Issue Paper: Global Warming and Climate Change

Caring for Creation: Global Warming and Climate Change
NOVEMBER 2003

Background
The earth is a planet of beauty and abundance; the earth system is wonderfully intricate and incredibly complex. But today living creatures, and the air, soil and water that support them, face unprecedented threats. Many threats are global: most stem directly from human activity (“Caring for Creation,” 2.B-1). [1] As Christians, we understand human beings as fundamentally responsible before God. With the reach of our contemporary human knowledge and the power we employ in new technologies, this responsibility in terms of caring for creation now includes the global future itself. Central to that question is the threat posed by global warming and climate change.

These threats and changes have been summarized in the mostrecent findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2001 Report (Summary for Policymakers, A Report of Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), [2]  which concludes that there is an increasing body of  observations that gives a collective picture of a warming world and other changes in the climate system. Examples include rising surface temperatures, snow and ice melts, rising sea levels, and changes in weather patterns, such as drought, flooding, and monsoons. The spring 2003 US Environmental Protection Agency Web site, “Global Warming – Climate,” [3] uses this IPPC report in their climate model presentation. Consensus is emerging among scientists that most of the observed change is due to an increase in greenhouse gas concentrations caused by fossil fuel combustion and other human activity (The New Business Climate: A Guide to Lower Carbon Emissions and Better Business Performance, by Joel N. Swisher, (Rocky Mountain Institute, 2002). [4] 

In April of 2002, CERES published a report, Value at Risk: Climate Change and the Future of Governance, prepared by Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, Inc. [5]  This was followed in 2003 with Innovest Strategic Advisors releasing Carbon Disclosure Project: Carbon Finance and the Global Equity Markets. [6] In July of 2003, a report was prepared and released by the Investor Responsibility Research Center (IRRC), Corporate Governance and Climate Change: Making the Connection. [7] These reports summarized the key factors that are converging calling for companies to move this issue to a prominent place on their agendas. These not only include the scientific consensus mentioned above, but review the recent reports of mainstream financial institutions (Swiss Re, Credit Suisse, and Deutsche Bank), which make the case that the growing cost of continued corporate inaction will outweigh the cost of action. They also indicate that the sooner positive actions are taken, the greater the economic benefits for a company. The report from IRRC identifies problem areas in corporate governance related to global warming. In addition, there is a move to an increasingly aggressive action by international governments. Many have ratified the Kyoto
Protocol, [8] while others are in the process of establishing concrete national emissions abatement plans. Multinational corporations find themselves in a position of having to implement these provisions in their plants within the next decade. States in this country are enacting their own legislation to control greenhouse gases. California passed a law in 2002 to control CO2 emissions from the auto sector. New Hampshire and Massachusetts have adopted legislation to control electric utility CO2 emissions.

ELCA Social Policy
“Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope, and Justice” (ELCA, 1993): The social statement develops this church’s vision of creation, while showing us the gift of hope. It calls us to justice through principles of participation, solidarity, sufficiency, and sustainability. Specifically this social statement calls the church to engage in dialogue with corporations on how to promote justice for creation (5.E.1-1). This includes dialogues around implementing comprehensive environmental principles, healthy environments, and cooperation between the public and private sector regarding sustainability.

In addition, the Churchwide Assembly in 2001 reaffirmed the commitment of this church to the care of creation, including global warming, as part of the web of complex interwoven environmental concerns (Assembly Action CA01.07.57).

Corporate Response
In preparing to respond to state-level greenhouse gas regulation legislation and UN treaties, companies need to begin to invest time and resources in three major areas (The New Business Climate: A Guide to Lower Carbon Emissions and Better Business Performance [see footnote 4]):

• Participating in carbon offset trading programs; [9]
• Implementing advanced technologies; and
• Reorienting company strategies toward new processes, products and services.

It is reasonable for a company to begin this work by evaluating and reporting on their greenhouse gas emissions and total “footprint” (how much does their product emit, how their delivery process operates, who their suppliers are) and by setting targets for decreasing their emissions. In addition, the company can review their probable risk exposure to financial and competitive consequences of climate change. They can ensure that they have sufficient expertise to make informed and responsible decisions and benchmark themselves within their own industry sector. Climate change strategies and strategic alliances can be built into an overall business plan thus preparing the company for success in the future.

Shareholder Work History
For over ten years, the community of faith-based shareholders (mainly through the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility) has been urging companies to report on research and actions they are taking to address global warming. In the past two years, a combined working group of environmental specialists, the faith community, and other socially responsible investors have pushed the campaign to new levels. In 2003, twenty-eight global warming resolutions were filed with a variety of companies. These resolutions received results in the 20–39 percent range of the shareholder vote. In addition, many dialogues are ongoing. The campaign divided its work into four industry sectors: oil and gas, utilities, transportation, and appliances.

ELCA has had resolutions and done work in this area beginning in 1995. Since 2001, the ELCA has taken a leadership role in the appliance sector work. Our dialogue has been fruitful, with the companies gathering data and beginning to report on their greenhouse gas footprint. Our work in this area in recent times has been based on the 2000 report Appliances and Global Climate Change: Increasing Consumer Participation in Reducing Greenhouse Gases, prepared for the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. [10]

Resolution Guidelines for ELCA