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During ten days of dialogue, meetings, and collective mobilizations, Genevieve and Sasquia from the Office of Religious Congregations for Integral Ecology (ORCIE) actively engaged in COP30, highlighting the importance of embedding integral ecology within global climate negotiations and emphasizing the need for policies that advance justice for people and planet. 

Our meaningful time spent with the Sisters of St. Joseph in Brazil grounded the COP experience in the realities and perspectives of the Global South. These new relationships not only deepened our understanding of integral ecology but also strengthened our resolve to build bridges between communities in the Global North and South in pursuit of climate justice.

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Building Bridges at COP30: Highlights from Delegation Activities and Key Engagements

Integral Ecology and Religious Leadership

Sasquia Antúnez Pineda spoke at the Blue Zone panel Responding to the Global South Catholic Bishops Conferences’ Call for Climate Justice, which urged the Global North to address ecological debt, phase out fossil fuels, and reject false solutions to the climate crisis. She highlighted ORCIE’s commitment to integrating this call into future briefings and joining the Catholic Church in the Global South to build a historic North-South coalition for climate action, supporting the Ecclesial Observatory on Climate Justice.

Genevieve Gallant was invited to act as an advisor on Just Transition negotiations for the Holy See at COP30, reflecting ORCIE’s growing role in shaping faith-based climate advocacy.

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Engagement with Canadian Delegates

• ORCIE met with Canadian government representatives on multiple occasions during the first week of COP30, including Hon. Julie Dabrusin, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Hon. Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture, MP Patrick Bonin, and Senator Mary Coyle. 
• While the two Cabinet Ministers’ time in Belém was no more than a few days, we were able to join other civil society organizations asking questions and pushing for greater ambition and coherency in Canada’s claim to climate leadership. How can the Minister celebrate Canada’s new methane regulations while planning to abandon the oil and gas emissions cap and provide subsidies to LNG expansion?
• ORCIE engaged Canada’s chief negotiator, Jeanne-Marie Huddleston on the Belém Action Mechanism (BAM), pressing Canada to support the new coordination mechanism designed to align finance, social justice and labour rights with climate goals in the implementation of just transition plans.

From left to right: Elen Fonseca, St. Paul University, Hon. Julie Dabrusin, and Sasquia Antúnez Pineda, ORCIE

Building Catholic and Civil Society Networks

• ORCIE collaborated with long-standing partners— KAIROS, CAN-Rac, Development and Peace—while deepening ties with international Catholic organizations such as CIDSE, strengthening collective advocacy across Canadian civil society and the Church.
• ORCIE met with Latin American partners, including Caritas Internationalis and the Integral Ecology Research Network, opening pathways for future collaboration on the newly launched Ecclesial Observatory on Climate Justice.
• Participation in side events with debt justice organizations, highlighted the moral imperative of climate finance and the role of faith groups in advancing ecological justice.

Peoples’ Summit and Church Mobilization

• The unprecedented presence of cardinals, bishops, and Catholic organizations at COP30 highlighted the Church’s strong commitment to ecological justice and synodality culminating in a joint declaration that ORCIE proudly endorsed.
• Alongside the Sisters of St. Joseph, Brazil, we participated in the Peoples’ Summit, a powerful grassroot forum for social movement mobilization. 
• ORCIE joined more than 70,000 people in the November 15 global march for climate justice, standing shoulder to shoulder with grassroots movements, indigenous communities and people of faith.

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Reaffirming Dedication to Elevating Perspectives from the Global South

Our experience at COP30 reaffirmed that the path to climate justice must be shaped by the voices and realities of the Global South. Staying with the Sisters of St. Joseph in Brazil allowed us to witness firsthand the resilience of communities confronting climate impacts daily. Their lived experience, rooted in faith and integral ecology, provided a lens through which global negotiations could be understood not as abstract policy debates but as urgent matters of survival and dignity.

Participation in the Peoples’ Summit further highlighted the leadership of Indigenous partners and grassroots movements, whose wisdom and resistance are essential to building just transitions. These encounters reminded us that advocacy must go beyond technical solutions—it must honor the spiritual, cultural, and ecological knowledge of those most affected.

By weaving together relationships with the Sisters of St. Joseph in Brazil, the Indigenous people and communities, and Latin American Catholic networks, ORCIE is committed to ensuring that Canadian climate advocacy reflects the interconnectedness of our global community. Elevating these perspectives is not only an act of solidarity but also a prophetic call to reshape climate governance in ways that prioritize justice, equity, and care for our common home. Our ongoing work will continue to prioritize the voices of communities most affected by the climate crisis, ensuring that Canada’s climate policy reflects both global responsibility and local realities.

The Journey Continues: Advancing Integral Ecology Post-COP30

Canada’s showing at COP30 was disappointing and it was a shock to come back from Belém to news of public funding for an oil pipeline and regression on the oil tanker ban on the ecologically sensitive B.C. coast.  We will have to strengthen our advocacy and outreach to Canadian leaders because we are clearly missing the point of the challenge we are facing collectively. We need greater coherency in our response to climate change and real systemic change that will uphold justice and equity.” —Genevieve Gallant, ORCIE Executive Director

Stay tuned in the coming weeks for our analysis and reflections on COP30. The insights into the UN negotiations and Canada’s leadership gap will inform our advocacy efforts in Spring 2026 as we continue to push for climate justice.

Follow us on facebook to read more about our COP30 interventions: https://www.facebook.com/orcie.org

ORCIE has proudly joined three major Catholic and civil society sign-on statements at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, and we invite our member congregations to add their voices to this collective witness.

🌍 ORCIE at COP30: Standing Together for Climate Justice

This November, ORCIE participated as part of the civil society delegation at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, representing Religious Congregations. Our presence was rooted in our mission of integral ecology and solidarity with those most affected by the climate crisis. Alongside global partners, we signed onto three significant faith and civil society declarations that amplify the moral call for ecological conversion and climate justice.

1. From Belém, a Global Synodal Voice for Ecological Conversion (CIDSE)

This statement emerged from days of dialogue, prayer, and solidarity among bishops, cardinals, religious orders, and Catholic organizations at COP30. It calls for a renewed commitment to ecological conversion, echoing Pope Francis’ vision in Laudato Si’. The declaration emphasizes walking together in synodality, listening to the “cry of the earth and the cry of the poor,” and standing with marginalized communities—women, youth, migrants, and Indigenous peoples—who bear the heaviest burdens of climate change. Learn more here: From Belém, a global synodal voice for ecological conversion – CIDSE (Limited to organizations present at COP30, the registration is now closed)

2. Civil Society Equity Review 2025

Endorsed by nearly 350 organizations worldwide, this review underscores the urgent need for equity and fairness in the global climate framework. It critiques the insufficiency of current national commitments (NDCs) and emphasizes the central role of climate finance, just mitigation, and fair shares among nations.

By signing, ORCIE joins a broad coalition demanding that the Global North meet its fair share of responsibilities in the climate crisis, rather than continuing to place a disproportionate burden on the Global South through inadequate finance and mitigation efforts. The review calls for transformative changes in global governance, economic systems, and fossil fuel dependency to confront the root causes of climate inaction—deeply tied to historical injustices and extreme inequality.

👉 We encourage congregations to sign as organizations, strengthening the moral demand for equity in climate policy. 🔗 Learn more and sign on: Civil Society Equity Review 2025

3. Religious Life for Climate Justice: Turning Hope into Action (EcoJesuit)

This campaign statement and policy brief unite religious congregations worldwide in urgent advocacy. It calls for debt cancellation, strengthening the Loss and Damage Fund, advancing a just energy transition, and promoting sustainable food systems rooted in agroecology. Inspired by Laudato Si’, it frames climate justice as both a social and ecological imperative. Already, hundreds of congregations have endorsed this campaign, amplifying the prophetic voice of religious life at COP30 and beyond.
👉 We invite our member congregations to sign on, adding weight to this collective moral witness. 🔗 Learn more and sign on: Religious Life for Climate Justice: Turning Hope Into Action – Ecology and Jesuits in Communication

✨ Invitation to Our Member Congregations

By signing these declarations, ORCIE has joined a global chorus of faith and civil society voices calling for justice, solidarity, and ecological conversion. We now invite our member congregations to sign on as congregations to these initiatives. Doing so will:

• Strengthen the collective Catholic and ecumenical witness at the global level.
• Amplify the moral call for climate justice in Canada and internationally.
• Show solidarity with communities most impacted by the climate crisis.

Together, we can embody integral ecology and live out our mission of justice and care for creation.

The Office of Religious Congregations for Integral Ecology (ORCIE) is proud to announce that from November 10 to 17, 2025, a delegation from ORCIE — Geneviève Gallant, Executive Director, and Sasquia Antúnez Pineda, Advocacy & Communications Officer — will join thousands of world leaders, civil society organizations, and faith-based advocates at the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP30).

ORCIE’s participation in COP30 reaffirms our commitment to climate justice and to the Global South’s moral call for recognition of ecological debt. By engaging Catholic networks, Canadian policymakers, and global partners, we seek to bring these voices into Canada’s climate conversation and inspire action grounded in justice and care for creation.

Our work at COP30

During the conference, the ORCIE delegation will:

• Work in close collaboration with Sister Eliana Aparecida dos Santos of the Congregation of St. Joseph in Brazil, who is graciously hosting us and participating alongside us in COP30 events.
• Attend key UNFCCC side events and CAN-Rac working group meetings following negotiation streams on Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), adaptation, and climate finance.
• Engage Canadian government delegates on issues of ecological debt, loss and damage, and fair financing for global climate action.
• Gather stories and perspectives from faith and civil society partners in the Global South for our Global South Voices project.
• Participate in the People’s Summit and Day of Action events, amplifying messages of solidarity, faith, and ecological justice.

Highlight: ORCIE Staff Will Join COP30 Panel on Global South Bishops’ Call for Climate Justice

We are proud to share that ORCIE staff member, Sasquia Antúnez Pineda, a Honduran-Canadian with lived experience across the Global South and North, will speak on the second panel of the side event “Responding to the Global South Catholic Bishops Conferences’ Call for Climate Justice” on Tuesday, November 11, from 4:45–6:15 p.m. (3:45–5:15 p.m. ET) in the Blue Zone.The event will explore the joint statement A Call for Climate Justice and the Common Home, from the Catholic Bishops Conferences of Asia, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean released in June 12, 2025, which calls on the Global North to recognize its ecological debt, phase out fossil fuels, and resist false solutions to the climate crisis.

Drawing on her bi-national perspective and her work on ecological debt, Sasquia will reflect on how insights from Global South civil society can inform Canadian faith-based advocacy, connecting the Bishops’ moral appeal to ORCIE’s work for ecological justice and Canada’s responsibility to act in solidarity for our common home.

Why we’re going

“COP30 is an opportunity for ORCIE to stand in solidarity with the people of the Global South—those most affected by ecological breakdown yet least responsible for it. We will represent the voices of our Catholic religious congregation members and amplify their call for climate justice.”

Geneviève Gallant

ORCIE Executive Director

“By witnessing the negotiations firsthand, we can bring back grounded insights and lived experiences that will give weight and authenticity to ORCIE’s advocacy in Canada. The connections and stories we gather in Belém will inform our briefings, media work, and legislative engagement well into 2026.”

Sasquia Antúnez Pineda

Advocacy & Communications Officer

Carrying the momentum home

The insights and relationships built at COP30 will directly shape ORCIE’s spring legislative advocacy with the federal government, grounding our policy recommendations on Canada’s Nationally Determined Contributions, climate finance, and Loss and Damage commitments in lived experience and moral perspectives from the Global South.

Through post-COP reports, presentations and media, ORCIE will share lessons and reflections with our member congregations and supporters across Canada.

Stay updated on our COP30 journey—follow ORCIE on social media: www.facebook.com/orcie.org and www.instagram.com/orcie.bcrei/

Save the date! Join us on February 12, 2026, at 1 PM EST for ORCIE’s Post-COP30 Reflections Webinar — where we’ll share insights, stories, and next steps for legislative advocacy in Canada.

REGISTER HERE: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tTIvnj8MTgeGWP6VFKtv-A#/registration

The UN annual summit COP30 will be held in the Amazon, in the city of Belém. Photo: Rafa Neddermeyer/COP30 Amazônia/PR)