The 'largest single programme of faiths acting on issues of the environment and sustainability that has ever taken place': That was how FaithInvest CEO Martin Palmer described the Faith Long-term Plans programme during the first FaithInvest webinar on the initiative on Tuesday October 20.
If you were unable to attend, you can watch a recording of the event below:
Organised by FaithInvest and the International Network for Conservation and Religion (INCR) and entitled 'Creating Your Faith Long-term Plan', this was the first in a series of webinars scheduled over the next few months to discuss the Faith Long-term Plans programme.
As well as FaithInvest Interim CEO Martin Palmer, the speakers included:
Gopal Patel, Co-founder and Director of Bhumi Global, which grew out of the Hindu environmental campaign, the Bhumi Project, launched in 2009. He described the experience of developing a Long-term Plan
Alison Prout, Director of INCR, who outlined the timetable and process of developing a Faith Long-term Plan, and how we could work collectively together
Nana Francois, FaithInvest Director of Membership, who spoke of the importance of aligning faith investments with beliefs and values. The Faith Long-term Plans programme mobilises faith groups to look at how they will manage their assets, investments, influence and resources to drive action on climate change, biodiversity and sustainable development over the next seven to ten years. It builds on a similar initiative in 2009 when more than 60 groups developed long-term commitments.
So far, more than 70 groups have already indicated their intention to develop a Plan, said Martin Palmer, which would constitute the largest single programme of faiths acting around the issues of the environment and sustainability that had ever taken place.
Martin Palmer said 'One of the things I discovered many years ago when producing the Atlas of World Religions was the degree to which the major faiths genuinely did not know what they owned or ran, how many schools or hospitals they have.
'We are major stakeholders in the planet, but there is also a need for that knowledge to be turned into "So what can we do with this?' to address environmental and sustainable issues, particularly as we head towards the end of the SDGs in 2030.'
The Plans will be launched in 2021 ahead of the UN's climate negotiations. This webinar discussed the programme generally as well as practicalities of developing a Faith Long-term Plan.
The next FaithInvest webinars are:
28 October 2020, 12noon GMT – Faith and Green Entrepreneurship
9 November 2020 – Faiths and Assets: Financial investments.
Check out our events page for more details of these and other events in the Faith Long-term Plans series of webinars.