(Wikimedia Commons/TripodStories- AB)The Church of Ireland has voted to divest from companies involved in production of fossil fuels such as oil and coal.
The Church of Ireland has voted to stop investing in companies involved in fossil fuel production by 2022 as part of its efforts to reduce the impact of climate change.
According to Irish Times, the Church will be divesting from companies with more than 10 percent turnover from fossil fuel production by 2022.
"Ethical investors around the world, and now the Church of Ireland, have looked at the ethics and the risks and concluded that divestment from all fossil fuels is the right thing to do," said Synod member Stephen Trew, as reported by Irish Times.
The church had significantly reduced its investment in fossil fuels over the years. In 2011, 10 percent of the church's investment was allocated to fossil fuels, but it had dropped to 2.5 percent this year.
Trew noted that universities across Ireland and Northern Ireland have also divested from fossil fuel companies in the past 18 months.
He noted that many Anglican churches have already opted to end their investment in coal and tar-sands, but he contended that the Church of Ireland was one of the churches to divest from all fossil fuel companies.
"Let us mark the day when, with God's help, we decided that the Church of Ireland is truly an ethical investor and excludes all fossil fuels," Trew said, as reported by Irish Times.
In 2015, the Church of England announced that it will stop making direct investments to companies that generate more than 10 percent of their revenues from thermal coal or tar sands as part of its climate change policy.
The Anglican Church also announced late last year that it may divest from mining companies that fail to "uphold high standards."
The Catholic Church has also been divesting investment funds from the fossil fuel industry. On April 22, the Global Catholic Climate Movement (GCCM) announced that Caritas Internationalis, the Church's network of charities, will be divesting part of its investment from fossil fuel companies. According to Catholic News Service, 30 other Catholic institutions and three German banks will be doing the same.
GCCM Executive Director Tomas Insua said that the move was part of the efforts to reduce carbon emissions to levels indicated in the 2015 Paris climate accord.
"This announcement is the result of many months of hard work. Our team has been working pretty hard raising awareness. I think there is so little understanding about the fossil fuel industry being at the core of the environmental crisis," Insua said, according to Catholic News Service.
It is been quite a year for Care for Creation in Irish Churches, perhaps it could even be called a season of new growth. And it all came about because of two teenage girls speaking passionately. Tori and Isobella from Mullingar Parish in county Meath spoke for a few minutes at the Irish Churches Creation Care conference and captured the hearts of the audience and explained what creation care is all about. You can see the moment below, Their project Lighten Our Darkness by Numbers is a youth-led response to climate change. They are educating church goers, engaging communities, building bridges to businesses, and enhancing biodiversity in church graveyards. This short talk from the girls had a deep impact on the Archbishop of Armagh, and he spoke about it at his presidential address in General Synod. Archbishop John McDowell said, We need to do what that group of young people from Westmeath are doing. That is, to work on ways of inspiring and equipping parishes t...
Photo from Stephen Spillane The support from the RCB to parishes, dioceses and cathedrals during the Covid-19 emergency was most welcome. It helped us worship in difficult at times. May I suggest we use this model of support to respond to other emergencies too. The World Health Organisation said in October last year that, “the single biggest health threat facing humanity” is Climate change. We must take decisive action. I want to thank the RCB for leading the way by divesting and supporting the Creation Care Conference in April. But it is also up to every diocese, every parish, and every one of us to take action. We need a grassroots movement to transform our churches and our lives for a sustainable future. And church leaders, you might need to sow some fresh seed to help the grass roots grow. I think the RCB can support this movement by responding to the Climate Emergency, just as it did with Covid. For example, How many of you clergy have lived in a cold and draf...
Photo by Lukasz Szmigiel on Unsplash There have been a number of very positive statements from the PCI in the last few months on climate change, and today there is an opportunity for action to stop funding fossil fuels. The church's decision to support The Climate Sundays initiative is really positive. The moderator is encouraging congregations across Ireland to set aside one Sunday in October as `Climate Sunday' to focus on God's creation and humanity's responsibility to be good stewards of it. Rev Dr David Bruce also produced a Climate Conversation video to outline briefly some of the theological reasons why Christians should take climate change seriously and care for creation. This is all very welcome. Another key moment will be today, Tuesday 5th October, when the General Assembly will vote on a motion to divest from fossil fuels. It aims to fully divest from fossil fuel production companies that it holds - that's £5m in BP, Shell and Total - and to engag...
Comments