Christian climate scientists speak out

The summer heatwave across the northern hemisphere has seen almost uncontrollable forest fires break out from Canada to China, Algeria to Greece, as soaring, record temperatures hit the high-40°sC.

But as soon as the flames were doused, the question on many people’s minds was – to what extent are these record thermometer levels the result of human-made climate change?

en was given exclusive interviews by two leading Christian climate scientists in the search for answers. They are Jean-François Mouhot, Director of A Rocha France, a Christian creation-care organisation, and Dr Dave Gregory, an ordained Baptist minister and freelance Baptist Missioner for Science and Environment. He also leads the Baptist Union Environment Network and is a member of Christians in Science.

The two were first asked if what took place across Southern Europe had taken them by surprise. Mouhot was impacted directly, as his office is in the south of France and the two springs from which they get their water both dried up, for the first time ever. He said A Rocha has been warning about global warming for 20 years. But he found it difficult to live through the past few weeks as he never thought the taps would run dry so fast.

Gregory, who reminds us that the overwhelming majority of climate scientists believe the warming to be ‘unequivocally’ linked to human-caused rises in greenhouse gases, takes a similar view. He said: ‘June and July 2023 have been the warmest on record. But as well as average warming, climate models suggest one of the key indicators of climate change is an increase in the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events such as the July heatwave.’

New normal?

They were then asked if what happened on Rhodes and elsewhere will be typical of what will happen from now on? Or could it get even worse?

Mouhot agreed that these events will become more frequent, as models have predicted for 40 years. Both fires and floods will get worse because there is now more energy in the climate system. It will get worse everywhere, even in the UK. And he was especially surprised by the severity of the fires in Canada, which proves that no country is immune from this phenomenon.

Gregory agreed that many more such events are likely in future. In the current 1.2°C warmer world, such a heatwave would be expected about once every ten years and to be 2°C hotter in intensity. Limiting the rise in global temperature to 2°C was the target set at the 2015 Paris Climate Accord, but that is only achievable if we reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025. At the moment there is little or no prospect of that, so the world looks set to be 2–3°C degrees warmer by the end of this century. Were that the case, those heatwaves would occur every two to five years, he says. Such heatwaves, and the wildfires they cause, have substantial effects, destroying forests, farms, villages and towns along with people’s livelihoods and, sadly, lives. Extreme heat also leads to poorer health outcomes, since over 60,000 excess deaths were reported following the European heatwave of 2022.

What can Christians be doing?

They were then asked what should Christians be doing about climate change right now?

Gregory said: ‘Every follower of Jesus needs to be listening. Christian mission and development agencies have been speaking out on these issues for 20 years. Every day they hear stories of how the vulnerable and poor of the world are impacted by the shifting climate. We also need to listen to the voice of the young, many of whom are anxious about their future. Many of them may know more about climate change than their parents or their church leaders as they will have learnt about it in schools. Why not ask them to share with the church what they know and what their concerns are?’

Mouhot said we are starting late. But the first thing we need to do is to raise awareness about the basic injustice of climate change, how for example it affects African children so badly. The second is to mobilise Christians to campaign about it. The third is action, starting with prayer. It needs the Holy Spirit to guide us here, it is such a difficult issue and our whole way of life is now in jeopardy.