20/11/2020

42 Catholic Institutions To Divest From Fossil Fuels, Bring Total To Over 200

National Catholic Reporter - Brian Roewe

Sunflowers stand in a field near inactive oil drilling rigs Jan. 21, 2016, in Dickinson, North Dakota. (CNS/Andrew Cullen, Reuters)

For the second time this year, a group of 40-plus faith-based organizations committed to avoiding investments in fossil fuels, pushing the number of Catholic groups making such public pledges to over 200.

On Monday, 47 religious institutions — 42 of them Catholic — announced they will end or continue to eschew financial holdings in coal, oil and natural gas, the energy sources that are driving increasing climate change on the planet.

Among the organizations, located in 21 countries, are the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union, Caritas Asia, three dioceses, 13 lay organizations and 20 religious congregations and associations — including the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Commission of the International Union of Superiors General, or UISG, the largest umbrella group of women religious congregations, representing 2,000 worldwide.

The announcement also includes the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests and the U.S.-based Catholic philanthropic network FADICA.

Along with them, four Christian groups in the United Kingdom — including the Southern and Thames North Synods of the United Reformed Church — and the human rights-focused American Jewish World Service also divested, making this the largest joint divestment announcement by faith institutions to date, according to organizers.

In May, another 42 faith organizations in 14 countries announced their intent to divest. Both joint announcements were the result of a campaign by the Global Catholic Climate Movement. In the last four years, its divest-invest campaign has organized eight such public declarations by Catholic groups.

Their mobilizing has helped make faith-based organizations the largest share of the 1,200 organizations and businesses worldwide that since 2012 have publicly pledged to divest more than $14 trillion. Of those, more than 220 have been within the Roman Catholic Church.

The latest divestment commitments from Catholic groups comes days before the scheduled start of a major summit convened by Pope Francis on creating a more sustainable economy. The Economy of Francesco conference will take place Nov. 19-21 online, as the coronavirus pandemic upended original plans to invite young economists, students and entrepreneurs to Assisi, Italy.

LARGE IMAGE

In May, the Vatican bank confirmed to EarthBeat that it does not maintain investments in fossil fuels. A month later, the Vatican issued operational guidelines on the environment for dioceses and parishes.

The guidelines, originally published in Italian but since released in English, include a section on finance that critiques the pursuit of short-term gains at the expense of long-term negative consequences for communities and ecosystems.

Specifically, it recommends speeding up investment in sustainable infrastructure and establishing ethical investment principles that "promote responsible investments in social and environmental sectors, for example by evaluating progressive disinvestment from the fossil-fuel sector."

Of the 47 faith institutions in Monday's announcement, 18 committed to fully divest their investment portfolios from fossil fuels. Another 25 do not currently hold such investments and have committed to avoiding them in the future.

FADICA, or Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities, has fully divested its stocks and bonds from fossil fuels, said president and CEO Alexia Kelley, who added it still has "a very minute exposure" to natural gas through passive investments in funds screened according to environmental, social and governance criteria.

The Catholic philanthropic network's focus on environmentally friendly investing ramped up several years ago, after it updated its investment policy statement to align more with Pope Francis' 2015 encyclical "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home."

Several members also attended a 2018 impact investing conference at the Vatican, where participants pledged almost $1 billion in new investments to address issues related to health, migrants and refugees, youth employment and climate change.

The conference also led FADICA to develop workshops and resources for its members, to support their growing interest in making an impact in the area of creation care, Kelley said.

"Catholic philanthropists are more and more interested in looking at all the tools they have in their toolbox to achieve their mission," she said.

The International Union of Superiors General's Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Commission is among the groups that have never held investments. Franciscan Sr. Sheila Kinsey, executive co-secretary of the commission, told EarthBeat in an email that their commitment does not extend to the full UISG body, but the commission has promoted fossil fuel divestment and alternative investing as part of its Sowing Hope for the Planet campaign, which aims to help women religious implement Laudato Si'.

Sr. Sheila Kinsey is the executive co-secretary for the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Commission, a project of the International Union of Superiors General. (Provided photo)

Kinsey said those efforts will continue as the Vatican advances its own "Laudato Si' Action Platform" — a grassroots program that encourages the Catholic Church at all levels to adopt seven-year plans toward total sustainability, which among seven dimensions includes investing in renewable energy and fossil fuel divestment.

The Sisters of the Holy Cross in England joined Monday's announcement. In a statement, the sisters' leadership team said that after attempts to use their position as shareholders to press fossil fuel companies to reduce reliance on such energy sources, "we have realized that engagement with these companies only has limited success. We have now informed our Investors that we have decided to completely disinvest from fossil fuels, and thus work towards a zero-carbon future."

An October energy outlook from Bloomberg projected that investment in clean energy and battery storage technology could reach $11 trillion by 2050, with wind and solar energy providing more than half of the world's electricity. The report predicted that natural gas would be the only fossil fuel to see an increase in demand in that same period.

Like the UISG commission, the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union does not hold investments in fossil fuels, but committed to avoid them. Its support for fossil fuel divestment follows similar moves by several national bishops' conferences, including those of Austria, Belgium, Ireland and Greece.

"We encourage others also to join us in taking concrete steps to solve the climate crisis," the commission's secretary-general, Fr. Manuel Enrique Barrios Prieto, said in a statement, highlighting the importance of meeting commitments under the Paris Agreement and the European Green Deal.

"Solving the climate crisis protects the human family from the dangers of a warming world, and decisive action is needed now more than ever," he said. 

The Association of U.S. Catholic Priests also does not have a history of investing in fossil fuels through its endowment. Fr. Bob Bonnot, its executive director, said the decision represents an ongoing commitment by the association and its 1,200 members to address climate change.

In the past, the association's climate change working group has produced homily helps to relate Laudato Si' to weekly scripture readings. It also hosted webinars during this year's Season of Creation.

"We feel [divestment is] a way that we can manifest our commitment to this mention of caring for our common home, and we have to exemplify that and model that if we're going to say we are committed to it," Bonnot said.

Other divesting groups include the Dioceses of Victoria, Spain, and Penang, Malaysia, and the Archdiocese of Luanda, Angola; the World Union of Catholic Women's Organizations; the English province of the Congregation of Christian Brothers, based in Ireland; and four religious orders in Kenya. 

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(AU) Report Highlights Australia’s Performance On Climate Change Compared To Others In The G20

NEWS.com.au - Charis Chang

The weaknesses in Australia’s performance on a key issue compared to other G20 countries has been highlighted in a new report.


A new report from CSIRO and BOM has warned us about the worsening effects of climate change.

Australia’s record on climate change compared to other G20 countries has come under scrutiny in a new report.

The 2020 Climate Transparency Report, an annual collaboration between 14 think tanks and non-governmental organisations, is aimed at encouraging ambitious climate action.

The report has highlighted Australia’s poor performance as having one of the highest rates of subsidies for fossil fuels, for being one of only two countries not implementing a carbon pricing scheme and being one of the worst performers when it comes to emissions reduction in transport, energy efficient buildings and deforestation.

This year the report also analysed the countries’ responses to the coronavirus pandemic and warned that trillions more dollars were going towards to the fossil fuel industry as part of relief packages.

“Evidence suggests that COVID-19 recovery responses, thus far, have been disproportionately directed towards emissions-intensive and environmentally-damaging sectors,” the report notes. “This could contribute to emissions rebounding at a faster rate.”

It noted that Australia’s government had announced it would pursue a “gas-led” recovery and had provided unconditional support to coal, oil, and gas sectors as well as $US437 million in loans and tax deferrals to the airline industry.

While carbon emissions have fallen due to the pandemic and are expected to be 7.5 per cent lower across the G20 by the end of this year, this is expected to be temporary.

The report found the 20 member states of the G20 were still not on track for a 1.5C world and commitments made up to 2015 would lead to a 2.7C increase in global temperatures or higher.

Australia also ranked fourth among G20 member states for economic losses due to extreme weather events.

The economic damage from extreme weather events including floods, cyclone and fires is costing Australia billions every year. Picture: AFP
 
Between 1999 and 2018, Australia recorded an annual average loss of $US 2.4 billion due to these events. As a unit of GDP, this equates to an average annual loss of 0.25 per cent, only the US, India and China had higher costs.

The report, which analyses performance across 100 indicators of climate adaptation, mitigation and finance, noted that Australia’s per capita greenhouse emissions had decreased. However, there were areas where the country is falling behind other G20 members.

Fossil fuel subsidies

In 2019, Australia had one of the highest rates of fossil fuel subsidies per unit of GDP and this was well above the G20 average, along with countries like Mexico, South Africa, Argentina, Italy, France, and Russia.

G20 fossil fuel and fossil fuel electricity subsidies 2019. Source: OECD-IEA Fossil Fuel Support database 2020/Climate Transparency Report 2020.



Fossil fuel subsidies in G20 countries in US dollars. Source: OECD-IEA Fossil Fuel Support database 2020 Climate Transparency Report 2020.

It put $US7.2 billion towards subsidising coal, gas and electricity, although petroleum was the biggest beneficiary. However, some funding was also provided for clean energy, for example for hydrogen and battery storage.

In total, G20 countries, excluding Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the UK, provided $US130 billion in subsidies to coal, oil, and gas in 2019, an increase from $US117 billion in 2018.

Lack of carbon pricing scheme

Australia and India are the only two member states of the G20 that are not implementing, or in the process of implementing carbon pricing schemes, such as carbon taxes or emissions trading schemes.

The two countries are not even considering the implementation of such schemes.

This is in contrast to the UK, which saw its coal use plummet when it introduced a carbon tax in 2013.

Use of fossil fuels

Australia saw the biggest jump in the use of fossil fuels for energy of any G20 member state between 2018 and 2019.

The proportion of coal, oil and natural gas used for energy grew by 6.7 per cent, much higher than in China, which only had an increase of 2.6 per cent.

In contrast, most other countries actually reduced their reliance on fossil fuels.

Energy mix in G20 countries 2019. Source: Enerdata 2020/ Climate Transparency Report 2020
Australia’s carbon emissions per unit of power is also one of highest in the G20 — partly due to the country’s high reliance on coal and a smaller proportion of renewables — although emissions have decreased.

It still generates 82 per cent of its electricity from fossil fuels, mainly from coal (57 per cent). The use of natural gas has increased to 23 per cent of generation over recent years.

While renewable electricity is also increasing and makes up 18 per cent of the power mix, this is still less than the G20 average of 25 per cent.

The report gave Australia a “low” rating for its policy initiatives in this area, noting it had no policy to increase the share of renewables and no target or policy in place for reducing coal.

Instead the Federal Government is encouraging utilities to extend the lives of coal-fired power plants, promoting investment in new coal plants and providing subsidies for coal production and consumption.

The 2020/21 Budget will fund upgrades to an ageing coal-fired power station.

“To accelerate the global phase-out of coal power, G20 countries also need to end public financial support for coal domestically and abroad,” the report said.

“Public resources can instead be directed towards sustainable alternatives and supporting a just transition for affected workers and communities.”

Australia is the biggest coal exporter in the world, accounting for 29 per cent of the world’s coal exports – it uses only 16 per cent of its coal production domestically.

Dirty transport

Australia performs the worst in the G20 when it comes to policies to decarbonise the transport sector.

It has no target to phase out fossil fuel cars, no plans to phase out emissions from freight transport, no efficiency or emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles, and no longer-term strategy for promoting the greater use of public transport or changes to freight transport.

No decisions have been made on imposing fuel efficiency standards for light vehicles, and the national electric vehicle strategy announced in 2019 has not yet been released.

This compares with other countries like the UK, which plans to sell its last fossil fuel car by 2030 and Canada, which wants 100 per cent of its new cars to be electric vehicles by 2040.

Other countries with ambitious targets include Japan and France.

Carbon emissions in the transport sector among G20 countries grew by 1.5 per cent in 2019.

Australia is way behind when it comes to electric vehicles. Supplied: TasPorts
Buildings are not energy efficient
Australia was singled out, along with the US and Saudi Arabia for having the highest per capital building emissions in the G20. All three countries also lack strong policies to substantially reduce emissions in the sector.

In addition, Australia and Saudi Arabia do not have any policies for retrofitting existing buildings, although they do have some policies for new buildings.

Loss of tree cover

Australia is the only developed country that is considered a deforestation hotspot and 3-6 million hectares of forest could be lost in eastern Australia alone by 2030.

The country lost 6.11 million hectares of tree cover between 2001 and 2019 (not including any gains in cover), which equates to 14 per cent less tree cover than in 2000.

The report notes that the government has no policies or incentives in place to reduce deforestation, which are high compared to global standards particularly in the state of Queensland.

The primary driver of deforestation is pasture creation for livestock, which accounts for 88 per cent of forest clearing.

The government is also assuming that emissions generated by the huge fires in Australia up to 11 February this year will be absorbed by forest regrowth.

“Australia needs to protect existing forests and take necessary adaptation measures to guard against the devastating wildfires witnessed in recent years,” the report states.

However, among the G20 member states, Russia, Brazil, Canada, the US, and Indonesia have the highest relative tree-cover loss between 2001 and 2019.

While no countries have targets for reaching zero deforestation by the 2020s, which is compatible with 1.5C of warming; China, the EU and Mexico do have targets for net-zero deforestation.

Australia, along with France and Canada, have no policies in place.

Parts of Australia ravaged by bushfires have started to come back. Source: News Regional Media
No new targets

Many countries have said they intend to reach net zero emissions by 2050 including France, UK, the EU, Germany, Canada, South Africa, South Korea and Japan. China says it aims to be carbon-neutral before 2060.

Other cities going it alone include Buenos Aires, Cape Town, London, Mexico City, New York City, and Tokyo.

Australia has not adopted this target but every state and territory has, essentially making it the country’s target to achieve net zero emissions by 2020.

But these intentions have not been included yet each countries’ targets for the Paris Agreement.

Signatories to the agreement are expected to produce a new emissions target every five years, which is more ambitious than the previous target.

Countries were due to submit new targets this year but so far only Japan has done this — and it has not increased its target. Other countries have indicated they will do so in 2021 ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in November.

Australia, along with Russia and Indonesia have already said they will not update their targets.

Australia’s current target aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 26-28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, which the report has labelled “insufficient”.

However, Australia’s target was considered better than other countries including the US, which were considered “critically insufficient”.

So far, only India’s target is compatible with 2C warming.

“We urgently need more ambition and leadership from the world’s biggest economies – and emitters – at the upcoming G20 Summit and next year’s UN Climate Conference” Humbolt-Viadrina Governance Platform’s Catrina Godinho said.

“The US election result offers some hope for international climate politics, but all G20 countries will need to do their part.”

The good news

Significantly, emissions from G20 countries did decrease by 0.1 per cent in 2019, a significant turnaround from the 1.9 per cent increase in 2018 and the annual average growth rate of 1.4 per cent between 2005 and 2017.

This was partly achieved by a 2 per cent decrease in coal consumption, 2.4 per cent decrease in carbon emissions from the power sector, an increase in the use of renewables from 25 per cent of power generation to 27 per cent, and small decreases to emissions in the agriculture sector.

However, despite the decrease in coal consumption, fossil fuels still made up 81.5 per cent of the G20’s primary energy in 2020 because increases in gas (up 3 per cent) and oil (up 1 per cent) offset this.

The report noted the benefits of climate action included improvements to health and wellbeing, jobs and economic value creation, biodiversity and environmental resilience, financial security and fiscal benefits, and enhanced energy access and security.

“Increased climate action could trigger $US26 trillion in investments and generate 65 million low-carbon jobs worldwide by 2030,” the report noted.

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Predator-Proof Fence: 10km Barrier To Be Built Across Wilsons Promontory To Protect Native Wildlife

The Guardian - 

Foxes deer and cats to be blocked from 50,000ha park in Victoria, turning it into a ‘wildlife haven’

A long-nosed potoroo. Photograph: Brook Mitchell/Getty Images
A 10km fence to keep out foxes, deers and cats will be built across the Yanakie isthmus on Victoria’s Wilsons Promontory to create a 50,000-hectare native wildlife sanctuary.

The $6m fence is designed to protect vulnerable species including ground parrots, the southern brown bandicoot and long-nosed potoroo in the national park, south-east of Melbourne.

Parks Victoria chief conservation scientist Mark Norman said the funding would help reshape the national park into a 50,000-hectare sanctuary.

“The development of this predator and deer-proof fence across the narrow entrance to the park allows us to really create a wildlife haven at a huge scale. We’ll stop the wave of feral pests and really protect the special wildlife living there.”

The fence will allow Parks Victoria to focus on eradicating any pests or predators inside the park.

It will be built deep into the ground and almost 2 metres tall to prevent animals finding a way around, underneath or over it. Norman said that would allow conservationists to maintain the park’s populations of native animals.

“The significance of the fence is huge, it’s like creating an island ark where all the native animals and their habitats are protected. It means all the work we do won’t be constantly going backwards with the stream of pests coming in.

“It’ll also make an amazing experience for people to connect with nature. It would be like entering a modern Jurassic Park, or a native haven, where the animals bounce back and get the support they need.”

The fence is part of a $23m upgrade to facilities, including a new visitor centre, tourism hub and new accomodation, as well as upgrading walking tracks, car parks and existing accommodation.

It will turn the park something like an island, according to Matt Ruchel, Executive director at Victorian National Parks Association, protecting the wildlife there. But he said it wasn’t just the fence that would improve the park.

“The fence is the iconic bit, but it’s the management following it that’s really important. There needs to be an integrated plan, and you’d hope down the track, you’d be in a position to reintroduce some of those species in a safe space where they can flourish.”

“It’ll only work if there is intensive management of those pests in the reserve itself. What it does is then open the door to re-wilding animals and readjusting the ecology.”

The Victorian environment minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, said the funding boost would help protect the environment and make it easier for more people to enjoy the park.

“These are vital investments in conservation that will not only protect the biodiversity that underpins the health of Victoria’s environment but also take carbon out of our atmosphere, an important step in fighting climate change.”

Norman told Guardian Australia the funding would go toward improving the walking track, making the facilities safe and more accessible, as well as replacing old “glamping” spots with eco-friendly pods.

“I think it’ll engage the public and it’ll be a model for getting more people active in nature conservation and connecting with nature.”

Ruchel welcomed the upgrades to visitor facilities, saying they are much needed in this current climate.

“We know people are more inspired to visit nature, and we saw it after the first lockdown that there was an explosion in visitation, so the visitation needs to be managed.”

“The infrastructure helps with that, but we shouldn’t forget we need core ecological programs to make sure it’s not just the physical assets that are protected, but also that we’re managing the parks to the highest level.”

Authorities are hoping that by preventing predators and pests entering the park, they will be able to reintroduce native animals, such as the eastern bristlebird, eastern bettong and the spot-tailed quoll.

“By getting rid of the feral pests, we’ll see an amazing bounce-back in endangered birds, endangered ground mammals, their reptiles and frogs. One feral cat can eat up to 5,000 animals a year, so they’re just pigging out on animals wholesale.”

Ruchel said he was happy with the funding, and thought it was enough to get the upgrades installled and implemented, but that it wasn’t enough.

“It’s good to see the Andrews government recognising the value of our natural areas by making this investment, but in the longer term we need better routine funding for management.”

“The problem we have in park management is if its initial funding, it doesn’t always last. There is a question of needing ongoing long term support for these programs so that our ecosystems are managed consistently and for the long term.”

Norman hoped the park could act as an emergency shelter for threatened species around the state, especially after last year’s bushfires.

“In the bushfires, we almost lost the Victorian eastern bristlebird, and we’re going to set up an insurance population at the Prom, so if another catastrophic fire comes, they don’t go extinct in the state.”

“The improvements will really come to show off the jewel in Victoria’s natural estate.”

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