Faith-based organisations to COP27: “We bring narratives that demand us all to act with justice”

“COP27 is a critical occasion for governments to together re-envision, develop, commit to and implement a roadmap towards a fossil fuel-free, post-growth, equitable and sustainable tomorrow,” said Bishop Arnold Temple of the Methodist Church in Sierra Leone, representing the interfaith liaison group, to the High-Level Ministerial Segment of the 27th Session of Conference of the Parties (COP27).

“We face an existential threat to our only home. We might come from different traditions, but we all share a common calling to heed the cries of the socio-economically marginalised and the Earth herself,” reads the message.

The statement highlights the urgent need for a swift and system-wide transformation of societies and economies to reduce emissions and build a liveable future for future generations.

“Changing our food systems through community-rooted and Indigenous farming and land regeneration techniques, for instance, have the potential to deliver rapid and sustained emission cuts.”

As people of faith, “only by working together as a global community – held together by values of compassion and justice as well as a profound understanding of who are neighbours are – will humanity find a way out of the accelerating climate crisis that is already causing tremendous suffering,” reads the message.

The statement emphasizes that different faith traditions “bring narratives that demand us all, decision-makers, faith and civil society actors alike, to act with justice.”

Read the complete statement from the Faith-Based Organisations at COP27