Nov 2006

The National Assembly is set to live out its commitment to preserving the environment and will undertake an energy audit and look to identify policies and processes that will limit the impact it has on the natural environment.

The commitment comes on the back of a new statement from UnitingJustice on climate change which was adopted by consensus at the November meeting of the Assembly Standing Committee held from November 10-12 in Sydney.

For the Sake of the Planet and all its People: A Uniting Church in Australia Statement on Climate Change outlines the Church’s commitment to the environment, the special relationship Christians have with the environment and its value as part of God’s creation.

Addressing the Standing Committee, UnitingJustice National Director, Rev. Elenie Poulos, said the wise use of energy and the protection of the environment were commitments made by the Church in its inaugural 1977 Statement to the Nation.

However, protecting the environment for future generations was more than a human rights issue but reflected our understanding of the value of God’s creation.

“The Uniting Church’s commitment to the environment comes from our belief that God, as the Creator of the universe, calls us into a special relationship with the creation – a relationship of mutuality and interdependence which seeks the reconciliation of all creation with God. We believe that God’s will for the earth is renewal and reconciliation, not destruction by human beings,” the statement said.

Rev. Poulos said evidence on the effects of global warming and climate change was now indisputable and it posed a serious threat to the future and integrity of life on earth.

Addressing climate change, she said, requires us to think creatively about the organisation of our social and economic institutions, our relationship with each other across national and cultural boundaries and our relationship with the environment.

“As one of the world’s major producers of greenhouse gas emissions on a per capita basis, Australia must acknowledge that it has a responsibility to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels,” Rev. Poulos said.

“As long as we remain prepared to abuse the atmosphere and entire ecosystems for the sake of short-term economic gain for a few, we undermine our own future. It is important that Australia’s social, economic and environmental policies begin to reflect that social justice and ecological justice are not competing interests, but have shared solutions. It makes good economic and political sense to spend money ensuring the long-term well-being of our natural world – there can be no security for humanity without a healthy ecosystem.”

The statement calls on the Australian Government to implement policies that significantly reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and increase our use of non-nuclear renewable energy sources. It also calls on church members, agencies and councils to model ways of living that minimise the production of greenhouse gas emissions and to work with each other and environmental groups, so that we might learn more about global warming and advocate with governments at all levels for more appropriate and active policies for the reduction greenhouse gas emissions.

As an outcome of this resolution, the ASC committed the Assembly to examine its own environmental credentials and look to how it can reduce the impact it has on the environment. The Assembly will assess its production of greenhouse gas emissions through an energy audit, to be undertaken next year, and will investigate how, through the use of such initiatives as renewable energy and carbon offsets, it can seek to become “carbon neutral”.