Faith leaders and climate activists in Africa announced their support on September 20 for an international treaty to halt the production and use of fossil fuels, the main cause of climate change, analogous to non-proliferation treaties governing the production of nuclear weapons.
“As people of faith, we have a moral duty to protect God’s creation,” said Ashley Kitisya, the African coordinator of the Laudato Si’ Movement, the global network of Catholics working to ameliorate climate change in the spirit of Pope Francis’ encyclical of the same name. “The Fossil Fuel Treaty gives us a tangible way to act on this duty by advocating for the preservation of our environment for future generations.”
Kitisya spoke at a media briefing organized as part of the Season of Creation, an event observed annually by Christian denominations and Christian climate activists from Sept. 1 to Oct. 4. Following the Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios’ declaration in 1989 of Sept. 1 as a day of prayer for creation, the World Council of Churches and Roman Catholic Church leaders joined the movement and sponsored prayer and action to call attention to climate change.
The 2024 theme, “To Hope and Act with Creation,” urges Christians and the world at large to reflect on what organizers say is a sacred responsibility in caring for the Earth. The Fossil Fuels Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative began in September 2022, when Vanuatu, a tiny Pacific island state, called for the negotiation of such an agreement at the U.N. General Assembly. In December of that year, Tuvalu, another state in the South Pacific, made a similar call at the plenary of the United Nations Climate Change Conference.
Since then, momentum has grown, with the Vatican, the European Parliament and 101 Nobel Laureates endorsing it. “We are making progress, but there is still so much work to be done. We must continue to build momentum, to engage more communities of faith, and to push for governments and international bodies to recognize the urgent need for this treaty,” said Kitisya.