More than 70 leading climate scientists, policy-makers and Christian leaders from across 6 continents gathered for "Climate Forum 2002" in Oxford, England to address the growing crisis of human-induced climate change. The Forum recognizes the reality and the urgency of the problem, which particularly affects the world’s poorest peoples and the very fabric of the biosphere. The Forum also recognizes that the Christian community has a special obligation to provide moral leadership and an example of caring service to people and to all God’s creation. To that end, the Forum offers the following statement to church, business and governmental leaders.

Human-induced climate change is a moral, ethical and religious issue.

• God created the Earth, and continues to sustain it. Made in God’s image, human beings are to care for people and all creation as God cares for them. The call to "love the Lord your God and love your neighbour" (Matthew 22:37–39) takes on new implications in the face of present and projected climate change. God has demonstrated his commitment to creation in the incarnation and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christ who "reconciles all things" (Colossians 1:20) calls his followers to the "ministry of reconciliation" (2 Corinthians 5:18, 19).
• Human induced climate change poses a great threat to the common good, especially to the poor, the vulnerable and future generations.
• By reducing the Earth’s biological diversity, human induced climate change diminishes God’s creation.

Human induced climate change, therefore, is a matter of urgent and profound concern.

The Earth's climate is changing, with adverse effects on people, communities and ecosystems.

• There is now high confidence in the scientific evidence of human influence on climate as detailed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and endorsed by 18 of the world's leading Academies of Science.
• Human activities, especially the burning of coal, oil and natural gas (fossil fuels) are rapidly increasing the concentrations of greenhouse gases (especially carbon dioxide) in the global atmosphere. As a result the global climate is warming, with rising sea levels, changes in rainfall patterns, more floods and droughts, and more intense storms. These have serious social, economic and ecological consequences.
• The harmful effects of climate change far outweigh the beneficial ones:
  • In many arid and semi-arid areas, the quantity and the quality of fresh water will continue to decrease.
  • Although agricultural productivity may increase in temperate northern latitudes, it will decrease throughout the tropics and sub-tropics.
  • A greater incidence of diseases, such as malaria, dengue fever and cholera, is expected.
  • Sea-level rise and increased flooding is already displacing people and will eventually affect tens of millions especially in low income countries. Some island states are likely to disappear altogether.
  • Important ecosystems, such as coral reefs and forests, will be destroyed or drastically altered, undermining the very foundation of a sustainable world.

Action is needed now, both to arrest climate change and to adapt to its effects.

• We must take immediate steps to stabilize the climate. This means reducing global emissions of carbon dioxide (the most important greenhouse gas) to below 1990 levels well before the middle of the 21st century.
• While industrialized nations have largely caused the problem, its most severe effects fall upon the peoples of developing countries. Industrialized countries need therefore to make much greater reductions in emissions in order to allow for economic growth in developing countries.
• We urge industrialized nations to take the lead in reducing their emissions. They have the technical, financial and institutional ability to do so now.
• We urge industrialised countries to assist developing countries in gaining access to cleaner and renewable forms of energy.
• We urge that actions be taken to increase energy efficiency, in transportation, buildings and industry. Many actions can produce savings or be taken at little or no net cost. Examples were presented to the Forum of such actions by 38 major multinational companies.
• We urge greater use and development of renewable sources of energy.
• We urge increased financial investment and that banking initiatives be grasped to enable the necessary changes.
• The cost of inaction will be greater than the cost of appropriate action.
• Adapting to the impacts of climate change (e.g. droughts and flooding) is not an alternative to mitigation, but is essential given that the climate is already changing and further change is inevitable.

Christian denominations, churches and organizations need to take action to:

•  Increase awareness of the facts of global climate change and its moral implications;
• Set an example through individual and collective actions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions;
•  Increase demand for technologies and products that produce less emissions of carbon dioxide; and
• Urge immediate and responsible action by national governments, in cooperation with other governments under the Framework Convention on Climate Change. This should be, first, to ensure the successful operation of the Kyoto Protocol (which some countries, including the United States, Canada and Australia, have not yet ratified) and, second, to establish an effective programme of emissions reductions in the period immediately following that covered by that Protocol.

We, the forum participants, recognize the urgency for addressing human induced climate change, repent of our inaction and commit ourselves to work diligently and creatively to adopt solutions in our own lives and in the communities we influence. We call upon leaders in churches, business and government to join us in recognizing human induced climate change as a moral and religious issue and to take necessary action to maintain the climate system as a remarkable provision in creation for sustaining all life on Earth.

"Forum 2002: Global Climate Change," a conference sponsored by the Au Sable Institute and the John Ray Initiative.

For more information on evangelical perspectives on climate change and air pollution, visit: creationcare.org