Moral case for action on climate change is clear

Rowan Willaims on climate issues. He is the former archbishop of Canterbury and is chair of Christian Aid.

"The moral case for action is clear. It is those suffering the most who carry the least historic responsibility for our situation. 

"The wealthier industrialised nations have the power to act and secure a safe world for today’s poorest and tomorrow’s children. Christian Aid is soon to publish a report by Susan Durber examining the links between theology and climate change, in which it will be made very plain that the call for climate justice is something that echoes clearly the challenges found in the biblical prophets to a complacent and short-sighted society. 

"As Durber says: “Prophets are sometimes unpopular and can be ridiculed by those who have much to lose if people really were to open their eyes. But they are those who consistently, and without fear, speak what they believe to be the truth.”

"What is needed from our politicians is leadership that takes the long view and breaks free of the tight cycle of calculated electoral advantage – a calculation that often misses the issues that most directly affect everyone’s wellbeing. We’re starting to see this with the publication of apaper from the Department of Energy and Climate Change which outlines the need for, and the benefit of, an ambitious climate deal at the Paris meeting. 

But as Christiana Figueres, the leading UN spokesperson on climate change, said in a speech in St Paul’s Cathedral last May, we need to see action already in place this year if the deal in 2015 is to be strong enough: we need the groundwork laid, and we need clear signs that the political will is there.

The climate summit in New York offers the perfect opportunity for our leaders to show that there is indeed a sensitivity to the kind of prophetic vision that rouses us from complacency, and a will to secure the future of our children and grandchildren."