Evangelistic edicts

The World Council of Churches (WCC) organised a campaign to mobilise public opinion and pressurise governments to make efforts to stop climate change. The WCC has declared that "Climate change is a profoundly ethical and spiritual challenge caused by the economies and the lifestyles adopted by industrialised countries, whose consequences will be suffered disproportionately by developing countries and future generations."

The campaign has developed a model text and petition that calls on governments to meet gas stabilisation targets agreed upon at the 1992 Earth Summit; adopt binding agreements for further emission reductions after the year 2000 AD; and stimulate more public debate on climate change issues. These petitions and texts, modified to the requirements of the countries where they will be distributed, shall be submitted to national governments by late 1997. The WCC also plans to present signatures collected from around the world to the UN's ad hoc working group on the Berlin mandate, in March 1997.