Faith
leaders hand over a statement signed by 154 religious leaders from
different faith groups to the Executive Director of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Christiana Figueres.
Photo Credit: ACT Alliance
[ACNS] As representatives from almost 200 countries conclude their
final round of negotiations in Bonn, Germany, this week, ahead of
December’s UN-led international conference on climate change in Paris; a
number of leading Anglicans and Episcopalians have put their name to a
statement calling for an ambitious climate agreement.
Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, Primate of Southern Africa; Presiding Bishop Francisco De Assis Da Silva from the Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil (Anglican Church in Brazil); the Rt Revd Juan David Alvarado Melgar and the Most Revd Armando Guerra Soria, Bishops of El Salvador and Guatemala in the Iglesia Anglicana de la Region Central de America (Anglican Church in the Central America region); the Rt Revd Nicholas Holtam and the Rt Revd Graham Usher, Bishops of Salisbury and Dudley in the Church of England; and Dr Agnes Abuom,
from the Anglican Church of Kenya and moderator of the central
committee of the World Council of Churches, are amongst a number of
Anglicans and 154 religious leaders who signed the statement that was
handed to negotiators this week.
In addition to calling for an ambitious climate agreement, the
statement urges all governments to commit to emission cuts and climate
risk reduction. They also pledge important contributions from their own
faith communities, including divestment from fossil energy.
The statement was handed to the UN’s executive director of the
Framework Convention on Climate Change, Christiana Figueres, on behalf
of the faith leaders by Cornelia Füllkrug-Weitzel, director of Bread for the World, Germany, and Karin Kortmann, vice president of the Catholic Lay Council of Germany.
“Guided by our religious beliefs, we as faith leaders have come
together to call for an ambitious Paris outcome,” Ms Kortmann said. “In
the past month the UN family has decided to take responsibility for
both, environment and humankind by approving the Agenda 2030.
“In Paris the heads of states and governments have the chance to give
evidence, how serious they are. The survival of millions of human
beings depends on them.”
And Ms Füllkrug-Weitzel said: “We urge governments to commit to
building climate resilience, phasing out fossil energies and reaching
zero emissions by mid-century. We call for a robust mechanism to review
and ratchet up ambitions, transparency and accountability rules
applicable to all, and the provision of finance and support to poor and
vulnerable countries.”
This faith leaders’ statement builds on a growing number of calls
from faith groups made throughout the past year, including the Pope’s encyclical Laudato Si’, the declaration of the New York Interfaith Summit, the Lambeth Declaration, and the Islamic declaration on climate change.
“Such calls mark the engagement of different faith groups working
together towards the same goals,” the ACT Alliance, which organised the
statement, said. “The message from faith groups is now unequivocal.”
- Click here to read the full statement and list of signatories on the ACT Alliance website.
