Brian Roewe

Brian Roewe is NCR environment correspondent. Much of his reporting appears at EarthBeat, NCR's journalism initiative on faith and climate change. He has covered environmental issues for NCR since 2011. His reporting has earned multiple honors, including from the Religion News Association and Catholic Media Association. Brian began with NCR in November 2011, and is a graduate of Saint Louis University and Rockhurst University.

By this Author

Plastic bottles float on the heavily polluted San Juan River, a tributary of Pasig River in Mandaluyong City, Philippines, June 21, 2021. (OSV News/Reuters/Eloisa Lopez)

Dec 05, 2024

Resolve remains for global plastic pollution treaty after talks fall short

Negotiations in South Korea were expected to deliver a treaty on plastics two years in the making, but the U.N. meeting adjourned early Dec. 2 with delegates for some 170 nations still deadlocked on key issues.

Climate activists hold a demonstration in response to a target for financing climate change responses under negotiation at the United Nations climate change conference, in Baku, Azerbaijan. The summit, called COP29, ultimately struck a deal for $300 billion by 2035 for developing countries. (UN Climate Change/Kiara Worth)

Nov 24, 2024

Catholic officials blast $300B COP29 climate finance goal as too little

Nearly 200 countries adopted a new financing target to assist developing countries respond to climate change at the United Nations climate change conference in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The annual United Nations climate change conference is being held this year in Baku, Azerbaijan. Called COP29, delegates from nearly 200 nations are expected to negotiate a new target for financing efforts related to climate mitigation, adaptation and loss and damage. (COP29)

Nov 11, 2024

Catholics head to COP29 climate summit seeking new finance, end of fossil fuels

Catholic and faith representatives will join global leaders and national delegates Nov. 11-22 in Baku, Azerbaijan, host to the United Nations climate change conference, COP29.

From left: Ellen Fisher, assistant director of the Catholic University of American in Tucson, Gabrielle Cardenas, a Catholic from South Tucson, Brian Eller, public health official for Pima County, and Tucson Bishop Edward Weisenburger take part in a March 18 event on air pollution at the University of Arizona in Tucson. (Courtesy of Bishop Edward Weisenburger)

Mar 20, 2024

Arizona bishop thanks Pope Francis for calling out US impacts on climate change

During an event at the University of Arizona March 18 Tucson Bishop Edward Weisenburger and other Catholics noted the local impact of new federal air quality standards.

A Citibank office in New York is shown in this Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021, file photo. Citigroup reported earnings on Friday, April 14. (AP photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

Apr 26, 2023

Citigroup shareholder support holds steady for Catholic sisters' resolution on climate, Indigenous rights

More than 31% of Citigroup shareholders supported a resolution brought by Catholic congregations that called for a review of the bank's financing policies around climate change and Indigenous rights. The vote took place April 25.

A Citibank location in Midtown Manhattan, New York (Wikimedia Commons/Tdorante10)

Apr 18, 2023

Catholic sisters press Citigroup to reexamine pipeline financing

The Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace are taking on Citigroup in a shareholder resolution after the global bank provided billions of dollars to a major oil company with a lengthy track record of spills.

St. Francis Convent, home of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Cross, is situated near Wisconsin's Bay of Green Bay, which flows into Lake Michigan. (Randy Kostichka/Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Cross)

Mar 14, 2023

For Catholic Sisters Week, Green Bay Franciscans raise up their charism to care for creation

As part of Catholic Sisters Week 2023, the congregation has been sharing examples of their ecological sustainability practices on social media as well as eco-centered prayers and suggestions for ways everyone can live in greater harmony with the rest of creation.

A "Climate Clock" is seen with the Maldives delegation during the closing plenary of COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, Nov. 20. (Flickr/UNclimatechange)

Nov 22, 2022

Last-minute COP27 deal on loss and damage called 'a real breakthrough'

Catholic groups welcomed the historic deal reached at the United Nations climate summit to establish a "loss and damage" fund for vulnerable countries, even while negotiations fell short in other areas, they said.

Loyola-Chicago basketball chaplain Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, poses with fans for a photo before the first half of a regional final NCAA college basketball tournament game on March 24, 2018, in Atlanta. (AP/David Goldman)

Mar 16, 2021

Fully vaccinated, Sister Jean gets her shot to return to March Madness

A year after it was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA basketball tournament is back. And Sr. Jean Dolores Schmidt, one of the sport's most beloved fans, will be back, too.

Tom Stang, right, meets retired Bishop Erwin Kräutler of Xingu, Brazil, at the Vatican's synod for the Amazon. Kräutler, a longtime environmental defender in the Amazon, was an ally of Notre Dame de Namur Sr. Dorothy Stang and presided at her funeral.

Dec 17, 2019

Q & A with Tom Stang, brother of Sr. Dorothy Stang

Vatican City - Tom Stang crossed paths with GSR in St. Peter's Square after the closing Mass for the synod for the Amazon — the part of the world his sister held dear and for which she gave her life.

Oct 08, 2019

Q & A with Sr. Juana Yakelin Vásquez Díaz, advocate for indigenous communities in the Amazon

For roughly eight and a half years, Sr. Juana Yakelin Vásquez Díaz has lived in the Amazon rainforest of northeastern Brazil. A human rights defender, she is well aware of the challenges facing the region's species and people, many of whom are farmers and live near the river.