Geneva/Brussels (Stephen Brown), 19 June 2009:
When international talks about climate change open in Copenhagen in December, there should be three empty chairs at the conference table, a Church of Sweden expert on sustainable development has urged.
Lutheran pastor the Rev. Henrik Grape wants three chairs left empty at all future talks on climate issues to symbolise non-participants - the poor, future generations, and creation itself.
A question of survival
"Climate change has become a question of survival, especially for the poor and vulnerable, who will be the first to suffer," said participants at a 17 June meeting in Brussels about the ethical dimension of climate change, where Grape made his proposal about the empty chairs.
The Brussels meeting brought together members of European churches and representatives of the 27-nation European Union. The gathering is one of a number of events taking place in the run up to the United Nations-organized Copenhagen talks which open on 7 December.
Rights of future generations
"Our overwhelming problems, such as environmental pollution, pollution of seas, contaminated food supplies, the squandering of energy sources and climate change … are issues that concern the human rights of future generations," said Metropolitan Athanasios of Achaia from the (Orthodox) Church of Greece, a participant in the meeting.
Justice for creation
The Rev. Rüdiger Noll, director of the Church and Society Commission of the Conference of European Churches - which gathers 120 mostly Anglican, Protestant and Orthodox churches - underlined the importance of justice and responsibility for developed countries "to save the harmony of creation".
The U.N. Copenhagen meeting is intended to reach an accord on combating climate change, to take effect in 2013. This would be after the expiry of the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol, a U.N.-brokered agreement aimed at limiting emissions of greenhouse gases that lead to climate change.
"An effective response to climate change requires both political leadership and ethical reflection and debate," said the Rev. Piotr Mazurkiewicz, secretary general of the Commission of the (Roman Catholic) Bishops' Conferences in the European Communities.
"These are essential in order to win over not only minds but also the hearts of citizens and to make change effective," Mazurkiewicz said at the meeting, which included reports of the latest scientific information concerning climate change.
Targets insufficient
Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, the vice-chairperson of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, warned that the EU's existing emissions reduction target will not be sufficient to keep global warming below a rise of two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).
A two degrees Celsius temperature rise above pre-industrial levels is seen by international conservation organizations as the trigger for dramatic changes in ecosystems and potential species extinction.
"We, the European Union, have not only to assume our responsibility but also to be the leader for the rest of the world," said Karl Falkenberg, director general for the environment at the European Commission, the EU's executive arm.
