CEC General Assembly 2018 on economic and climate justice

The 2018 Novi Sad General Assembly of the Conference of European Churches has drawn to a close.

 

The Assembly brought together the three keywords—witness, justice, and hospitality—with a final message calling to deepen solidarity, build just communities, and practise dialogue. To read the full Assembly message, please click here.

 

Strategic points for the period 2018 to 2023 include developing more regional work, strengthening and expanding partnerships and networks, raising awareness of CEC’s work among its constituency and the wider world, and taking sustainability seriously.

 

Strategic points for the period 2018 to 2023 include developing more regional work, strengthening and expanding partnerships and networks, raising awareness of CEC’s work among its constituency and the wider world, and taking sustainability seriously.

 

In addressing economic and climate justice the Assembly outcome includes the following statement: 

 

Economic and Climate Justice

Increased emission of carbon dioxide from the industrialisation of the richest countries of the world has resulted in environmental degradation and global warming. Everyone is affected by climate change, a result of global warming. Today, it is the poorest who suffer the most to adapt, including to extreme weather, lack of food, and loss of land. It is unjust that those who have contributed the least to climate change suffer the most.


Today, we continue to overuse resources and contribute to climate change. We need to change our consumption and production system to combat climate change, as well as drastically reduce the emissions of greenhouse gasses by increasing the use of green energy and significantly lessen the use of fossil fuels.


The ‘trickle-down’ effect of economic policy that many have argued justifies the current
economic system, that is supposed to lift people out of poverty, has in fact resulted in a ‘floodup’ as the rich get richer, and in a general increase social inequality.


As writer Jonathan Raban notes, “abundance is not the Biblical alternative to poverty,
sufficiency is.”[1]  One of the most pressing needs of our present time is to develop a public
theology of sufficiency, that takes seriously the voices of those marginalised and made poor by climate change. We need to learn when enough is enough. We have built and continue to
collude in an economic system that enslaves people, fails to dismantle unjust systems, and is
steadily degrading the environment upon which we all depend.


Jesus teaches, we must care for “the least of these,” but our industrial activity has the greatest negative impact on the poorest and those least able to insulate themselves from the impacts of damaging human activity.


We need to face up to the reality that our economic activity may end viable human life on the earth unless we choose an alternative path. It is widely believed that up to 50% of all species and their habitats could be permanently lost to the planet within the lifetime of people alive today.


Key Points

  • Use the SDGs to enhance efforts in the areas of economic and ecological justice, with
    the hope of creating sustainable futures where no one is left behind.
  • Listen to the voices from the margins, and hear from those who have firsthand experience of the effects of our over consumption that puts such strain on resources, people, and the environment. We might say, “blessed is the spirit of the poor,” and the wisdom of those who have experienced hardship must inform and transform our habits.
  • Support churches in the fight against climate change on a local level. This can be done through a range of approaches including ensuring the vitality of the European Christian Environmental Network (ECEN) where they can be inspired by each other, undertaking initiatives to reduce carbon emissions, using fair banks, and developing worship resources about our responsibility to protect our earth.
  • Advocate and be a strong voice on national and regional levels regarding questions
    about climate change, by working toward the European level and advocating together with other actors, including the World Council of Churches (WCC).
  • Support and put pressure on European countries to live up to the 2015 Paris Agreement, which will foster more just policies regarding climate change.
  • Work for intergenerational justice. This inclusion reflects richness in the churches, and that balanced age groups with competence shapes the work of CEC."
  • Advocate at the European level for a change of the economic system, towards an
    alternative and sustainable economy, as already done in the past together with the
    WCC.
 

[1] Raban Jonathan, Counterblast, a response to Margret Thatcher’s ‘Sermon on the Mount’, 1988