The World Council of Churches (WCC) has called on “the whole ecumenical family” to keep pushing the international community for a “fair, ambitious and binding agreement” on climate change, in view of the UN climate summit to take place in Mexico in December.
The UN climate summit in Copenhagen failed to “reach the expectations of the ecumenical movement and the larger civil society”, the WCC executive committee said in a minute issued at the end of its 23-26 February meeting in Bossey, near Geneva, Switzerland.
“Disappointed with the outcome” of the talks in Copenhagen, the WCC executive committee has outlined a proposal of continued collaboration amongst ecumenical partners towards the next conference of parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Mexico (COP16).
The WCC member churches, as well as specialised ministries and other ecumenical partners were encouraged “to strengthen further their commitment and to foster their co-operation with regard to climate change, especially in the process towards and at COP 16 in Mexico”.
According to the WCC executive committee, a fair climate deal should include “the recognition of the historic responsibility for the CO2 [carbon dioxide] emissions of industrialised countries, a measurable commitment to have a maximum of 350 ppm [parts per million] of CO2 in the atmosphere, concrete ways of adaptation, mitigation, technology transfer and funding”.
The churches are concerned about climate because of its “life-threatening effects, especially on the poor and vulnerable communities in many parts of the world, such as the low-lying islands of the Pacific or the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa region”, the WCC minute says.
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