EU bishops call for 'ethical' answer to climate change

A new report by a bishops’ expert group calls on EU leaders to “anchor their climate change policies in ethical thinking”.

It also urges the church and Christians to “show an example” by adopting lifestyles based on moderation.

The report was produced by an expert group set up by the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE), chaired by former EU commissioner Franz Fischler.

The document, ‘A Christian view on climate change’, says, “It must be recognised that the fight against climate change is first of all a problem of public ethos.

“It will be hard to solve without challenging certain ways of organising society, without questioning the ways we live together and the value system of civil society.

“In order to convince citizens to fundamentally change their way of thinking and living, political leaders should turn to profound ethical reflection and debate.”

The authors call on the EU to show leadership and “raise its voice” for developing countries and future generations, “who bear or will bear the highest burden” of climate change.

The authors underline the fact that the EU “bears a special responsibility” for combating climate change, in view of its technological and financial means.

“The EU should show the example and convince all actors concerned of the necessity of protecting the earth’s climate.”

The report says that climate change is “but one symptom of an unsustainable way of life, modes of production and patterns of consumption” that have evolved in the industrialised world, but which are not sustainable in future.

It calls on citizens to question their own lifestyle, which, it says, are too dependent on material goods and advises people to base them much more on cultural and relational goods.

“In fact, our lifestyles should be based on voluntary ‘moderation’, a central virtue that should be understood as having the aim, not of diminishing, but rather of supporting a higher quality of life and a greater reason to rejoice,” it says.

Meanwhile, Piotr Mazurkiewicz, the new secretary general of COMECE, says the issue of climate change will be one of his priorities.

The 48-year-old Pole, who replaces Noel Treanor, now ordained Bishop of Down and Connor in Northern Ireland, said that the protection of human rights was another priority for his three-year mandate.

The priest, who took up his new post on 1 October, said, “People of my generation lived under oppression in Poland and well understand what it is like for others suffering in the same way around the world.”

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