James Bhagwan Photo: Screengrab: Twitter.com/ForumSec
The Pacific Conference of Churches has endorsed the fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty and is now encouraging others to follow suit.
Secretary-general Reverend James Bhagwan said his organisation has been fighting for climate finance alongside a phase-out of fossil fuels.
"We still need to look at the mitigation and our Pacific churches have said consistently that finance for adaptation and finance for loss and damage, without concrete movement on mitigation is basically blood money.
"We're talking about from a Christian perspective 30 pieces of silver."
The loss and damage fund was established at the start of the UN climate meeting which will see wealthy countries help vulnerable countries rebuild social and physical infrastructure after extreme weather events.
There's been criticism the amount pledged is far less than of what is needed, with one study suggesting the true cost is greater than US$400bn annually.
It's Bhagwan's fourth COP and he's aware of criticism that negations are not resulting in tangible impacts to communities.
"The pledges that keep getting made need to actually translate into money in the bank," he said.
"One of the negotiators I was talking to said that they wish that people who made the pledges were sitting there with their internet banking on so that they would actually have to physically transfer that money."
Commitment from faith-based groups
As well as pushing Pacific climate agendas, Bhagwan said he also carries out pastoral care for those in the meetings.
"It's not the cozy trip that some people would imagine," Bhagwan said.
"Our negotiators work very hard, there's a lot of frustration, there's a lot of long hours, there's a lot of literal fighting to get the key things approved."
Bhagwan said his faith is the starting point of his work as an environmental activist.
"We have been given the role of stewardship and guardianship and as a Pacific Islander recognising our relationship with the land and sea.
"That is the moral and ethical basis for what I do, I cannot ignore what is happening in our communities."
Bhagwan said there is strong commitments from faith communities of all religions at the meeting.
"We see that growing and strengthening," he said.
"It is recognising also that, as in the Pacific, 80 percent or more of people in the world are affiliated with some type of faith, community or spirituality.
"The challenge for us is how do we mobilise that? How do we call people of faith into action?"
Bhagwan said apocalyptic language in the Bible referred to more spiritual issues, but it was interesting "seeing some things playing out".
"There are some who actually want this sort of thing to happen so that Jesus returns.
"But we don't have to wait for those big things to happen, we're already seeing people suffer, we're already seeing people experience loss of life, loss of land, loss of home, loss of identity.
"It's not about the world ending, it's about their world ending."
