Guest post by Guillermo Kerber, World Council of Churches
Care for creation and justice are at the centre of the World Council of Churches’ (WCC) work on climate change. The Bible teaches the wholeness of creation and calls human beings to take care of the garden of Eden. The God of the Bible is a God of justice who protects, loves and cares for the most vulnerable among his creatures. As faith communities we have an obligation to take a moral stand against activities that threaten creation.
The WCC started working on climate change in the early 90s, and over the years, the WCC has actively helped foster a movement for climate justice touching millions of people around the world. In 2009, for instance, as part of the first global day of action organised by the international climate campaign 350.org, the WCC encouraged member churches and congregations across the world to ring out 350 times their bells for climate justice. More than 2000 communities from Kiribati to Copenhagen responded positively to the call.
Since 2011 the fossil fuel divestment campaign has gained ground globally and some WCC member churches like the United Church of Christ in the United States, the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia or Church of Sweden have divested from fossil fuels.
For the last 6 months or so we have been reaching out to member churches in Europe, encouraging divestment from fossil fuels as a way for church communities to help achieve climate justice in the absence of political leadership. When former South African archbishop Desmond Tutu came out calling for divestment and boycotts of the fossil fuel industry, it was a clear signal that we could be doing more.
It is fair to recognize that it was the youth who advocated strongly at the Finance Committee of the Central Committee to include fossil fuels as one of the sectors where the WCC will not invest in. There are strong intergenerational aspects to climate justice and it is encouraging to see that young people all over the world are starting to take a stand. The general ethical guidelines for investment already included the concern for a sustainable environment, for future generations and CO2 footprint. But youth wanted to see fossil fuels explicitly mentioned.
Adding fossil fuels to the list of sectors where the WCC does not invest (together among others with weapons, nuclear energy, GMOs) the governing body of the WCC strengthened its commitment on climate change as expressed in various sessions of the Central Committee. The report of the Finance Policy Committee reads “The committee discussed the ethical investment criteria, and considered that the list of sectors in which the WCC does not invest should be extended to include fossil fuels”. The report was adopted by consensus by the 150 members of the Central Committee.
The decision taken by the Central Committee will certainly inspire member churches and other faith-based organizations to consider divesting from fossil fuels. We are aware, for instance, that in the United Kingdom, members of the Church of England and the Church of Scotland have been requesting them to divest from fossil fuels.
As said earlier, this decision by the WCC’s Central Committee should be seen in the context of a long term commitment to caring for creation and striving for climate justice. A relevant milestone in this pilgrimage will be next September, the Interfaith Summit on Climate Change, organized by the WCC together with Religions for Peace in New York. The summit, to take place immediately before the UN Climate Summit, will bring religious leaders from all over the world to express their concerns on the climate crisis, call the international community for effective action in the process towards the Climate Conference (COP 21) in Paris in December 2015 and commit to involve faith communities in the needed response. Divesting from fossil fuels is a concrete way faith communities have to show the consistency between what they preach and what they actually do.
Guillermo Kerber coordinates the World Council of Churches’ work on Care for Creation and Climate Justice.