On 18th April 2016, an interfaith statement calling for urgent action on climate change will be presented to the President of the UN General Assembly in New York. FEN welcomes this call for action, and we encourage members of the public to sign the statement here.
According to their website, the six key points of the statement are:
Six Key Points within the Interfaith Climate Change Statement:
- Urge governments to rapidly sign, ratify and implement the Paris Agreement, and to increase pledges to reduce emissions in line with keeping the global temperature rise to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels;
- Insist on rapid emissions reduction and peaking by 2020, in order to keep the 1.5C goal within reach;
- Strongly advocate for greater flows of finance, especially for adaptation and loss and damage;
- Urge the swift phase out of all fossil fuel subsidies and a transition to 100% renewable energy by 2050;
- Encourage faith communities to reduce emissions in their homes, workplaces and centres of worship and to support and stand in solidarity with communities already impacted by climate change; and
- Call for fossil fuel divestment and reinvestment in renewables and low carbon solutions, including within our own communities, and/or by engaging companies on climate change.
The Interfaith Statement on Climate Change reiterates much of what was declared in the FEN Statement on Climate Change which was produced in 2007. For example, the signatories state that "governments must accelerate climate action before 2020". The FEN statement echos this:
We support policies at all levels of government, business and non-government groups that show leadership in addressing accelerated Climate Change for present and future generations.
Read the full FEN Statement on Climate Change by a Coalition of Believers here.