solid foundation for:

• In the area of forest conservation, the GEF is working with six countries in Central Africa to implement the Strategic Program for Sustainable Forest Management in the Congo Basin, which is home to the world’s second largest tropical forest ecosystem, covering 1.7 million km² across the six countries.  
• Through the Strategic Investment Program (SIP) for Sustainable Land Management in Sub-Saharan Africa, the GEF mobilized the TerrAfrica platform to engage more than 25 countries in efforts to integrate and implement sustainable land management across multiple sectors, providing knowledge, analytical and policy support. 
• Building on the TerraAfrica platform, the GEF and the World Bank helped 12 countries to launch the Sahel and West Africa Program in Support of the Great Green Wall Initiative, which aims to expand integrated natural resource management in areas that are vulnerable to climate change. 
• In the area of fisheries and water resources management, the GEF has catalyzed several major efforts to promote multi-state cooperation in transboundary surface and groundwater basins. The Strategic Partnership for Sustainable Fisheries Management in the Large Marine Ecosystems in Africa includes (i) a Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund and (ii) regional programmes such as West African Regional Fisheries Program and the South West Indian Ocean Fisheries Program.
• Through the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) and the Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF), the GEF has invested some $750 million in 47 countries actions and initiatives to reduce the vulnerability of more than 10 million people and promote more resilient management practices on more than 2 million hectares of land.

Looking Ahead

As part of the GEF6 investment cycle, the GEF has proposed a series of initiatives and programs that will help support that will help support the Cairo Declaration on “Managing Africa’s Natural Capital for Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction.” Priorities such as valuation of natural capital, tackling the illegal wildlife trade, adaptation to climate change, sustainable use and management of water resources, and promoting a resilient fisheries industry are all priorities for GEF financing during this phase:

Within this GEF-6 programme, the GEF will:

• Launch an Integrated Approach Pilot programme to help countries safeguard valuable ecosystem services that underpin sustainability and resilience of food production systems in the continent’s most vulnerable regions. In addition to the Environment Initiative Action Plan, the program will support implementation of the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Program, which includes pillars on food security and land and water management. 

• Launch a specific programme to help countries pilot national-level interventions that link biodiversity valuation and economic analysis with development policy and finance planning. Such analysis will help to inform policy instruments and fiscal reforms for mitigating perverse incentives that lead to biodiversity loss. The GEF program also includes specific support to reform finance flows, for instance through public expenditure reviews, and to operationalise innovative finance mechanisms such as payments for ecosystem services, habitat banking, aggregate offsets, and tradable development rights and quotas.

• Support strengthening decision making processes including legislation and its implementation, strategic planning, and capacity of national agencies in Africa engaged in reducing poaching and illegal trade of tusks, horns, and associated by-products. 

• • support African governments and communities in their priority adaptation efforts across all of the most vulnerable development sectors: agriculture and food security, water resources management, coastal zone management and disaster risk reduction. Through regional and national investments in improved climate information services and early-warning systems, the GEF is also building the medium- and long-term capacities of African decision-makers to integrate climate change risks and adaptation options into policies, plans and budgets. 

• Support Africa’s Water Vision for 2025, “an Africa where there is an equitable and sustainable use and management of water resources for poverty alleviation, socio-economic development, regional cooperation and the environment.” 

• Continue to support regional action by funding the implementation of the Reform Strategy for Fisheries, by piloting an integrative approach to fisheries in West Africa, and by supporting national action promoting blue growth.