Faith group urge government to change direction on energy policy

On Ash Wednesday, the ecumenical charity Operation Noah will call on the Government to change the direction of its Energy Bill, currently going through parliament. On this day, when Christians traditionally repent of their sins, the group believes the Government should show true repentance – metanoia – involving a change of mind and purpose in its energy policy.

It is one year since Operation Noah published the Ash Wednesday Declaration – Climate change and the purposes of God: a call to the Church. One practical outworking of this declaration is the call for a decarbonised economy in the UK by 2030. In the last year, the Government has issued an Energy Bill that fails to set adequate targets for reduction in carbon emissions and gives a green light for the building of more gas-fired power stations, locking us in to fossil fuels several decades into the future. However, it is clear that urgent action is needed to completely turn the world’s energy infrastructure around from fossil fuels to renewables. Reports from organisations such as PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the World Bank and the International Energy Agency have issued urgent calls for action to reduce carbon emissions yet the UK Government is not heeding the warnings.

Isabel Carter, Chair of Operation Noah said: "The UK Government, like many others, assumes that short-term economic policy takes priority over the laws of nature and the laws of physics! Our fragile earth has alarm bells ringing all around. How much longer will we continue to ignore them?"

Operation Noah calls again for the Churches to make care for God’s creation a primary factor in the Church’s mission, and to join them in calling for the Government to take a lead in working for a sustainable world.

For more information on Operation Noah see: www.operationnoah.org

To read the Ash Wednesday Declaration go to: www.operationnoah.org/ash-wednesday-declaration