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Katherine Marshall
Katherine Marshall
Katherine Marshall is a Senior Fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, where she leads the Center's program on Religion and Global Development. After a long career in t...



Faith in Action

A collaboration with Washingtonpost Newsweek Interactive's On Faith site, Faith in Action tracks the activities of people of faith across the globe and across religious traditions, with a focus on development issues. It is featured here as well as on Georgetown/On Faith.

Climate Change and National Religious Coalition: Meeting at the World Bank

April 20, 2008

This note, just for information, reports on an interesting meeting that form part both of an emerging dimension of the World Bank faith/ethics dialogue and a broader evolution of coalitions for change, especially in the US but also more broadly - that is, the growing interest of the vast community of faith institutions in climate change and their increasing activism.

On April 22, 2008, a delegation of leaders from the National Religious Coalition on Climate Change, joined representatives of the Bank's Development Dialogue on Values and Ethics, Environment team, and External Affairs for a consultation on climate issues. The meeting followed from the Development Dialogue's ongoing relationships with faith leaders on areas of climate and environment more generally. It was in fact the fourth meeting over a period of five years with a similarly constituted interfaith group, which convenes about once a year in Washington DC. The most recent meeting at the Bank was in January 2005.


The impetus for the April meeting (coinciding with the delegation's Earth Day visit to Washington, D.C., with trips to Capitol Hill and U.S. government agencies) was part of the broader commitment to mobilize significant faith-based constituencies around issues of climate change, as advocates in public policy and in their direct roles in mitigation/adaptation. About 20 people participated, with representatives of the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change; the National Coalition for Creation Care; the Central Conference of American Rabbis; the World Council of Churches, and various Southern Baptist, Methodist, and Episcopal denominational leaders. Katherine Marshall (HDNDE) moderated, and Ian Noble (ENV) made a very effective presentation on the Bank's Strategic Framework on Climate Change as background for discussion.

While some discussion centered on scientific dimensions of climate change, the core of the dialogue turned on the ethical and moral commitment to mobilize support to respond to the consequences of climate change in the developing world. Some delegates noted concern that the ethical issues may be de-emphasized by the economic language of carbon trading – which may not convey the macroscopic need for reduced consumption. Many in the group noted the individual roles of their respective faith-inspired organizations in advocacy campaigns at the grassroots. The delegation expressed gratitude for the Bank's leadership on the adaptation issues, and for commitment to dialogue with faith sector leaders. As follow up, the delegation plans to circulate the Bank's draft Strategic Framework among their networks and provide written feedback/perspectives on the consultation draft to ENV.

The the note on Climate Change and Religious Leaders on the prior 2005 meeting illustrates the roots of the dialogue.

It is also worth highlighting the World Bank partnership with ARC (Alliance for Religions and Conservation) over several years, which has supported a wide range of inspirational community based environment action and learning initiatives. Among the outcomes are several publications. In sum, as the coalition takes on heightened prominence, as seems likely, there is a good foundation to build on.



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