Special to United Methodist Insight
It’s time to phase out fossil fuels! In this decade. Not just from our investments. I mean it’s time for us to start significantly reducing and phasing out fossil fuels now. I know this sounds almost impossible, but this is what science is telling us.
Consider the recently released 2024 State of the Climate Report: Perilous Times on Planet Earth, which describes our current situation in alarming terms reminiscent of the Hebrew prophets:
“We are on the brink of an irreversible climate disaster. This is a global emergency beyond any doubt. Much of the very fabric of life on Earth is imperiled…. We find ourselves amid an abrupt climate upheaval, a dire situation never before encountered in the annals of human existence. We have now brought the planet into climatic conditions never witnessed by us or our prehistoric relatives within our genus, Homo.…” Read the rest here.
What does the science say about where we are and what’s at stake with climate change? Average global temperatures have risen by 1.18° Celsius since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, when we started emitting industrial greenhouse gas emissions. That’s 2.13° Fahrenheit. The earth has a fever. Last year was the hottest ever recorded, and this year will probably surpass it.
Science tells us that we need to limit average temperature rise to 1.5° C to prevent cascading climate impacts, and that this is the decade in which we must act if we hope to stay under 1.5° or even 2° C. Here’s how the scientists put it in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 6th Assessment Report (See B.6):
“All global modelled pathways that limit warming to 1.5°C… and those that limit warming to 2°C…, involve rapid and deep and, in most cases, immediate greenhouse gas emissions reductions in all sectors this decade.
But greenhouse gas emissions and global temperatures have been rising year after year. At this rate, global temperatures are on track to reach over 3° C or even 4° C by the end of this century. And then keep going. Without phasing out fossil fuels, holding temperatures to 1.5° or even 2° C will not be possible.
Eliminating fossil fuel corporations from our personal and institutional (church) investments is a way to take a step toward phasing out fossil fuels and to align our investments with the values that we as United Methodists proclaim. It is also a way to by live into Jesus’ teachings about wealth and about how to treat others: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” “You can’t serve both God and money.” “Love your neighbor as yourself.’ “Do to others as you would have others do to you.”
Of course, simply divesting from fossil fuels will not take us to where climate science tells us we need to go to prevent cascading climate chaos. Fossil fuel divestment is one strategy among many of the global climate justice movement, which works on many different fronts to challenge the injustice and alleviate the harm of climate change. Even as Fossil Free UMC stays on task with our primary focus on the institutional investments of the United Methodist Church, we are doing so in the context of this larger picture and in cooperation with others doing important work.
In response to an invitation from The World Council of Churches during the Season of Creation, Fossil Free UMC has signed onto the Fossil Fuels Nonproliferation Agreement, which was initiated by climate-vulnerable island nations. We are taking seriously the WCC’s “Climate-Responsible Finance: A Moral Imperative towards Children,” which links climate finance with the disproportionate harm caused by climate change to the world’s children. We align ourselves with Stop the Money Pipeline, Greenfaith, and other organizations that challenge big banks and other large institutional investors to stop funding fossil fuel corporations. Next time we gather as Fossil Free UMC, we are meeting with UM Kairos Response, which works for peace in Palestine and Israel, to discuss how we can make common cause in our mutual divestment efforts.
We are integrating our fossil fuel divestment work within the United Methodist Church with other approaches to climate justice. We are joining forces with others working to build a movement strong enough to pressure those at the apex of political and economic power to set climate policies based on what science is telling us. Fortunately, the global movement for climate justice is strong and growing. Fossil fuel divestment is one of its strategies.
Fossil fuel divestment is a strategy that enables us to phase out fossil fuels from our investments and align our investments with our values. By expanding our work with the United Methodist Church into a larger goal, Fossil Free UMC joins with others around the world who are calling for a phaseout of fossil fuels, for the sake of God’s creation and for everything we hold dear.
Find out more about Fossil Free UMC and Join Us Here.
The Rev. Sharon Delgado, a clergy member of the California-Nevada Annual Conference, is convenor of Fossil Free UMC and longtime Christian environmental activist.