DAVID ADAMS reports…
Christian leaders have joined with those representing other faiths in calling for climate change to be on the radar of G20 leaders as they meet this weekend.
In an open letter to the G20 leaders – who have already started arriving for a summit in Brisbane on Saturday and Sunday – the religious leaders said that with the “best science” showing the burning of fossil field is driving global warming and so “threatening the long-term viability of life on earth”, they urged national leaders to “put climate change on the agenda”.
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TAKING A STAND: Sr Geraldine Kearney, Raja Jayaraman, Rabbi Jonathan Keren-Black, Kim Hollow, Bishop Stephen Pickard and Aunty Togiab McRose Elu representing various faiths at at the press conference. PICTURE: ARRCC “We must transition quickly to ways of living which respect the physical limits of the natural world. To do otherwise will result in unthinkable suffering, first among vulnerable people of the developing world, then among ourselves, our children and grandchildren.”– Anglican Bishop Stephen Pickard, of the Centre for Christianity and Culture at Charles Sturt University |
“We call upon all national leaders, even those of developing countries, to commit to a rapid transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy. It is entirely possible to create thriving economies that are also sustainable. To do otherwise will result in unthinkable suffering, first for our brothers and sisters already at high risk of climate-related disasters, then for our own children and grandchildren.”
Those who signed the letter included Rev Professor Andrew Dutney, president of the national assembly of the Uniting Church of Australia, Dr Beth Hyde, chair of the public affairs commission of the Anglican Church of Australia, Jacqui Remond, director of Catholic Earthcare Australia, Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammad, Grand Mufti of Australia, Professor Nihal Aghar, chairman of the Hindu Council of Australia, Kim Hollow, president of the Federation of Australian Buddhist Schools, and Rabbi Shoshana Kaminsky, chair of the Rabbinic Council of Progressive Rabbis.
In a press conference organised by multi-faith network, the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (ARRCC), in Brisbane yesterday, another of the signatories, Bishop Stephen Pickard, of the Centre for Christianity and Culture at Charles Sturt University, said economics “cannot reasonably be treated as somehow separate from the environment on which all life itself depends”.
“We must transition quickly to ways of living which respect the physical limits of the natural world. To do otherwise will result in unthinkable suffering, first among vulnerable people of the developing world, then among ourselves, our children and grandchildren.”
Bishop Pickard said while this will require “a concerted effort” to shift renewable energy forms, such a move was being thwarted by government subsidies for fossil fuel companies. “Governments are essentially providing incentives for companies whose products are destroying the biosphere,” he said.
Bishop Pickard also noted that Australia is the “worst example” of a wealthy country stepping back from its obligation to assist developing countries to adapt to the impacts of global warming.
“While wealthy countries are spending $US50 to $US90 billion annually on subsidies for fossil fuels, most are failing to put more than the most basic amounts on the table to meet their climate finance commitments. This is an up-ending of priorities. Wealthy countries must take a new direction if we are to have the binding international agreement the world so desperately needs.”
Meanwhile, in response to news that US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping had struck an historic deal aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Thea Ormerod, president of the ARRCC, told Sight that while the ambitions stated in the agreement – which would see China cap emissions for the first time and increase its share of zero emission non-fossil fuels to 20 per cent of its energy mix by 2030 and the US cut its emissions by 26 to 28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2025 – were “sufficient”, the significance of the announcement was in the “spirit of collaboration, and the buy-in at the top”.
“This is very different from the stand-off at Copenhagen, and subsequent negotiations being conducted largely by delegates,” she said. “This creates the foundation for greater ambition in the near future when climate change will be biting harder.
Ms Ormerod said the agreement that Australia is “being left well behind when countries with which we have important relationships are forging ahead, albeit slowly”.
“Our five per cent emissions reduction target is looking increasingly out of step. ARRCC indeed holds it is deeply irresponsible, especially for a nation which is relatively wealthy and whose population has one of the highest carbon footprints per capita in the world.”
For a video of the press conference, see www.vimeo.com/111682643.
