A MULTI-FAITH NETWORK
COMMITTED TO ACTION
ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Introducing ARRCC

The Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (ARRCC) is a multi-faith network taking action on the most pressing issue of our time. We guard our independence so that we can remain uncompromising in our stand for what is right. 

 

About Arrcc
About Arrcc
About Climate Change
About Climate Change
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United. Independent. Fearless.

ARRCC is a grassroots organisation that mobilises people of all faiths to take effective action for climate justice. Being independent of government grants and large institutions, we can fearlessly speak truth to power.

Donations from people like you allow us to employ skilled community organisers who channel volunteers' energies to be more strategic and fruitful.

All donations are welcome, but monthly donations help us most. Please donate here: www.arrcc.org.au/donation

Latest News

What happened in Baku?

What just happened in Azerbaijan? An awful lot, and most of it bad. Here is the short version, from the organisers of the Fossil Fuel Non Proliferation Treaty.

May be an image of 14 people and text that says "@FOSSILFUELTREATY COP29 ส GreenWerid Green ИAE FINANCE NOW! DEPEGR CUNTE GLOBAL UP!$5 $5 NORTH GOVERNMENTS: TRILLION FINANCE! PAY CLIMATEFINANCE BMP. CLIMATE The UN climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan, concluded after two weeks of intense negotiations focused on setting a New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) to ensure developed nations provide adequate financial support for developing countries mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damage efforts."

 

May be a graphic of 9 people and text that says "@FOSSILFUELTREATY However, developing nations left frustrated, as the process fell short of their $1 trillion USD grant-based -based climate finance target. Instead, the text only proposed the paltry amount of $300 billion per year by 2035, including loans, despite the recognition of the need for grants. This accounts for only 30% of the bare minimum resources demanded by developing nations and owed to them by the developed world, and is to have α significant decrease by 2035 due to inflation. FILL THE OSS TRILLIONS NOT BILLIONS PAYUP. FOR CLIMATE FINANCE! 045 FORCLMATEFINAN INANCE $5Trillion"

 

Faith institutions: Investing in fossil fuels is unethical.

Christian Brothers Oceania Retreat Centre in Mulgoa, NSW

ARRCC applauds Christian Brothers Oceania for joining this international announcement of faith-based institutions who have made the decision to divest from fossil fuels and instead invest in nature positive ways. We commend a number of Australian dioceses and other faith-based organisations who have also made such decisions, and we encourage more of them to shine their light for the world to see.

Below is the global press release that was sent out on 12 November, 2024, by a group of faith-based organisations. It is entitled, 

“A moral imperative”: Global faith institutions say investing in fossil fuels no longer ethical amid extreme climate, biodiversity and humanitarian impacts

While delegates meet at COP29 for UN climate talks, 27 faith institutions – including first-ever commitments from two Catholic dioceses in France – call for an end to the fossil fuel era

Faithful call for clean energy & phase out of fossil fuels

L-R: Bishop Sarah Plowman, Aunty Sandra King, Emma Beach, Aunty McRose Elu, Swami Atmeshananda, Very Rev'd Peter Catt at St John's Cathedral, Brisbane

Cathedrals and over 150 diverse places of worship across Australia have unveiled banners with a united message for the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition: Australia needs an historic investment in clean energy to enable an urgent transition away from fossil fuels.

Huge banners were ceremonially blessed at Cathedrals in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Newcastle, and Brisbane as part of a Week of Action. At each place of worship, faith leaders are leading the call for a historic investment in renewables, an end to the coal and gas industry cash splash, changes to environment laws and an urgent fossil fuel phase-out.

A video statement addressing the leaders of both major parties features nine senior faith leaders outlining a list of policies requested by faith communities. Investing in clean energy on an unprecedented scale is key.

Simon Stiell: 'Two years to save the world'

 (Image credit: Kevin Siers | Copyright 2018 Cagle Cartoons)

Recent reports suggested what the Leader of the Opposition may be planning as regards Climate policy. It is deeply depressing because it is so out of touch with reality.

"Two years to save the world ....

This was  the haunting title of a recent speech by UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell, at Chatham House in London.

He speaks with knowledge, hoping to inspire faster action.

The science is clear, as the latest IPCC report makes plain.

Making sense of COP28

Written by Tejopala Rawls, with thanks to Glen Klatovsksy, CEO of Climate Action Network Australia (CANA), for excellent notes that have informed this blog.


People of many faiths united in a vigil outside Prime Minister Albanese's office in Sydney during COP28.

So, what just happened?

COP28 has recently concluded in Dubai. It is being described, depending on who you listen to, as anything from “historic progress” to a “failure”. This is our attempt to make sense of the outcomes. 

Overall, COP28 has provided much needed momentum, but we’re certainly not yet moving at the speed that we need, and time is running out.

People from the Pacific and other climate-vulnerable countries were disappointed that the final agreement is non-binding, lacks the ambition truly needed and includes ambiguities that allow countries to interpret the text in whatever way they prefer. The agreement fails with regard to fairness, and it will deliver far too little finance for adaptation and Loss and Damage. 

Pope Francis' address to COP28

Photo credit: Corbis via Getty Images

Read by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin:

I have the honour to read the Address that His Holiness Pope Francis prepared for this occasion:

Mr President,
Mr Secretary-General of the United Nations,
Distinguished Heads of State and Government,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Sadly, I am unable to be present with you, as I had greatly desired.  Even so, I am with you, because time is short.  I am with you because now more than ever, the future of us all depends on the present that we now choose.  I am with you because the destruction of the environment is an offence against God, a sin that is not only personal but also structural, one that greatly endangers all human beings, especially the most vulnerable in our midst and threatens to unleash a conflict between generations.

To hear Cardinal Parolin deliver Pope Francis' prophetic, beautiful address, please view https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF4AgpYjhws

I got arrested at 97 for my grandkids.

This opinion piece by 97-year-old Uniting Church Minister, Rev. Alan Stuart, was published in the Sydney Morning Herald on 29th November, 2023. It was after he was arrested, along with 108 others, for blockading the world's largest coal port.

See also this interview in SBS TV

I never would have guessed that, at 97, I would be arrested on a small boat blockading the world’s largest coal port for a climate protest. But last Sunday, at Rising Tide’s People’s Blockade, that’s what happened.

Along with more than 100 other people, I was arrested at the end of a 32-hour flotilla blockade of the Newcastle coal port, with hundreds more supporting us from the beach.

 

Faith leaders call for no new coal and gas projects

Senior leaders from Christian, Muslim and Buddhist faiths are visiting key Ministers and MPs in Canberra today to urge the Federal Labor Government to put an end to all new fossil fuel projects in Australia, and to listen to the voices of Pacific Island nations calling for Australia to phase out fossil fuels. 

The faith leaders are bringing their message to Climate Minister Chris Bowen, Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Shadow Climate Minister Ted O’Brien.

This advocacy mission follows an open letter that more than 100 senior religious leaders from across Australia and the Pacific sent to Prime Minister Albanese last year calling an end to new coal and gas projects. Only one religious leader who signed received a reply.

A Buddhist Response to Uluru Statement

A Buddhist response to the Uluru Statement from the Heart

The invitation

In the Uluru Statement of the Heart Australia’s First Peoples call for a Voice enshrined in the Constitution, truth telling about Australia’s history and a process of agreement making between Governments and First Nations people. They invite us all to walk with them in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.

Developed by representatives of diverse Buddhist communities at a workshop convened by the Buddhist Council of NSW in Sydney on 2nd September 2023.

ARRCC supports a Voice to Parliament

Image by Uluru Statement from the Heart

Authorised by Thea Ormerod on behalf of ARRCC, 264 Pitt St, Sydney. 2000.

Later this year we will vote in a referendum to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Constitution and give them a say in issues that affect them through a Voice to Parliament. This arises from the Uluru Statement from the Heart, in which First Nations people invited all Australians to walk with them. ARRCC supports a Yes vote because we believe that it will enable us to be more effective when addressing the injustices that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have suffered since colonisation, and help create a more united Australia for us all.

The Uluru Statement From the Heart, which was signed by over 250 Indigenous leaders, says that “When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish. They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country.” It is an invitation to all Australians to walk with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples “in a movement of the Australian people towards a better future.” 

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