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Climate Action


Commit Yourself. Commit Your Community. Commit Your Leaders, and Your Media.

The Parliament of the World’s Religions, acting with the leadership of its Climate Action Task Force, seeks to encourage and enable collective and individual action to reduce and counter the adverse impacts of human-caused climate change. The Task Force bases its mandate on the Interfaith Call to Action of October 2015 and December 2016, and the unanimous adoption of The Fifth Directive of the Parliament’s Global Ethic by the 2018 Toronto Convening. We continue to welcome endorsement of those statements. 

The Parliament is not a scientific organization. We make no claim to independent findings or insights regarding the physical state of our planet, the causes of climate change, or its impacts on humans and their environments. We do assert, however, the universal responsibility for each person to be accountable for our actions.

Climate Action 2023 – THE TURNING POINT

Because of the experience of real people in real places, new scientific studies, and the collection of hard data, we now know more than we have ever known before about the state of Earth’s climate, and we know it with even greater certainty.

Human experience and scientific evidence reinforce the Parliament of the World’s Religions’ conviction that the reality and basic causes of climate change are settled science. We are convinced that the evidence of the danger created by human-caused climate change is irrefutable and that the danger is growing rapidly. 

We are also convinced that 2023 brings new opportunities for action to meet the challenge. With those opportunities comes increased responsibility. This decade will be an inflection point for the history of humans on Planet Earth. We are at a Turning Point. We — as individuals, communities, and societies — will either change our behavior or we will change the world in ways that are irreversible.

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Since the Paris Conference of the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC)  in 2015 (COP21), the nations of the world have been “committed” to holding human-caused increases in global temperature to less than 2.7F (1.5C).  The findings of the International Committee on Climate Change summarize the importance of that “Red Line”. Not a single scientific analysis of cumulative national actions since 2015 gives reason to believe that these commitments are being met.

Our national leaders are failing to keep their commitments and in failing to act they are failing all of us.

By our decisions and our behavior, we have chosen the world in which we now live. Unless we choose differently and behave more wisely, the damage we have caused will continue to escalate. For all persons of good faith, 2023 must be a year of action to reduce human-caused greenhouse gas emissions and to prepare for and address the inescapable consequences of the changes we have already imposed upon the planet.

Climate Change affects all of us. Even more sobering is the fact that climate change will affect every human born in the 21st century and beyond. Our decisions and actions will shape the conditions for life, including human lives, on our planet for the foreseeable future. Further, the wicked truth about climate change is that while it affects all, it does not affect us equally. We may all be in the same storm, but we are not all in the same boat. Each day we live, we take from, and give back to the world around us.

We can choose what we take and what we give back. All too often our gifts back are laden with poisons and destructive consequences, shaped more by our ignorance or greed than by knowledge or wisdom. Our ignorance, however, is a voluntary misfortune.  We are the first generation of humans to have the knowledge, technology, and wealth to create societies that are sustainable and just. With that opportunity comes responsibility. To realize our opportunity, we must choose responsibility — not just say we choose it — but commit to developing the capacity — at every level — to understand the material, physical, and moral consequences of the choices we make and apply those lessons to our choices. In these times, our lives will not be judged by our intentions, but by the
consequences of our actions.

From a scientific perspective, our capacity to comprehend the full consequence of our choices continues to grow. From an economic perspective, we can no longer say we cannot afford sustainability, and we can clearly see that unsustainable choices lead to impoverishment, ecological disaster, and moral bankruptcy. For the rest of our lives, neither the perspective of faith nor of science will allow us to claim innocence about the consequences of our actions. 

We will choose the future of our planet with our actions. Therein lies the hope and the danger of this time in the history of the world – this is the reality of living in the Anthropocene. Reconciling our existence with the well-being of all starts with acknowledging the patterns of behavior individually and societally that are inconsistent with our values. Achieving reconciliation with the rest of the living world requires change.  While the actions of individuals continue to impact Earth’s climate, it is now clearer than ever that it is our collective behavior that must change. No national government has yet done enough to reduce cumulative emissions of greenhouse gases. Taken together, the action commitments of the governments of the world – even if fully implemented — still fall short of changing the trajectory of our planet toward widespread disaster and extensive human misery. The engagement of the spiritual communities of the world is indispensable to every aspect of this challenge. We will not do what our science and economics demand if we do not listen to what is in our hearts. 

Our faiths call us to be warriors for the sustainability and the well- being of our world. The challenge is enormous, but we cannot allow it to erode our commitment and will to act. Accomplishing what is necessary starts with each of us doing what we can. No one can do all that must be done, but everyone can do something. One is not responsible for what one truly cannot do alone, but all of us are responsible for what we do together.

The wisdom on which we must draw as we choose our futures will come from our diverse traditions and the insights catalyzed by common purpose – the Wellbeing of humans, the fairness and justice of our societies, the sustainability of Earth’s natural systems and the flourishing of all life. 

As diverse as our cultures and spiritual traditions may be, it is certain that we will share the future. Faith communities can help us recognize our interdependence, see beyond our science and knowledge to perceive meaning and wisdom, and encourage mutually reinforcing action. 

There is a fearsome urgency to this challenge. Our actions each day write the future across the face of this planet.
Just as we have chosen the world in which we live today, we can choose a better world for our future. The world’s religions, our shared ethics, and our individual spiritual experience are essential for making those choices wisely.

We invite all who share our concerns and values to join with us in these endeavors. 


David Hales, Chair
Climate Action Task Force of the Parliament of the World’s
Religions

For 2023, our actions will include:

  • Emphasizing the importance of Global Interfaith Harmony in encouraging and supporting climate action by individuals and communities, governments at all levels, religious congregations, and for-profit and not-for-profit entities to reduce and eliminate greenhouse gas emissions by reforming patterns of production and consumption, decreasing reliance on fossil fuels, promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency, and promoting the sustainability of natural systems.
  • Advocating aggressive action by the National Governments, International Agencies and Financial Institutions, and Corporations and business entities in implementing and supporting the Human Right to a Clean, Healthy, and Sustainable Environment and Next Generation Rights and Responsibilities.
  • Advocating for repurposing of the UN Trusteeship Council to account for Next Generation Rights and Responsibilities and care for the Global Commons.
  • Promoting and supporting the transition to clean, safe and affordable renewable energy in all countries, and the realization of a post-carbon global economy with fair and affordable access to energy for all.
  • Enabling cooperation in adopting, fulfilling and measuring the impact of organizational and individual commitments to change, including the UNEP Faith for Earth Coalition. We will continue encourage, enable, celebrate for the actions of change-makers around the world to cooperate in a way never before possible.
  • Build on the consensus and partnerships which emerged from the Parliament’s previous global Convenings toward a successful and joyful Convening in Chicago, Illinois in August 2023, with a  substantive, diverse, and action-focused climate action track of programs.
  • Our Theory of Change

    We believe that change begins with engagement that is deeply and honestly based on scientific evidence and guided by our faith and values.

    We believe that engagement is enriched by active Collaboration with others.

    We believe that Collaboration, if it is more than selfish indulgence, will lead to ACTION.

    We believe that there are two reasons for individual action:

    • First, each of us has the responsibility to do what is right. If we can make a difference, no matter how small, we have that responsibility.
    • Second, individual actions are the necessary fuel of societal change. 
  • Our Initiatives

  • Our Partners

    The Climate Action Task Force’s active partners include:

    • Ecology Taskforce of the Vatican Covid-19 Commission
    • Faith + Food Coalition
    • George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication
    • Great Lakes Environmental Law and Policy Center
    • Interfaith Rainforest Initiative
    • Religica
    • Seattle University Center for Ecumenical  and Interreligious Engagement
    • Security and Sustainability Forum
    • United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Faith for Earth Initiative
    • Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology 

For up to date news on Climate Change, please visit the UN Climate Change Newsroom