Leaders from over 150 countries across the globe spent the past two weeks in Paris at a United Nations conference on climate change (COP21), attending workshops, listening to speakers, and working towards reaching a new universal climate agreement.

Also present to learn and observe were intergovernmental bodies, journalists, and representatives from international civil society, including a CRC delegation.

Joe Oh, a World Renew employee who attended the conference, reflected on his experiences in a blog post, writing, “As Christians, we must take action not only because world leaders have come together to tackle climate change, but because we have a God-given obligation to care for the earth.” (See the rest of the article here.)

In the time leading up to COP21, the Christian Reformed Church implemented a Climate Witness Project, encouraging congregations to think about and discuss the challenges posed by climate change and to follow the global conversation surrounding the topic.

Tackling climate change is one of seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that the United Nations is phasing in this year, taking the place of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that have been in place since 2000.

Much of the global work of World Renew already aims to achieve the SDGs, which include goals like global gender equality, environmental stewardship, and tackling poverty. Each larger goal has several sub-goals, as well as measurable targets to gauge progress towards their fulfillment.

One SDG is to “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.” World Renew supports maternal and child health programs in Africa, Central America, and Southeast Asia. World Renew is also active with HIV and AIDS programs in these regions, offering help to those living with the illness, their caregivers, and their children.

Another of the SDGs is to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls, and World Renew wholeheartedly supports that effort, believing that community transformation is unachievable if one sex is left behind. To that end, World Renew is involved with gender justice programs, partnering with organizations that help women become involved in the democratic system in Kenya, educate girls to challenge gender norms in Senegal, and raise awareness about human trafficking in Bangladesh.

World Renew’s programs also support the goals of providing clean water and sanitation, encouraging environmental stewardship, and promoting sustained economic growth and employment opportunities. Through community development initiatives and Disaster Response Services, World Renew is able to work with communities in need to establish a path towards long-term growth.

The work World Renew does is not in a vacuum; other organizations, as high up as the United Nations, are setting similar goals and promoting similar programs. And this is in fact the final SDG: “Revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.”