Laudato Si’ Movement congratulates and encourages Laudato Si’ Movement Canada on the launch of their Catholic Eco-Investment Accelerator Toolkit.
The toolkit will help faith-based institutions align their investments with their mission and vision, and ensure that their money helps end the climate emergency and biodiversity crisis for our poorest sisters and brothers, and all of God’s creation, across the world.
The world is looking to fossil-fuel producing countries like Canada to apply their calls to action on greenhouse gas emission reductions on the world stage to their actions at home. The Catholic Eco-Investment Accelerator Toolkit helps Canadian communities of faith find the courage and ability to lead by example. Your voice is so important right now! Fossil fuel interests can no longer hold the lion’s share of attention with national policy makers.
Tomás Insua, Laudato Si’ Movement Co-founder and Executive Director, said: “This Catholic Eco-Investment Accelerator Toolkit will enhance a call for fossil fuel divestment in Canada and is a powerful act of faith that will advance the end of the supply side of fossil fuels in the petrol state. People of faith are divesting at scale from dirty coal, oil, and gas, and reinvesting in climate solutions to finally conclude that there is no future for a greenwashing of fossil fuel companies and governments that subsidize climate injustice. As Pope Francis said, ‘enough of the thirst for profit that drives the fossil fuel industry’s destruction of our common home.’”
Faith institutions around the world united for the largest-ever joint divestment announcement last October. In total, 72 faith institutions from six continents with more than USD$4.2 billion of combined assets under management announced their commitment to divest from fossil fuels. The institutions’ prophetic actions follow the recent call from Pope Francis and other faith leaders to global governments to address the “unprecedented ecological crisis.”
Divestment announcements in 2021 also showed that an increasing number of Catholic institutions are responding to the recent Vatican recommendation to divest from fossil fuel companies and invest in climate solutions.
The toolkit will help institutions follow Pope Francis’ advice and bring Laudato Si’ to life. The toolkit addresses specific Canadian concerns by examining the role of investments in Canada’s energy sector while assessing a Canadian faith-based response to challenges inherent with those investments.
Our Canadian brothers and sisters have seen so much devastation in 2021 from extreme environmental events. This toolkit is a timely reminder that loving social expressions of faith are most profound and impactful when raised to address urgent concerns with our governments. Keep up the good work of raising up Laudato Si’ with your investment leadership.