USCCB, CRS urge Secretary Tillerson to support Green Climate Fund, clean-energy investments

February 20, 2017

Two bishops who chair committees of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, joined by the president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services, have called upon Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to support the Green Climate Fund, an international program that is part of the Paris agreement on climate change.

Bishop Oscar Cantú, Bishop Frank Dewane, and Sean Callahan said in their February 17 letter that Tillerson appears to share Pope Francis’s “nuanced understanding of climate change”—an understanding that “creates space for reasonable people to recognize, without controversy, that the climate is changing and highlights the importance of adaptation in response.”

“From the perspective of Catholic social teaching, adaptation ranks among the most important actions we can take,” they continued. “Adaptation policy is fundamentally concerned with helping God’s creatures and all human beings, especially those who are poor, to adapt to the effects of climate change, regardless of the causes.”

The prelates and Callahan urged Tillerson to foster adaptation by supporting the Green Climate Fund. They also called for a greater US investment in clean-energy technology.

“This is a time of both uncertainty and significant opportunity for our nation and world,” the bishops and Callahan concluded. “Filled with hope in God, we pray that your work may contribute to America’s material, social and spiritual wealth and further solidarity across the world.”

 

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Further information:

• USCCB Chairmen and President of Catholic Relief Services Urge Trump Administration to Care for Creation (USCCB)
• Full text of letter (USCCB)