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While meeting in Nanjing and Shanghai, China, from 17-23 November, the WCC Executive Committee issued a statement on climate justice that reiterates the urgent concerns of churches in relation to climate change, and calls on all states to fulfill the commitments of the Paris Agreement.

Trust and peace-building approaches can lead to more fair, sustainable and effective climate action, showed public discussion on the closing day of UN climate change conference (COP22) in Marrakesh, Morocco.

Translate the hope provided by the Paris Agreement into real action to direct the world toward a more just and sustainable future, urged the World Council of Churches (WCC) on 17 November at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP22) in Marrakech, Morocco.

We have come a long way but have made little progress, stated Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, in his message to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), referring to 22 years of UN conventions as an unacceptably long period to respond to the environmental crisis.

A lively and youthful, but demanding, voice of the faith groups was heard clearly in the streets of Marrakech last Sunday, where a joint group from the ACT Alliance, the Lutheran World Federation and the World Council of Churches (WCC) marched among several thousand activists to demand environmental justice during the United Nations (UN) climate conference COP22.

Joining efforts to explore how to move from dependency on fossil fuel to a sustainable future, faith representatives gathered at the Indonesian Pavilion at COP22 in Marrakech, Morocco on 8 November, for an event hosted by the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry.

Delegations from the ACT Alliance, Lutheran World Federation and WCC at the United Nations climate conference in Marrakech, Morocco are jointly demanding a more rapid transition to a low-carbon economy based on clean energy in order to stem rising global temperatures.

The Episcopal Church in North Dakota, in an open letter dated 25 October 2016 and penned by Rev. John Floberg, called on communities of faith to converge at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota, USA from 2-4 November to “stand witness to water protectors’ acts of compassion for God's creation, and to the transformative power of God's love to make a way out of no way.”

“This is the time to step forward and act as trustees to Mother Earth. Together, by supporting each other’s progress we can go further and faster”, reads the “COP22 Interfaith Statement”, a document prepared by faith communities involved in advocacy work on climate change at the 22nd Conference of Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC).

When the WCC joined the Blue Communities Project on 25 October, water and eco-justice advocates from around the world offered congratulations, while at the same time urging WCC member churches to join the quest for global water and sanitation rights.

WCC is casting out its bottled water and has joined the Blue Communities Project. Maude Barlow, co-founder of the Blue Planet Project, on 25 October awarded the WCC a “blue community certificate” and launched tap-based public water fountains at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva.

Green Cross International has launched a new edition of The Future We Want photo exhibition for 2016 at the United Nations in Geneva. It features a number of its new partner organizations from around the world, including the WCC.

Speaking at the opening of the meeting of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Working Group on Climate Change (WGCC), Rev. Dr Olav Fkyse Tveit, WCC general secretary, emphasized the importance of facing climate justice issues with spiritual commitment and multidisciplinary collaborative preparedness. “Christians should look at climate change challenges through the lens of faith and hope in God’s love”, he reflected.

At a consultation on religion and development on 28 September, WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit shared thoughts on an emerging global religion and development agenda. The meeting was convened by the ACT Alliance. Tveit and other participants shared their thoughts on how faith-based and humanitarian groups can work together to help reach the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Roman Catholic and WCC representatives are forging new ways of working together on today’s most pressing issues.

The Association Internationale pour l’ Education Sociale Chretienne (AIESC), or International Association for Social Christian Teaching, held its 30th anniversary meeting at the Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, Greece from 2-3 September.

“We all sin against the Holy Spirit if we ignore climate change”, said Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the WCC, during the opening day of the 24th Pentecostal World Conference, in São Paulo, Brazil, on 7 September. “We have to remind ourselves that the Holy Spirit is the life-giver, active in creation from the very beginning till today. The Holy Spirit sustain us and all creatures every day”, he said.

Speaking at a book launch on 9 September linked with the meeting of the Globethics.net consortium committee at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Professor Dietrich Werner challenged churches and related religious bodies to respond to today’s environmental crisis by answering the question “How can we make our impact felt?”

“As a professor of economics and economic ethics with a theological background, and as dean of the GEM school, I can say that pluralistic economics – getting new prominence as an international student initiative – is an attempt to challenge neo-liberal monolithic economics. It is time for new thinking about economics”, stated Prof. Martin Büscher, first chair for economics and business ethics at the Institute for Diakonia and Management at the Protestant University of Wuppertal/Bethel, Germany, at the conclusion of the Governance, Economics and Management School held in Hong Kong on 22 August-2 September.

The globalization of the world economy has not been an even process, and in many ways governance for the protection of capital has overtaken governance for the protection of human well-being. A recent Ecumenical School on Governance, Economics and Management for an Economy of Life addressed this very asymmetry.