The world’s religions’ call for climate actions
We Mean Business
The two-day International Islamic Climate Change Symposium ended today on a declaration from Islamic leaders to take urgent actions on climate change, calling for a phase out of fossil fuels on the basis of the scientific work of the UNEP, IPCC and all the COP negotiations.
We Mean Business welcomes this declaration, which makes specific calls to government, corporate and business leaders to phase out greenhouse gas emissions, commit to 100% renewable energy, prioritize sustainable actions and actively support the scale up of the low carbon economy across all nations.
It is an important milestone in the global climate challenge, as more world leaders add their voices to the growing momentum for COP21, making it clear that some of the actions required to drive the low carbon transition are shared among the most different communities.
The We Mean Business coalition is spearheading clear actions to get the business and investors communities to commit to low carbon initiatives, which reflect fully the global call for action. Hundreds of companies have already committed to procure 100% of electricity from renewable energy, reduce their carbon emissions using science-based targets and engage responsibly in climate policy.
The text adds to the mounting pressure on developed countries to reduce their environmental footprint and take responsible actions to support populations most in need of economic development and most at risk from climate change. It also reflects many of the points already expressed by Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si. The Catholic text released earlier this year contributed to spread awareness about how protecting the environment is everyone’s responsibility, and created a worldwide debate amongst all faiths to collaborate to achieve the global goal of a low carbon shift.
Following the Pope’s active intervention in the climate challenge, several Catholic communities across the world have already started to review their fossil fuel investments and explore different ways to take responsible environmental actions.
But also leaders from Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim communities backed the Pope’s stance on climate change, all linking the need to protect the environment to the wider social impacts that world’s communities are facing.
The Vatican has been actively pushing for climate actions asking Catholic groups to divest from fossil fuels and take part in world conferences on climate change. The Pope hosted 60 world mayors for a conference on the role of cities in tackling climate change last month, and is expected to deliver a speech at the UN Special Summit on Sustainable Development in September.
Businesses and investors who are ready to step up and make commitments towards climate action can find more information here.