Climate-Responsible Finance - A Moral Imperative towards Children

Objective: Capacity building for all on the Statement Climate-responsible Finance: A Moral Imperative towards Children

Duration: 90 min

Invitees/Target Audience:

Faith Leaders, Finance Leaders, UN agencies, Child-focused agencies’ Finance Directors, Churches’ Commitments to Children network, Christian, Interfaith and secular partners, Members of the Global Partnership to End Violence against Children, Civil Society Partners, Private Sector partners

Welcome & Introduction

• Welcome: Rev. Dr. Ioan Sauca, Acting General Secretary, WCC
• Introduction:
  • Co-moderators:
    • Dr. Iyad Abumoghli, Director, UNEP Faith for Earth
    • Frederique Seidel, WCC Programme Executive

THE CHALLENGE

• IPCC report findings – why financial choices are essential: Silvie Kreibiehl, coordinating lead author for the finance chapter in the 4 April report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
• What the IPCC findings mean for children: Prof. Kristie Ebi, Department of Global Health, University of Washington. IPCC author.
• What does finance sector leadership on climate change look like today?: Remco Fisher, Climate Change Lead, UNEP-Finance Initiative (FI)

SOLUTIONS

Why the Statement “Climate-Responsible Finance – A Moral Imperative Towards Children” was launched  - Testimonials by signatories

• Rabbi Potasnik, Executive Vice-President, New York Board of Rabbis
• H.E. Judge Abdelsalam, Secretary-General, Muslim Council of Elders
• Sharing statement excerpts

Why climate-responsible finance still represents a low percentage of global wealth today, and how fast increase can be achieved

• Kayah George, Youth Environmental Activist from Tsleil Waututh nation member, and Tulalip Tribes member

How can everyone translate the statement into action?

• Gunnela Hahn, Church of Sweden, Head of Sustainable Investment

Questions & Answers

From intention to action - Inspiring ways of walking the talk

• What happened after the COP 26 interfaith statement[1] which said: “We call upon financial institutions, banks and investors to adopt responsible financing for investments that have positive impacts on people and the planet.”
  • Rev. Fletcher Harper, Greenfaith
  • Prof. V. Ramanathan, Council Member, Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Vatican
  • Rev. Dr. James Rev James Bhagwan, General Secretary, Pacific Conference of Churches
  • Dr. Harold D. Hunter, Pentecostal World Fellowship

Question & Answers

Resources for engagement by every asset owner

• Frederique Seidel, WCC Programme Executive

THE WAY FORWARD & CONCLUSION: Sharing insights & reactions

• Dr. Iyad Abumoghli, Director, UNEP Faith for Earth
• Frederique Seidel, WCC Programme Executive

What can faith actors do to take action?

Here are 5 ways faith actors can urge their financial service providers to take urgent and effective action to transition out of fossil fuel financing:

• Invest in renewable energies and research for climate solutions
• Commit to fully phase-out financial services and exposure to coal no later than 2030 for European Union and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Member States, and no later than 2040 worldwide, and request a corresponding, dated phase-out commitment from all coal-linked companies remaining in their portfolios.
• End all financing towards any new oil and gas projects exploration and extraction projects, as established by the latest climate change mitigation science and modelling.
• Require oil and gas companies to stop all new development or expansion projects beyond 2022, including especially all such projects in the Arctic region.
• Join the UN-convened Net Zero Asset Owner, Banking and/or Insurance Alliances, depending on the type of financial institution concerned, if they are not yet part of them.

To endorse the appeal, faith leaders and representatives of faith-based organisations are encouraged to write to churchesforchildren[at]wcc-coe.org.

Read the press release

Write to your financial institution

Compendium of experiences