|PIC1|Since the Government announced that the UK will not meet its target to reduce CO2 emissions and resource clean energy sources, UK church leaders have been urging people to ‘go green’ in order to protect God’s creation.

In recent months, the issue has shot to the top of the political agenda, as many are seeking the urgent need for action to tackle the effects of climate change.

In a recent radio interview, Chancellor Gordon Brown expressed that there is an ethical and moral dimension to the battle against global warming, following on from similar comments from the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams who talked about the ‘huge moral problem’ of climate change as well as the urgent need for the government and individuals to take moral responsibility.

“Environmental sustainability is not an option, it is a necessity," Chancellor Brown said.

"For economies to flourish, for global poverty to be banished, for the well-being of the world's people to be enhanced... we have a compelling and ever-more-urgent duty of stewardship to take care of the natural environment and resources on which our economic activity and social fabric depends."

|TOP|Tim Cooper, chairman of Christian Ecology Link, applauded the fact the Chancellor had raised the ethical and moral dimension to the debate, but said Gordon Brown needed to go much further to back up his comments.

He said: “There are several ways of looking at ethics, and the whole issue of international justice follows on from what the Chancellor was saying.

“It’s my understanding that his response has not been coupled with any increases in oil prices and we will continue to exploit oil despite there only being a finite amount left.

“It seems to me that the Chancellor needs to look at the ethics of Western consumption and ways of restraining that.

|AD|“I’m not sure how if we should be encouraged by his comments, as politicians often claim to be morally superior to one another but their words need to be backed by actions.”

He continued: “Ethics are not just about international justice but also about our own position as a nation and how consumers can act.

“The Chancellor needs to encourage people to exercise less in their consumption and take a more holistic view of morality – and how we are to be stewards of our great affluence and how we use our money.”

He urged: “The Chancellor needs to integrate the moral responsibility in terms of consumption in his message to the nation.”

But Andrew Pendleton, senior policy and environment manager at Christian Aid, said he took heart from the Chancellor’s comments.

He said: “I think it’s very encouraging. Those people who are most likely to suffer from climate change are the poorest people in the most vulnerable climates in the world, yet the responsibility lies with us in the industrial countries.

“I think there’s a very clear ethical and moral dimension to the issue and it’s something we take very, very seriously, and we have raised this issue in the wake of natural disasters linked to climate change in the past.

“It is something people are going to hear a lot more on in the next weeks and months.”