World Council Of Churches Divests From Fossil Fuels

[bananas]

Source: Huffington Post

The World Council of Churches, which represents over 500 million Christians in more than 110 countries, has decided to divest from fossil fuels, reports The Guardian.

<snip>

Guillermo Kerber, the WCC programme executive on Care for Creation and Climate Justice, explained, "The general ethical guidelines for investment already included the concern for a sustainable environment, for future generations and CO2 footprint. Adding fossil fuels to the list of sectors where the WCC does not invest in serves to strengthen the governing body’s commitment on climate change as expressed in various sessions of the Central Committee.”

The fossil fuel divestment movement is ramping up worldwide, faster than any previous divestment campaign, and this decision by the WCC may resonate with other religious institutions. In May, United Nations climate head Christiana Figueres called on religious leaders to take a strong stance on climate change, calling it "one of the great humanitarian issues of our time."

<snip>

The WCC follows other noteworthy religious institutions who have decided to divest from fossil fuels. New York City's Union Theological Seminary voted unanimously in June to stop investing in fossil fuels. The Unitarian Universalist Association joined the divestment movement in June as well, and the United Church of Christ passed a fossil fuel divestment strategy in July of 2013.

<snip>

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/11/world-council-of-churches-divests-fossil-fuels_n_5579085.html

[bananas]

1. World Council of Churches endorses fossil fuel divestment

http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=25137

World Council of Churches endorses fossil fuel divestment
Posted: Friday, July 11, 2014 10:31 pm

The Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC), a fellowship of over 300 churches which represent some 590 million people in 150 countries, endorsed fossil fuel divestment this week, agreeing to phase out its own holdings and encourage its members to do the same. The WCC Central Committee is made up of dozens of influential religious leaders from around the world, meaning the decision could resonate far and wide.

<snip>

The endorsement is a major victory for the fossil fuel divestment movement, which has seen a surge of momentum amongst religious institutions over the last few months. In recent weeks, the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly in the United States committed to divest, the University of Dayton in Ohio became the first Catholic institution to join the campaign, and the Church of Sweden have come out in favour of divestment.

“Scripture tells us that all of the world is God’s precious creation, and our place within it is to care for and respect the health of the whole,” said Serene Jones, the President of Union Theological Seminary in the US, which recently committed to divest its entire $108.4 million endowment from fossil fuels. “As a seminary dedicated to social justice, we have a critical call to live out our values in the world. Climate change poses a catastrophic threat, and as stewards of God’s creation we simply must act.”

At the national level, the United Church of Christ in the US and the Quakers in the UK have also endorsed divestment. Regionally, Lutheran, Quaker, and Episcopal denominations have also joined the effort in the US. In New Zealand and Australia, the Anglican Church has led the way, with many local dioceses and the entire Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia committing to divestment.

One of the most powerful advocates for fossil fuel divestment has been Nobel Peace-Prize winner and former South African Anglican Archbishop, Desmond Tutu, who recently called for an “anti-apartheid style boycott of the fossil fuel industry”.

<snip>

[delrem]

2. This is good news.

k&r

[skepticscott]

3. That's nice, but

are they also going to stop using them?

[iandhr]

4. Are you?

[skepticscott]

5. Of course not. Neither are you

And neither is anyone on this site. But I'm not taking any credit for what I AM doing, and I don't think this group deserves any. Good for PR, and it may make them feel good about themselves, but the reality is, too little, too late

[olddad56]

6. we are not going to stop using them, but we could sure stop using one brand for a month at a time.

if only we have a serious consumer union in this country, the 99% could wield a lot of power.

[skepticscott]

7. What brand? Gasoline? Guess again

Even if you could, so what? It's not about hurting BP or Shell or the Koch brothers. The buildup of greenhouse gases will continue regardless.

[bananas]

8. As Al Gore recently pointed out, "it is now clear that we will ultimately prevail. The only question

"it is now clear that we will ultimately prevail. The only question is how quickly we can accelerate and complete the transition to a low-carbon civilization."

"For consumers, this good news may soon get even better. While the cost of carbon­ based energy continues to increase, the cost of solar electricity has dropped by an average of 20 percent per year since 2010. Some energy economists, including those who produced an authoritative report this past spring for Bernstein Research, are now predicting energy-price deflation as soon as the next decade."

The Turning Point: New Hope for the Climate
It's time to accelerate the shift toward a low-carbon future
By Al Gore, June 18, 2014
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101695961

By divesting, they accelerate the change.

Decreased demand for the stock makes the stock worth less, resulting in other people divesting on financial grounds.

Divestment also makes that money available for investing in renewable technologies.

If they just stopped using fossil fuels, those fuels would just have been made available for others to use, not creating any financial disincentive for others.

I'm sure they're also working on reducing their carbon footprints, but the big news here is how the divestment is accelerating.

So the answer to your question is yes, they also are going to stop using them, a step at a time, just like the rest of us. But the big news is how rapidly the divestment movement is growing.

You call yourself "skepticscott", and climate skeptics not only doubt climate science, they also argue against the precautionary principle and spend time convincing others that nothing should be done about it. Skeptics are part of the problem, not part of the solution.

[skepticscott]

10. Well, you got everything wrong that you could have

I'm not a "climate skeptic", as my posts should have made obvious to anyone paying attention. I know perfectly well what's going to happen to our climate. Better in fact than Pollyannas like you and Al Gore. And nowhere did I advocate that "nothing should be done about it". That's just something you made up and falsely attributed to me.

The bottom line is that nothing you're talking about will do anything but slow the rate of increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, at best. We're not even close to the point of being able to reverse the trend and start reducing overall CO2 levels. By the time we are, we'll be past tipping points in our climate system that all of the solar energy use in the world can't get us back to.

[Joe Magarac]

9. So what?

Are they big stockholders in energy companies or something like that?

And it's not as if they have any influence even in their own congregations.
The clergy will now sprain their backs from patting themselves there too vigorously.

The World Council of Churches == LARPers of world governance.