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CofE Statements and Resolutions on the Environment

More recent statements since the launch of Shrinking the Footprint

Synod as carried - February 2005

That this Synod:

1. commend Sharing God's Planet as a contribution to Christian thinking and action on environmental issues;

2. challenge itself and all members of the Church of England to make care for creation, and repentance for its exploitation, fundamental to their faith, practice, and mission;

3. lead by example by promoting study on the scale and nature of lifestyle change necessary to achieve sustainability, and initiatives encouraging immediate action towards attaining it;

4. encourage parishes, diocesan and national Church organizations to carry out environmental audits and adopt specific and targeted measures to reduce consumption of non-renewable resources and ask the Mission and Public Affairs Council to report on outcomes achieved to the July 2008 group of sessions;

5. welcome Her Majesty's Government's prioritising of climate change in its chairing of the G8 and its forthcoming presidency of the European Union;

6. urge Her Majesty's Government to provide sustained and adequate funding for research into, and development of, environmentally friendly sources of energy; and

7. in order to promote responsible use of God's created resources and to reduce and stabilise global warming, commend to

   1. the consumers of material and energy, the approach of ‘contraction and convergence'; and to

   2. the producers of material and energy systems, safe, secure and sustainable products and processes based on near-zero-carbon-emitting sources.

Previous statements on the environment

The Church of England nationally or as part of the international Anglican Communion has issued a number of statements on environmental matters:

1970

"Man in his living environment" a report produced by the Board for Social Responsibility (refers to a 1964 debate in the Church Assembly)  Chair of authors: Prof GW Dimbleby ISBN 0715165097

1986

the General synod received the report Our Responsibility for the Living Environment.

1990

A Working Party was set up by the then Church of England Board of Social Responsibility (now Mission and Public Affairs Division) in 1990 to produce a statement of Christian stewardship in relation to the whole creation. This statement was issued as a General Synod Miscellaneous paper, Christians and the Environment, circulated to all members of Synod.

1992

The General Synod passed a motion from the Lichfield Diocese. Following the debate, the Board prepared a leaflet for parishes wanting to take practical action. This is entitled Conservation and the Environment

1995

Faith in the Countryside endorsed by a private member's motion carried by Synod in July, when it was debating ethical investment. The part of the motion relating to the environment read:

'That this Synod:

1. recognise the need for a stronger and clearer ethical investment policy on the handling of Church assets, as proposed, for example in Faith in the Countryside; and

2. welcome the establishment of an ethical working party by the Church Commissioners to keep ethical theory and practice under review and request that it report annually to Synod.'

1998

Lambeth Conference XIII - the Bishops of the worldwide Anglican Communion drew up a theology of and passed a resolution on the environment.

2002

The Anglican Communion held a Congress just prior to the UN Summit on Sustainable Development on the Stewardship of Creation, which issued a statement to the UN and a pastoral letter to the Anglican Communion - Stewardship of Creation.