Decision of the 12th Synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany at its 6th session on Climate Justice
The Synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany requests the EKD Council to urge the Federal Government to
- advocate for a substantial rise in the nationally determined contributions (NDCs) at the Madrid Conference of the Parties (COP25) in December 2019 and likewise for appropriate financing for climate schemes,
- implement the measures passed in the climate legislation package passed by the Bundestag and considerably improve them, so that the climate goals for 2020 are reached as quickly as possible and all other climate objectives are safely achieved,
- give another substantial boost to the expansion of renewable energies and rapidly remove the structural obstacles to this.
Furthermore, the Synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany requests its member churches and agencies, also with an eye to the next EKD climate report to Synod in 2020, to intensify their own efforts to save energy and manage their affairs in a climate-friendly way, in order to reach the goals they have set themselves (reduction by 40% by 2020, seen from 2005 as base year).
Finally, the Synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany declares its solidarity with those who are particularly hard hit by climate change and who, across the world, have to suffer repression when they stand up for climate justice. It reaffirms the ties binding it worldwide to the sisters and brothers in Christ Jesus who are committed to caring for creation.
Dresden, 13 November 2019
President of the Synod
of the Evangelical Church in Germany
Dr. Irmgard Schwaetzer