February, 20, 2007

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has endorsed a groundbreaking climate change statement, fruit of an unprecedented consensus among high-level representatives of the corporate world as well as civil, religious and educational institutions.

This statement is "carefully drafted and urgently needed," wrote WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia in a letter endorsing "The Path to Climate Sustainability: A Joint Statement by the Global Roundtable on Climate Change" on behalf of the WCC. The Council "will continue to participate in the process of bringing the concerns this statement addresses to the world," he added.

Endorsed by an unprecedented group of companies and organisations from around the world, the statement calls on governments to set scientifically informed targets for greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. It also urges them to place a price on carbon emissions and to set forth policies aimed at addressing energy efficiency and de-carbonisation in all sectors.

Calling climate change "an urgent problem," the statement lays out a bold, proactive framework for global action to mitigate risks and impacts while also meeting the global need for energy, economic growth and sustainable development. It outlines cost-effective technologies that exist today and others that could be developed and deployed to improve energy efficiency and help reduce CO2 emissions and other greenhouse gases.

"The Path to Climate Sustainability" statement will be released today at a press conference in New York (13:00 local time) chaired by Jeffrey D. Sachs, head of the Global Roundtable on Climate Change (GROCC) and director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University.

Endorsements come from critical stakeholders, including leading corporations from all economic sectors to smaller firms with very different perspectives and concerns; they also include an array of civil, religious, environmental, research and educational institutions as well as a distinguished list of world-leading experts from the fields of climate science, engineering, economics and policy studies. [See a list at http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/grocc/participants.html.]

"The WCC is anxious to encourage large companies like those included in the Global Roundtable to take action in their own businesses and provide leadership in the private sector that will result in limiting the polluting emissions that are causing climate change," said Dr. David G. Hallman, advisor of the WCC Climate Change Programme.

The Global Roundtable on Climate Change is an initiative of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and brings together more than 100 high-level, critical stakeholders from all regions of the world – including senior executives from the private sector and leaders of international governmental and non-governmental organizations – to discuss and explore areas of potential consensus regarding core scientific, technological, and economic issues critical to shaping sound public policies on climate change.

The full text of the statement is available on the GROCC website: http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/grocc/.

World Council of Churches