WASHINGTON (CNS): Catholic leaders in the United States of America (US) welcomed the announcement by the president, Joe Biden, on Inauguration Day that the country would rejoin the Paris climate change agreement.
The action would allow the US to work to reach the goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, as the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has called for and position the country to become a global leader in addressing climate change, the leaders said.
In a joint statement, Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, chairperson of the bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, Bishop David Malloy of Rockford, Illinois, chairperson of the Committee on International Justice and Peace, and Sean Callahan, president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services, announced their support for Biden’s plan on January 21, a day after the new president entered office.
Former president, Donald Trump, announced the US would withdraw from the landmark five-year-old accord in 2017 arguing that it was not beneficial to US interests and hindered economic growth. Trump formally informed the United Nations on 4 November 2019, however, under the agreement, the process was not completed until 4 November 2020.
The USCCB, the Catholic Climate Covenant and other Catholic organisations joined a wide-ranging chorus opposing the move at the time, arguing that climate change posed a serious threat to the planet and in particular the poorest and most vulnerable people.
Taking steps to address climate change again will allow for “implanting successful policies that both preserve the environment and promote economic development through innovation, investment and enterprise,” the trio of Catholic leaders explained January 21.
They also cited Pope Francis’ statement last June on the fifth anniversary of his encyclical, Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home, in which he called for “a culture of care, which places human dignity and the common good at the centre.”
Archbishop Coakley, Bishop Malloy and Callahan said in their statement: “The environment and human beings everywhere, especially the poor and vulnerable, stand to benefit from the care of our common home. For this reason, we urge the United States to do more to help poorer nations adapt to the changes in climate that cannot be prevented.”
The leaders concluded, “Climate change is a genuine human concern that affects all peoples and the decision to rejoin the Paris Agreement is an important step in the path of care for the environment and respect for the family.”
The statement is the most recent in a long history of efforts by Church leaders and Catholic environmental advocates to garner support for the Paris Agreement, under which countries set individual goals to reduce carbon emissions with a timeline for implementing those goals.
Achieving the goals involves setting policy as well as adopting legislation to limit carbon pollution, which the vast majority of climate scientists have said is the leading cause of a warming planet.
The US withdrawal in November made it the only nation that was not a party to the agreement.
