This year marks a significant crossroads for global climate action.
On the first day of his second term, President Trump issued an executive order withdrawing the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement. Since 2016, the agreement has sought to limit global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The withdrawal came just as 2024 was confirmed as the first year in recorded history to exceed this critical threshold.
Yet 2025 is also a year of significant anniversaries and profound spiritual renewal. It is a Jubilee Year, a time of hope and restoration. This year also marks the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home; the 800th anniversary of the “Canticle of the Creatures” by St. Francis of Assisi; and the 30th anniversary of the first meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The highly anticipated 30th U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP 30) will be held this year in Belém, Brazil, a country that is home to over half of the Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest. The conference aims to push forward meaningful collective action to address climate change, building on the progress of the last several conferences. While the United States’ withdrawal is a setback, the movement toward green energy is global and unlikely to be derailed by any single country, even one as large as the United States.
Meanwhile, regional actors within the United States are stepping up despite the about-face of the national government: Local and state governments and coalitions are advancing ambitious climate goals. The U.S. Climate Alliance, a bipartisan group of 24 governors, is working to secure a net-zero future by promoting state-led, high-impact climate initiatives. Together, these states represent 54% of the nation’s population and 57% of its economy.
Additionally, 17 cities including Los Angeles, Austin and Philadelphia, along with states such as Maine and California, have signed the “Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.” According to the website fossilfueltreaty.org, the treaty is designed to complement the Paris Agreement by halting fossil fuel expansion, managing an equitable phaseout of coal, oil and gas, and laying the foundation for a just transition where no worker, community or country is left behind.
This call to action invites a spiritual response. As the climate crisis accelerates, our Catholic tradition offers a path forward through pilgrimage — journeys that foster spiritual growth, build community and deepen our relationship with God. Inspired by this spirit, 18 Catholic groups, including the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, have joined in a campaign called “Pilgrimages of Hope for Creation,” with prayer walks organized across the country throughout the Season of Creation, Sept. 1 to Oct. 4.
COP 30 President-Designate André Aranha Corrêa do Lago wrote: “While we grieve human and material losses, 2025 must be the year we channel our sadness and indignation towards constructive collective action. Change is inevitable — either by choice or by catastrophe. If global warming is left unchecked, change will be imposed on us … If we choose to organize ourselves in collective action, we have the possibility of a different future.”
Thomas Gould is communications manager for the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns in Washington, D.C
Featured image: Members of the group RainDrop, which is part of the RainDrop Impact global network, plant trees in a forest of Ahuachapán, El Salvador, for a project supported by Catholic Relief Services. (OSV News/Oscar Leiva, Silverlight for CRS/El Salvador)
FAITH IN ACTION:
• Learn more about the pilgrimages at https://catholicpilgrimsofhope.org/
• Write to your state legislators to ask that your state join the Fossil Fuel Non- Proliferation Treaty: https://mogc.info/FFNPT
The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, based in Washington, D.C., is a resource for Maryknoll on matters of peace, social justice and integrity of creation, and brings Maryknoll’s mission experience into U.S. policy discussions. Phone (202) 832-1780, visit www.maryknollogc.org or email ogc@maryknollogc.org.
