Austrian Bishops' Conference announces divestment from fossil fuels

A recent climate protest in Graz, Austria

With climate change having a noted impact on water supplies around the world, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, Chairperson of the Austrian Bishops' Conference, choose today, World Water Day, to announce that the Episcopal Conference of Austria will divest from all businesses that extract or produce fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and natural gas.

This decision includes all financial investments of the bishops' conference, all Austrian dioceses, and all other institutions within their sphere. "By signing the divestment commitment of the Global Catholic Climate Movement (GCCM) the Austrian Bishops' Conference joins the global divestment movement of over a thousand institutions; this is a prophetic step that consequently follows the undeniable truth that burning all known fossil fuel reserves will lead us to unthinkable catastrophes", said Anja Appel, director of the Coordination Office of the Austrian Bishops' Conference.

Around the world, Catholic institutions have been leaders in taking concrete steps to address the climate crisis. Austria is the third bishops' conference to announce its divestment from fossil fuels, following Belgium and Ireland.

These bishops' conferences join nearly 120 other Catholic institutions that have divested, including large German Catholic banks. These Catholic institutions are the leaders in a global total of over 1,000 institutions, valued at over $8.5 trillion, that have divested.

In a nation where half the population identifies as Catholic, the Austrian decision comes on the heels of a Vatican conference on the UN's sustainable development goals, which include urgent action on climate change, and follows strong statements from Pope Francis about energy use, such as his statement to fossil fuel CEOs that "civilisation requires energy use, but energy use must not destroy civilization!"

In November 2018, the president of Austria met Catholic pilgrims on a 1,500-km trek from the Vatican to the UN climate talks in Poland, and spearheaded the Declaration for Climate Ambition that was signed by 19 heads of state. Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, Chairperson of the Austrian Bishops' Conference, said that the "financial means of the Church must not exert a destructive influence on our planet's climate."

Bishop Werner Freistetter, responsible for International Church Affairs, welcomed the announcement of the Bishops' Conference. "From the perspective of integral ecology, the logic of profit can no longer be the sole benchmark for economic activities, while ignoring moral obligations," he said. "We call on other institutions to join the divestment movement with their pledges in order to maintain our common home for current and future generations."

By adopting ethical investment guidelines in 2017 the Catholic Church in Austria already took an important step towards aligning financial investments of Catholic institutions with care for our common home.

Tomás Insua, executive director of Global Catholic Climate Movement, applauded the news:

"The Austrian Bishops' Conference' divestment from fossil fuels is a prophetic stand for climate justice. The global Catholic community is taking bold leadership to protect the vulnerable people who urgently cry out for change. We have only a few short years to turn the arc of greenhouse gas emissions downward, and this visionary leadership by the bishops of Austria is a huge step in the right direction."

Anja Appel said: "We Christians and our institutions have the responsibility to care for creation and work towards global justice. We are among the part of the world's population which produces the biggest share of greenhouse gas emissions and therefore naturally we need to fight its main cause - the use of fossil fuels. This important step shows the Austrian bishops' coherent effort to meet the demands of the Paris Climate Accord."

Links:

http://brightnow.org.uk/blog/

https://catholicclimatemovement.global/