Faith leaders should promote disinvestment from fossil fuels

Sr Louise Poole, Ellen Teague

A UN climate chief has urged faith groups to disinvest from fossil fuels and “set the ethical foundations for tackling climate change”. In a talk at St Paul’s Cathedral in the City of London on 7 May, titled ‘Climate Change: Building the Will to Action’, the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, suggested that religious leaders should “set their moral compass to address the most daunting challenge of the 21st century”. Costa Rican Christiana Figueres said “religious institutions should align their financial assets with their spiritual assets” and help move human society towards a low carbon future.

She applauded faith initiatives which have moved in this direction, such as the Synod of the Church of England decision in February to review its investment policy on fossil fuels. She pointed to South African Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu who has called for an anti-apartheid style boycott and disinvestment campaign against the fossil fuel industry. In the US, 12 religious institutions have already divested from fossil fuels, and there is a growing student movement encouraging universities to do the same. Figueres also pointed out that divestment may be a question of morality, but it is prudent too as investments in clean energy are increasingly being shown to boost profits. The Churches Ethical Investment Group was listening carefully, being one of the organisers of the meeting.

Last month, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change confirmed that the effects of climate change are already widespread, costly and consequential – from the tropics to the poles, from small islands to large continents, and from the poorest countries to the wealthiest. The world's top scientists are clear: climate change is affecting agriculture, water resources, human health, and ecosystems on land and in the oceans. It poses sweeping risks for economic stability and the security of nations. Figueres reported on her recent visit to Nepal where the glaciers are melting, unstable lakes are forming, and people are facing the devastation of sudden floods. “Climate Change will wipe out our social developments of recent decades” she said; “overcoming poverty, caring for the sick and the infirm, feeding the hungry and a whole range of other faith-based concerns will only get harder in a climate challenged world".

When asked about the rumoured Pope Francis encyclical on the environment, she urged that we must not wait for it. Governments have agreed to secure a new universal agreement on climate change when they meet in Paris at the end of next year, but she would like to see the momentum building before then if a global temperature rise is to be kept under 2C.

Anglican Bishop James Jones chaired the meeting, and spoke of “building the will for action on climate change tonight”. One of the 1,200 people in attendance was Chris Bain, CAFOD’s Director. He said afterwards, “I liked the positive thrust of the evening, really trying to get us motivated for change and stimulating more public debate and action”. He pointed out that Figueres underlined that climate change is daunting but, in her view “solvable”. He liked her call to act out of love – “love for ourselves and for others” – which chimed well with the slogan of the new Climate Coalition, ‘For the love of… CAFOD is soon to run a campaign on Climate Change and Energy.

The evening saw the launch of the ‘Our Voices’ network which offers a pathway for contemplation, empowerment and action on climate change across faiths. An online petition went live at St Paul’s Cathedral on the evening. Catholic groups involved in Our Voices include CAFOD and Columban Missionaries, plus ecumenical Christian groups such as Christian Ecology Link and Operation Noah. Ellen Teague of the Columban missionaries and Sr Louisa Poole of Operation Noah were also in attendance at the St Paul’s talk.

For more information see: 

www.ourvoices.net
www.theclimatecoalition.org