CWS Nudges president Obama on Climate Change

From "Lesley Crosson" <LCrosson@churchworldservice.org>
Date Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:09:30 -0500

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
 
On Durban and climate change: “America leads, it does not follow,” CWS
urges President
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Friday November 18, 2011 -- In the lead up to the
COP-17 climate change summit in Durban, South Africa (November 28 –
December 9), the head of international humanitarian agency Church World
Service has urged President Barack Obama and State Department
negotiators to make good on U.S. promises in Copenhagen and Cancun by
committing now to the establishment of at least one concrete source of
international climate finance, to operationaliziation of the Green
Climate Fund, and to support for a second Kyoto Protocol commitment
period.
 
In a letter to Obama delivered to the President yesterday afternoon,
Church World Service Executive Director and CEO the Rev. John McCullough
said COP-17 poses “a tremendous opportunity for the U.S. to play a
pro-active, positive role” in gaining world agreement in Durban to one
concrete source of climate finance and to ensuring that a vehicle for
handling those funds, the Green Climate Fund, is “transparent,
accountable and environmentally sound” and ensures the participation of
affected communities. 
 
“America leads, it does not follow,” McCullough said.
 
“Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a bold, welcome move in
Copenhagen and promised that developed countries would mobilize $100
billion by 2020 for international climate finance. Developing countries
desperately need that money now and in years to come,” McCullough said
in the statement. 
 
The relief and development agency head underscored the urgency and
feasibility of nailing down a source of revenue, saying, “The Gates
Foundation, the UN High Level Advisory Panel on Climate Finance, as well
as various respected NGOs have all produced reports detailing the
feasibility of specific forms of funding.” 
 
Although to many climate advocate eyes the topic of dealing with
greenhouse gas emissions has rolled under the sofa, McCullough said it
remains “critical for countries like the U.S. to contribute positively
to climate solutions,” despite troubled domestic and global economies.
 
He urged the Administration not to continue the U.S. strategy of
withholding support for a Global Climate Fund until or “unless the U.S.
sees action on mitigation commitments by developing nations. This
violates the spirit of what was agreed to in Cancun.” 
 
McCullough, whose agency assists communities in regions like the Horn
of Africa already struggling with unprecedented droughts, increasingly
severe and unpredictable weather patterns, said he believed that for the
U.S. to “promote and support ways to operationalize the Green Climate
Fund” would “demonstrate democratic responsiveness to the needs of those
most affected by climate change.”   
 
McCullough told the President, “It is particularly painful to know that
the U.S. stood outside the international community in terms of not
ratifying the Kyoto Protocol and that recent U.S. Administrations --
including your own -- have made various political calculations that are
making it difficult to reach a sufficiently strong, binding agreement on
emissions reductions.”
 
In the current national and international political context, CWS’s
McCullough said the U.S. team could still play a constructive role in
Durban, by encouraging other developed nations to move forward in
finalizing a second Kyoto Protocol commitment period and by encouraging
key U.S. allies such as Canada, Japan and Russia to make significant
binding commitments.
 
Not letting the U.S. off the hook with its own emissions behaviors and
lack of commitments, McCullough also told the President, “Another very
important way the U.S. can contribute to a successful outcome in Durban
is for you personally to commit to meaningful signals around emissions
reductions at home.”
 
McCullough thanked the President for delaying approval of the Keystone
XL pipeline “u
ntil a more robust environmental review is conducted.
 
Keystone: ‘wrong signal’
“Approving the expansion of the Keystone XL pipeline sends the wrong
message to the world about our national priorities and trajectory of
U.S. energy policy.  Such a decision would make it even more difficult
for the U.S. to do our part in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It
will make the job of Church World Service as a humanitarian and
development organization even more challenging in years to come,” he
said.
 
From the standpoint of a faith-based organization, CWS’s McCullough,
also a Methodist minister, encouraged the President to bold action,
saying, “The Book of Esther reminds us that the opportunity to speak
prophetically carries personal risk, and that it must be timely for
greatest affect.  We are in the midst of a defining historical moment
that brings together profound issues of economic and environmental
justice that will shape the future of the U.S. and the fate of our
planet.  
 
“The instructions you give to the U.S. COP-17 negotiating team and how
you handle the Keystone XL pipeline permit will be instrumental for the
future of our planet.”
 
Church World Service is a member NGO of the international ACT Alliance
of relief and development organizations. ACT Alliance members will
attend COP17, host exhibits and present the event, “Can we achieve food
security in a world challenged by climate change?”Church World Service
and fellow members of the ACT Alliance are also now rallying signers to
a petition aimed at Durban negotiators that is being spearheaded by the
African We Have Faith - act now for climate justice campaign (
http://actalliance.createsend1.com/t/r/l/ilhytrt/piutlhrud/h/ )
(http://www.havefaithactnow.org/).
 
For more information about Church World Service and its work in
climate-affected regions: www.churchworldservice.org (
http://www.churchworldservice.org/ )
 
Media Contacts
Lesley Crosson, (212) 870-2676, media@churchworldservice.org 
Jan Dragin - 24/7 - (781) 925-1526, jdragin@gis.net 
 
Church World Service
475 Riverside Drive
New York, NY 10115
(212) 870-2061
 
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