Celebrating International Children's Day, the World Council of Churches (WCC) has released a research paper "Cooler Earth - Higher Benefits: Actions by those who care about children, climate and finance.” The publication gives suggestions of how churches and other organizations around the world can respond to the climate emergency through investment decisions which are crucial to protect children from global warming.
"God protects, loves and cares for the most vulnerable among God’s creatures. Examples presented in this research show how churches and other organizations can provide concrete answers to the challenges of the climate crisis, that directly impacts the lives of children and youth,” said WCC deputy general secretary Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri.
The publication provides a range of financial solutions available for churches and partners to address global warming and presents good practices from churches and Christian organizations that are implementing some of these strategies. The research can support discussions and discernment among working groups and decisionmakers and offers many practical suggestions, summarizing what churches and partners can do, individually and collectively.
“We encourage children and youth to be responsible eco-citizens. Their efforts can only have an impact on global warming if, in parallel, the right choices are made in the domain of finance – the most decisive domain for climate solutions – over which young people have limited influence,” said Frederique Seidel, WCC senior advisor on child rights and manager of the WCC-UNICEF partnership. "The title ‘Cooler Earth – Increased Benefits’ refers to the benefits of intergenerational justice and the returns of investment into a sustainable future.”
The research paper was developed as a result of the Churches’ Commitments to Children initiative winning the Keeling Curve Prize in 2019. The WCC's Child Rights programme commissioned the work in response to requests by children and youth urging adults to find solutions in response to the climate crisis.