Climate Working Group

The New York-based Climate Working Group of the Committee of Religious NGO's grew out of a monthly meeting of the Religious NGOs held in February of 2020 on Climate Change.  Interest and enthusiasm at this event, inspired New York faith-based NGOs to come together to work more comprehensively towards the up-and-coming United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP26 and also more broadly at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Thus, the group was formed.  This self-governed, informal group works closely with the Geneva-based Interfaith Liaison Committee (ILC) to the UNFCCC Secretariat.

Current triad co-chair team to help support the working group:   

● Beth Blissman, Loretto Community  

● Daniel Perell, Baha’ iI International Community  

● Julia Grindon-Welch, Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University

Climate Working Group Hub

● Complement the work of the Geneva-based Interfaith Liaison Committee of the UNFCCC and to serve as a New York-based work stream.  

● Conduct an annual orientation for FBOs with representation UN offices in New York to prepare for the UNFCCC COPs   

● Relate to and organize advocacy in connection with events at UN headquarters relevant to climate and environmental issues  

● Elevate the awareness and voices of our grassroots constituencies and illuminate the direct impact of climate change for the New York based international community.  

● Engage with other NY-specific UN processes that relate to climate advocacy, such as debt restructuring, climate finance, climate taxation, gender, human rights, indigenous peoples, HLPF, etc.   ● Seek opportunities for joint climate advocacy with existing New York based interfaith advocacy coalitions. 

● Dialogue with member state representatives and UN staff in New York to explore methods to raise ambition and explore the role of FBOs in strengthening national climate action.

Monthly CRNGO CWG meetings, are usually held the first Monday of the month from 10:00 – 11:00AM Eastern time . Included in a typical meeting is an update by the Interfaith Liaison Committee to UNFCCC (ILC), we report on different e vents connected to climate issues during the past month, highlight future events as well as focusing on the up-coming COP27, to be held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. 7-18 November 2022.