Why COP26 is key

Interview by Sarah Parkinson

The year 2020 was supposed to be the year our world consolidated its commitment to take on climate change. Last year marked five years since the landmark Paris climate agreement, where the world came together in support of limiting global warming to 1.5℃ above pre-industrial levels by 2030. The 2020 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, was to be held last November in Glasgow, UK, but has been rescheduled to 1-12 November 2021.

We recently sat down with Julia Kendal, Senior Policy Associate from Tearfund UK’s Global Advocacy Team, to learn why this rescheduled COP26 is so vital in addressing climate change and how the global church can get involved in the lead up.

Latin America speaks up for the environment

By Sarah Parkinson

Despite all the health and socioeconomic challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic across Latin America, Renew Our World continues to advocate for the protection of our planet.

Supporting migrants and agricultural workers in Peru

By Sarah Parkinson

Paz y Esperanza (Peace and Hope) leads the Renew Our World campaign in Peru. Amidst the pandemic and recent political turbulence in the country, Paz y Esperanza has been providing support to vulnerable migrant and agricultural workers.

Peru

Peruvians Take to the Streets

By Sarah Parkinson

Paz y Esperanza (Peace and Hope) lead the Renew Our World campaign in Peru. Throughout recent political turbulence in the country, Paz y Esperanza has been part of a movement of Peruvians fighting for a more just, democratic and transparent government.

The Most Rubbish Companies

Revealed: the most rubbish companies

Our world has a rubbish problem, and it’s hitting people living in poverty the hardest. Companies sell billions of single-use plastic products in countries where waste isn’t collected. They know full well that communities will have no choice but to live among this rubbish or burn it – leading to health problems and climate change.

We are also seeing that Covid19 is hitting the poorest communities that already face big health and environmental challenges. Our new report, The Burning Question, reveals how the burning of plastic waste is leading to respiratory diseases as well as climate change.

In response to this, over 40,000 of us have joined Renew Our World’s Rubbish Campaign and called on multinational companies to improve this rubbish situation by taking responsibility for the plastic waste mountains their products are creating.

Some of the companies have begun to move in the right direction, though there is still a long way to go. However, two companies, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, are hardly off the starting line when it comes to taking responsibility for their plastic pollution. You can see a League Table of how the companies are performing here.

This isn’t good enough. Act now to send Coca-Cola and PepsiCo a message telling them to get a move on.

If other companies can take action, why shouldn’t they?

Please fill in your details in order to send an email to Coca-Cola and PepsiCo telling them to take action to reduce their plastic waste.

The Most Rubbish Companies

Dear James Quincey, Coca-Cola, and Ramon Laguarta, PepsiCo,

I am writing to urge you to tackle the plastic waste crisis. Recently Renew our World spoke to several people in Tanzania about the effect of the crisis on their health and livelihoods, and their stories were heart-breaking.  For example Royda, who lives with her three children near a dump where plastic and other waste is burned said this:

‘when it is on fire, the smoke is so dark and huge that you can’t see the person in front of you or the house next to you. Because of that smoke I get breathing problems and coughing, and eye problems too.’

Both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are lagging behind other multinational companies in the race to tackle plastic pollution, when you should be leading. Unilever has made much more ambitious commitments than you, even though you operate in a sector (beverages) where refillable and reusable packaging is already a proven technology.

Your companies are also amongst the biggest plastic polluters in the world, so you bear the biggest responsibility for tackling this crisis. For example, across just six developing countries, Renew our World has estimated that Coca-Cola and PepsiCo create more than 300,000 tonnes of plastic pollution each year, enough to cover 55 football pitches every day.

You are still selling single-use plastic in many poorer countries that don’t have rubbish collection. This means that people are often forced to burn or live among their waste, contributing to disease and sickness, as Royda describes above.

Single use plastic is contributing to climate change too - Renew Our World has calculated that the open burning of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo’s plastic products in just six countries emits 3.8 million tonnes of CO2e - more than 1.5 million cars.

50,000 people so far have called on you to act urgently through Renew Our World’s international campaign. We have urged you to make 4 ‘Not Rubbish’ Commitments - yet these have not been made.

These are:

Report, by 2020, on the number of units of single-use plastic products you use and sell.
Reduce this amount by half, by 2025, and instead use environmentally sustainable options like refillable or reusable containers.
Recycle the single-use plastics you sell here, ensuring that by 2022 one item is collected for every one sold, as part of adequate systems for collection, re-use, recycling and composting in communities that currently lack these systems.
Restore dignity through working in partnership with waste pickers to create safe jobs. Around the world, there are numerous examples of companies partnering with waste pickers to establish collection and recycling systems that are good for society and the environment.

I am writing to you as a member of the global Renew Our World campaign to urge you to take the lead in making our country a cleaner and healthier place to live. I look forward to receiving your response.

Yours faithfully,

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Why COP26 is key

Interview by Sarah Parkinson

Latin America speaks up for the environment

By Sarah Parkinson

Despite all the health and socioeconomic challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic across Latin America, Renew Our World continues to advocate for the protection of our planet.

Supporting migrants and agricultural workers in Peru

By Sarah Parkinson

Peru

Peruvians Take to the Streets

By Sarah Parkinson

Love is not in Lockdown

By Sarah Parkinson

Sarah lives in Melbourne, Australia and is a Digital Online Content Author for Renew Our World. She’s also a physiotherapist, a keen hiker and loves exploring this world. Throughout the pandemic, Sarah has been seeking out hints of goodness amidst all that is challenging. Read her reflections on how love has been breaking through in her community this year.

One Typhoon Too Many

Patricia Pagulayan, Tearfund’s communications officer for Asia, gives a first-hand account of a typhoon that struck the Philippines on 11 November 2020.

A Prayer for Our World

Imagining Jubilee in Southern Africa

Every year from September 1 to October 4, Christians across the world celebrate the Season of Creation. We spend time together and apart, prayerfully and practically renewing our relationship with our Creator God and all of His good creation. By Sarah Parkinson.