KENYA: Religious Institutions Commit to Disinvest from Fossil Fuels And Abide By Vatican Guidelines
Catholic Institutions divest from fossil fuels
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
Five months after the Vatican issued it’s first-ever set of comprehensive environmental guidelines on ethical investments, Catholic institutions across the globe including nine from the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) region have committed to disinvest from fossil fuels.
In a press statement sent to AMECEA Online Monday, November 16, by the Global Catholic Climate Movement (GCCM), 47 faith institutions comprising of 42 Catholic institutions and other Protestant, and Jewish institutions “have announced their divestment from fossil fuels, making the largest-ever joint announcement of divestment among religious leaders.”
The guidelines, “which were jointly issued by all dicasteries of the Vatican suggest that Catholics avoid investing in companies that “harm human or social ecology such as abortion, arms trade and fossil fuels,” reads the statement in part.
The nine Catholic institutions within AMECEA region include five Kenya-based Religious Orders: Capuchin Charities, Franciscan Servants of Mary Queen of Love, Little Sisters of St. Joseph, Sisters of Mercy Learning and Spiritual Centre and Religious of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
From Uganda the institutions comprise of two Religious Orders: Dominican Sisters of Mary and YouFra Uganda and a lay organization, the Kikandwa Environmental Association, and finally from Zambia a Religious Order of the Franciscan Missionary Sisters for Africa.
“We celebrate that Catholic institutions around the world are implementing the Vatican’s guidelines on divestment from fossil fuels (and) the announcement demonstrates that people of faith have both the wisdom and courage to act,” Fr. Augusto Zampini-Davies, Adjunct Secretary of the Vatican’s social-environmental ministry in the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development has been quoted adding, “The future of our economy is in clean energy, and the Catholic commitment is clear.”
According to the statement “Catholics’ commitment to clean energy is part of the tradition of Catholic Social Teaching” and “clean energy protects people from the risks of air pollution and climate change, both of which harm human health.”
To date, a total of nearly 400 faith institutions globally have divested from fossil fuels.
