AINSLIE MULHOLLAND
Eleven Christian ministers from five Brisbane churches sent a letter to the Federal Government petitioning for climate change to be added to the G20 summit agenda.
The Spokesman for the ministers Dean of St Johns Anglican Cathedral, The Very Reverend Peter Catt said numerous local parishes were concerned about the limited attention focused on the impact of climate change.
“Climate change is the single most pressing issue facing the world and a group like the G20 leaders certainly need to add it to their agenda if it’s going to be addressed at all,” he said.
“Climate change is a deep concern. The G20 leaders should be showing leadership and discussing it at the top of their agenda when they meet in our city.”
The ministers have expressed their concerns that sustainable economic growth will be a part of the formal G20 agenda while climate change will not be addressed.
“We are trying to highlight that there is a whole separation in the conversation that goes on when discussing economy and ecology but we see the economy happening within the ecology.”
“We need to attend to the issue of climate change to ensure that the economy continues to bear good fruit.”
The G20 host nation outlines the agenda for the submit.
Although Europe and The United States of America have supported the addition of climate change to the agenda, Prime Minister Tony Abbott believes that the issue of climate change has no relevance to the summit’s main objectives.
“The focus of the G20 will overwhelmingly be on our economic security, our financial stabilisation, the importance of private sector-led growth” Mr Abbott said in a statement issued in June this year.
The ministers are expecting a formal response from the Federal Government in the next few weeks.