Around 240 eminent faith leaders from 44 countries delivered an Interfaith Climate Statement to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the UN climate change negotiations in Marrakesh. Quakers in Britain, Friends World Committee for Consultation and Quaker United Nations Office are among the signatories.

Arctic sea ice is at a dramatic low in 2016 (source: Arctic sea ice blog)

Drafted and distributed in collaboration with more than thirty faith groups globally, it calls on nations to manage the transition to a low carbon economy justly and urges governments to shift trillions of investments in fossil fuels into renewable energy, in line with the Paris Agreement and the UN sustainable development goals.

Recording Clerk Paul Parker said “Quakers in Britain are committed to becoming a low-carbon sustainable community and have divested, as a national church, from companies involved in fossil fuel extraction.  We recognise that we do not own the world, and its riches are not ours to dispose of at will.  Our faith as Quakers is inseparable from our care for the health of our planet Earth. We see that our misuse of the Earth’s resources creates inequality, destroys community, affects health and well-being, leads to war and erodes our integrity.  We are all responsible for stewardship of our natural world. We love this world as God’s gift to us all.”

Read the full statement here.