Press Release June 20, 2014
Presbyterian Church (USA)
Directs Socially Responsible Investment Committee {MRTI} to Discern and Act on
Fossil Fuel Divestment
Contacts: Robin Blakeman,
304-840-4877; Megan Gregory: 847-287-7794; Pamela McVety: 850-422-1440; Dan
Terpstra 865-216-6974; Rev. Rob Mark: 617-680-7013
What: After
a ninety minute discussion, Presbyterian
Church (USA)’s 221st General Assembly has directed its socially
responsible investment committee {MRTI} to discern and act on fossil fuel
divestment. “The PCUSA’s
vote to discern and act on divestment is important,” said the Rev.
Fletcher Harper of GreenFaith, an
interfaith environmental group which has advocated
fossil fuel divestment and clean energy reinvestment by religious institutions, “and must lead to divestment. After
decades of clear evidence about the grave threat posed by climate change and
resistance to change by the fossil fuel industry, the time to act has arrived.” This means that the 222nd PCUSA General
Assembly – in 2016 - will be further considering fossil fuel divestment. This follows
referral of overture # 15-01 to the denomination’s Mission Responsibility Through
Investment committee: http://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/mrti/what-mrti/
When: June 20, 2014
What: This biennial
meeting brings together commissioners and advisory delegates from 172 presbyteries in the United
States, as well as other delegates and observers from around the world. The Fossil Fuel Divestment Overture was one
of the most talked about items up for discussion and debate.
Why: The Fossil Free PCUSA group, and other
supporters of the PCUSA divestment overture are deeply concerned about current
and future effects of climate change. We look forward to working with MRTI on
this critically urgent issue. Scientific research confirms that carbon dioxide
emissions from burning fossil fuels are the main cause of climate change. The impacts on agriculture, water, public
health, and vulnerability to disasters are severe and will worsen as global
temperature rises. In order to limit climate change to less than 2 degrees
Celsius, we must transition rapidly to renewable energy. This evidence is
motivating people of faith in various communities, as well as students at multiple
academic institutions, to embark on divestment
campaigns. This reality is motivating people of faith in various communities,
as well as students at multiple academic institutions, to embark on divestment campaigns. The campaigns urge the financial agents of
their respective organizations to withdraw stock and bond funds from investment
accounts which contain fossil fuel company shareholdings. This action would
align our investments with our values of Earth stewardship and social justice,
and free resources to invest in energy efficiency and renewable energy
solutions. We also hope that as part of
a global movement, divestment by the PC(USA) can help build public awareness
and political will to regulate the greenhouse gas emissions causing climate
change.
Sponsoring Groups:
·
Advocacy Committee for Racial Ethnic
Concerns: https://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/acrec/
Text
of the PCUSA Fossil Fuel Divestment Overture, and the Motion to Refer to PCUSA
MRTI:
Statements:
This General Assembly is
clear that discernment about the crisis of Climate Change must and will be
accompanied by action to assure that our investments are fossil fuel free.
-
Rick Ufford-Chase, co-director, Stony Point Conference Center, and Moderator, 216th PCUSA
General Assembly
Our second intention recognized how complex this work will be. We fully respect and support the operations of MRTI that have managed our church so well for decades. Therefore, we recommended a commission to work cooperatively with MRTI in developing an action plan, along with a timeline for complete divestment by June 2019
-
Gina
Struensee, Ruling
Elder Commissioner, Winnebago Presbytery, DCE First Presbyterian Church,
Neenah, WI; author of minority report.
The Young Adult Advisory
Delegates, of which I was one, voted for a stronger action in a minority
report. Clearly, when our church decides to take action, it is powerful and
transforming. We are not always quick to act. We don’t have much time for
engaging in shareholder actions or activism. It’s time for PCUSA to speak with
a strong, prophetic voice to break the gridlock on this issue so that we might
finally be able to create positive change. Now is the time for bold,
transforming action. Just think where we might be in a decade.
-
Ben Terpstra, Young Adult Advisory Delegate, East Tennessee
The Arkansas Presbytery
voted for full discussion of this overture and is fully behind this grassroots
movement. At Ferncliff Camp and Conference Center, we have the world’s first LEED
Platinum certified building, and participants at the camp and conference center
are taught about renewable energy sources and energy efficiency; we also have
“Solar under the Sun” learning opportunities. We, in Arkansas, also have
extreme fluctuations in weather over the past two years which concern us a
great deal, and we have environmental problems related to fossil fuel
extraction and shipping.
-
Mary Beth Lysobey, Ruling Elder Commissioner, Arkansas Presbytery
As a young person seeking to
be faithful to God’s call to care for the Earth and love my neighbors, I want
to give my tithes to a church that will use them to “serve and keep” the
Creation (Genesis 2:15). By divesting from fossil fuels, and RE-investing in
renewable energy, the PC(USA) can strengthen the global movement to mitigate
climate change and protect the lives and livelihoods of vulnerable sisters and
brothers.
-
Megan M. Gregory, Deacon, First Presbyterian Church, Ithaca (NY) , Overture 15-01 Advocate
My spouse and I just had our first
child. We named him Rowen after the Scottish Mountain Ash tree which is now
threatened by a changing climate. Climate change is frightening. And as a
new parent, I want to do all I can to help make the future a less scary for all
who come after us. Our son just recently discovered he has hands, and that they
are connected to his body, and that he has some agency over them. Our Reformed
faith reminds us of the same truth that, like our son, we sometimes don't
realize that in God's grace, we have some agency to make real changes to the
ways we have always done things in order to make our world less scary for
future generations. It is my deepest hope and prayer that we as a denomination
will "remember our hands" and make a clear commitment to divest over
the next 5 years from fossil fuels. In so doing we do not lose our voice at
all, but in fact make a powerful moral statement to our world that we as a
church refuse to profit from that which threatens the very future of our planet.
We have a wonderful way to shepherd this commitment through our MRTI and I am
excited about how we can honor their incredible legacy of prophetic stewardship
while making a clear commitment to divest.
Rev. Rob Mark,
Teaching Elder, Church of the Covenant, Boston Presbytery, Eco-Stewards Program
Coordinator
As the church we serve as
the moral conscience of the nation. To divest means we are making a
prophetic statement our country needs to hear.
Rev. Paul Henschen, Ellendale, N.D.,
Overture 15-01 Advocate.
Presbyterians agreed to take on the
issue of fossil fuel divestment today. Although no dead line for complete
divestment was established most believe that the church will honor the world
wide goal of five years for complete divestment of its over $200 million
dollars, which may be the largest fossil fuel divestment to date by any
entity.
Pam McVety,
Overture 15-01 Advocate, Scientist and Ruling Elder, First Presbyterian Church,
Tallahassee, Florida
The IPCC reports are increasingly urgent: humanity
must disentangle ourselves from fossil fuels and invest in renewable energy.
Ethically, we cannot profit from earth’s destruction.
Rev. Dr. Patricia K. Tull, A.B. Rhodes Professor Emerita of Old Testament,
Louisville Presbyterian Seminary
It is important that the
church pay attention to the excesses of our society and the ways in which we do
damage to creation and to our own future. The crisis we face calls for prompt
action, and this divestment is a gesture in the right direction.
Dr. Walter Brueggemann, William Marcellus
McPheeters Professor Emeritus of Old Testament, Columbia Theological Seminary
