Cooler Earth – Higher Benefits Second Edition

"Today, we say nobody should profit from the rising temperatures, seas and human suffering caused by the burning of fossil fuels. We can no longer continue feeding our addiction to fossil fuels as if there is no tomorrow, for there will be no tomorrow."

                                    Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu

This updated publication provides a range of financial solutions available for churches and partners to address global warming. It presents good practices from churches and Christian organizations that are implementing some of these strategies. The research can support discussions and discernment among working groups and decisionmakers and offers many practical suggestions, summarizing what churches and partners can do, individually and collectively.

The research paper was developed as a result of the Churches’ Commitments to Children initiative winning the Keeling Curve Prize in 2019. The WCC's Child Rights programme commissioned the work in response to requests by children and youth urging adults to find solutions in response to the climate crisis.

Authors:

Frederique Seidel is the WCC Programme Executive for Child Rights, Manager of WCC-UNICEF Partnership. She previously worked in various countries for UNICEF, as a Deputy Representative, Child Rights Education Programme Manager, Communication Specialist and Head of Field Office. Earlier she served as a spokesperson for the UN and the OSCE in post-war Balkans and as a journalist for Deutsche Welle TV in Germany. Her current research focuses on solutions to the impact of climate change on child rights, and the engagement of churches to end violence against children. She holds a master’s degree of Sociology of the Sorbonne and Freie Universität Berlin and specialized in Educational Science and International Relations at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris.

Emmanuel de Martel has more than 25 years of Finance & Operations experience, mostly with US multinationals. After graduating from ESCP (Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris) in 1989, he worked for a French bank for 3 years then spent the next 13 years with one of the IT preeminent global players, in a variety of finance roles and locations (France, US and Switzerland). He then spent the next 10 years in the medical device industry, holding finance and operations senior management roles. Since April 2020, he is looking after the finance and operations of a start-up company in Lausanne that specializes in the field of human genomics. In parallel, he also works as an independent financial consultant, in particular for NGOs or international organizations like WCC.  Besides healthcare and IT, Emmanuel has a vested interest in solutions to global warming and sustainability.