The time is now
A Rocha UK CEO, Andy Atkins, comments on the critical window of opportunity to ‘build back better’ from the pandemic.
No sane person would have wished Covid-19 on the world. But among the glimpses of a silver lining that have been observed as a side effect of major industrial countries ‘locking down’, has been the sharp fall in greenhouse gas emissions, more space for nature, and cleaner air for people and nature to breathe as air pollution has fallen. Even these small comforts however are in danger of being lost if governments and people do not move very fast to ‘build back better’.
The world is at a moment of acute risk and opportunity. In mid-June the respected International Energy Agency (IEA) published a report in which it suggested that we have only about 6 months to ensure that economic recovery funds are invested in a green recovery – and avoid them being invested in fossil fuel and carbon-intensive industries instead. If the latter happens, says the EIA, there is little possibility of avoiding runaway climate change. We must reduce global carbon emissions steeply this decade to do so; but investment decisions taken in the next months will lock us into energy production and consumption patterns for decades to come. So, with governments planning to commit an estimated $9 trillion (£7.18tn) to rebooting economies in the months ahead, there is the earth to play for.
The British government has made some encouraging announcements, but its actions so far – including negotiating bale-out loans to fossil fuel companies and airlines – have not inspired confidence. Yet the wider benefits of going green are multiple. Take job creation. Analysis by the IEA suggests that investing in green industries, such as retrofitting buildings for energy efficiency, or rolling out wind and solar power plants, would create far more jobs than the same investment in old high carbon sectors.
Civil society is responding at all levels. On 1 June, 200 business leaders including those from such diverse companies as Aviva insurance, the Church of England Pensions Board, Burger King and Yorkshire Water, sent a joint letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson urging the government to invest in a low carbon recovery. Then on 14th June, leaders of 56 charities from the Climate Coalition, including A Rocha UK, released an open letter to the government calling for a green and fair recovery. Environment and health campaign groups have joined forces to launch the Build Back Better campaign for individuals. And a coalition of Christian charities and denominations, chaired by A Rocha UK, launched the Climate Sunday initiative for churches on September 6 2020. What is now needed is widespread backing by the public at large and leaders of all sectors, including the Church.
It is difficult for any individual, organisation, government or country to focus productively on too many things at once. But amidst the disorientation, grief and national trauma of the current pandemic, we must also grasp the intensely urgent opportunity to rescue our future – for people and nature. One important opportunity to do so is participating in Climate Sunday.
The Climate Sunday initiative is a major Environmental Issues Network project, chaired by A Rocha UK CEO Andy Atkins. It is designed to accelerate churches’ action on the environment and influence government action in the approach to the COP26 UN Climate negotiations, which the UK is hosting in November 2021. The initiative is calling on Churches across the land to hold a service of prayer and worship anytime between September 6 2020 – September 6 2021, to commit to taking long term action on climate themselves and sign a common call for the UK government to get back on track with the UK’s own climate targets. Together with other members of the coalition, it is hoped that 10,000 churches in the UK take part and make the biggest act of Christian witness for caring for God’s earth ever. Resources to organise your own Climate Sunday are now available on the Climate Sunday website, including worship resources, links to join greening schemes and a link to the Climate Coalition’s ‘The Time is Now’ declaration to the Prime Minister asking for a green economy.