Welby cuts meat and diesel in crusade to ‘choose life’
THE Archbishop of Canterbury has cut meat and diesel from his life, but has admitted that his choices “are not entirely virtuous” ahead of Cop26.
The Most Rev Justin Welby has made changes to his diet and lifestyle to help combat climate change as he urged global leaders to “choose life”.
On Tuesday the Archbishop, along with Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church, released a joint statement ahead of the climate summit, saying it is a “critical moment” for the future of the planet.
On BBC Radio 4’s Today yesterday, he added that he had adjusted his habits to live more sustainably.
“I’ve cut back on travel,” he said. “We, like so many people, are very involved in and committed to recycling and all that. I used to have an official diesel car, I no longer have that. We’ve cut right back on meat.”
However, he added that his decisions were not entirely selfless: “I’d like to pretend that was entirely virtuous, but it’s also to do with health and money.”
The Church of England has committed to being net zero on carbon by 2030.
However the Archbishop, who used to work as an executive in the oil industry, explained that the goal of the church is not pure divestment from fossil fuel companies.
He said: “In terms of our investment, we believe in engagement. Christians believe in conversion. We want to see companies change their behaviour.
“We’ve divested of coal because there’s no clean way forward.”
The Church of England’s National Investing Bodies continue to propose that engagement with fossil fuel companies
‘We believe in engagement. Christians believe in conversion. We want to see firms change behaviour’
enables them to influence their decisions.
Furthermore, two of the three national investment arms of the Church of England (the Church Commissioners and the Pensions Board) cumulatively have approximately £55million in fossil fuel shares.
Additionally, 21 of 42 Church of England dioceses have investments in fossil fuel.
The Archbishop made the comments following his return from sabbatical, which was revealed by the in November.