As people of faith, we believe the Earth is sacred. We also believe that each of us has the responsibility to live in a way that sustains our common home for all living beings to thrive, not only today, but for generations to come.
With these values in mind, we are called to make faithful choices for a flourishing world.
By inviting religious and spiritual community members to join us in living more sustainably, we are creating a globally-connected community to help ensure a 1.5°C future. Our initiative supports and celebrates personal behavior changes in three areas — transportation, energy use, and diet — which all have a high impact on climate change.
In fact, each of these three areas represents an opportunity to save more than 0.8 tonnes of CO2 per capita per year. The corresponding data was compiled by Wynes and Nicholas as part of their study in the 2017 Environmental Research Letters, which compared all actions of one individual on a life cycle basis, under current average conditions in developed countries.
Make your commitment to sustainable living.
Inspired by your faith tradition and based on your personal motivation, you will be able to choose your very own commitment and find out about the impact it will have. Plus a little gift is waiting for you... We hope you will make your commitment today so that it can serve as an inspiration for others around the world!
“These actions are really important because we need to get emissions per capita down to 2 tonnes per year by 2050 and for some of these actions we don't have easy technological fixes.”
Seth Wynes, co-author of the study in the Environmental Research Letters, 2017
The 3 Priorities of sustainable living
Eco-friendly TRANSPORTATION
What: Using a more sustainable method of transport. Moving towards a car-free life, and avoiding transport by airplane as much as possible.
Why: Living car-free for a year saves 2.4 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, while each roundtrip transatlantic flight avoided saves an additional 1.6 tonnes.
Reducing ENERGY use
What: Most of the energy we use in our buildings for heating, lighting, appliances, hot water, and cooking comes from burning fossil fuels (coal, gas, or oil). We burn them either directly or indirectly through the use of electricity. Instead, one can switch to green energy tariffs, create one’s own renewable energy sources, and phase out energy from fossil fuels.
Why: Moving towards renewable energy sources can save up to 1.6 tonnes of CO2 per year per person.
Plant-based DIET
What: Transitioning from a meat- and dairy-based diet to a plant-based diet, as well as reducing food waste.
Why: Eating a plant-based diet saves 0.8 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year. This represents 4 times more greenhouse gas emissions per year than recycling. Plus, it is the most ethical approach, and also helps improve health and well-being!
Personal Choices to reduce your contribution to climate change
Average values for developed countries based on current emissions.
This graph was developed by GreenFaith and is adapted from Wynes and Nicholas, 2017, Environmental Research Letter.