Climate Change
As a profound reflection on the fundamental nature of our relationship to Creation, climate change is one of the most concerning issues to faith leaders of many faith traditions. For general responses to the moral, theological, and social implications of climate change from various religious groups, please visit the Perspectives & Resources pages. Click here for a recent article from NRPE's executive director on climate.
Recently, driven in part by a concern that climate change must be addressed, in various statements, national religious organizations expressed concern over then President-elect Trump's pick of Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency. View the joint Jewish and Protestant statement here. Click here to read a February 2019 letter to Congress calling for urgent action. View the letter from Evangelicals and Catholics here. Click here to see the statement from Massachusetts' Episcopal Bishops on Priutt. Click here to see the religious organizational sign on letter. Click here to read a January 2018 letter to Congress on funding the EPA and Department of the Interior. Click here to view the letter to Congress on the 100% Clean Energy bill. View the letter on 100% clean energy from South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia black church leaders.
Religious organizations put together carbon pricing principles in the fall of 2019, click here to view. The World Council of Churches issued a pastoral letter on climate change.
Resources:
- Click here for a PCUSA climate resource
- Click here for ELCA's resource on carbon pricing.
The Clean Power Plan sets goals for reducing carbon emissions from power plants on a state-by-state basis, ultimately helping the United States transition to an economy based on clean energy. The Environmental Protection Agency cannot currently enforce the Clean Power Plan due to legal challenges. Religious groups have spoken out and filed amicus briefs in support of the Clean Power Plan.
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The Paris Agreement, reached in December 2015, reaffirmed the international community's commitment to keeping global temperature increases below 2 degrees Celsius. While many of the commitments made in the Paris negotiations were relatively ambitious, it is unclear whether countries will follow through on them, and a lot of work remains to be done.
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In June 2016, the Environmental Protection Agency announced its first-ever set of regulations on methane emissions from new sources. The regulations attempt to cap the amount of methane, a greenhouse gas dozens of times more potent than carbon dioxide, that is released into the atmosphere in the process of drilling for gas and oil. Regulations on existing sources are still to come.
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