“We believe that you will serve the world by showing the best of human creativity and capacity,” said Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), in his December 8 address to the High Level Segment of the COP21 international climate conference in Paris. The conference, sponsored by the United Nations, is being held in Paris, France, from Nov. 30 through Dec. 11, 2015.
Tveit was speaking on behalf of more than 150 leaders from various religious traditions who signed a statement last October which they submitted to Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The WCC general secretary pointed out that COP21 is “the right moment for real and visionary leadership, and it is an irrefutable moral duty for all governments to agree on concrete and measurable steps towards global climate justice and partnerships for climate resilience.”
To strengthen the call for a legally binding climate agreement at COP21, WCC sent an ecumenical delegation to Paris. They called attention to issues related to climate change, such as food security and climate-induced loss and damage, especially how climate change affects the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people.
According to a WCC statement, “Care for creation and justice are at the centre of WCC work on climate change. The Bible teaches the wholeness of creation and calls human beings to take care of the garden of Eden (Gen 2:15). The God of the Bible is a God of justice who protects, loves and cares for the most vulnerable among his creatures.”
WCC sponsored events included a demonstration highlighting an ongoing fast for climate change and the welcoming of international pilgrims who walked from various parts of the world to express solidarity with those affected by climate change. WCC also collected signatures for an interfaith petition to curb global warming.
On Dec. 4 Christians from many nations and confessions joined in a service to pray for Creation, held at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. (See the video here.)
Since the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was adopted in 1992, the WCC has been present at all UN climate change conferences.
The WCC is a fellowship of 345 member churches who together represent more than half a billion Christians around the world. Mennonite national bodies in Germany, the Netherlands and Democratic Republic of Congo are members.
To learn more about WCC’s work on climate change, see http://www.oikoumene.org/en/what-we-do/climate-change .
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