A NEW United Nations report pointing to the growing impact of climate change is forcing politicians to respond to public concern about the predictions of global catastrophe, Bishop Chris Toohey said on February 6.
On February 2, the UN released a hard-hitting report confirming the human influence on global climate change.
Bishop Toohey, who is chairman of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Commission for Justice and Service, said it reinforced what the scientific community has been saying for some time.
“The dispute is really about how much is humanly induced and how much is not,” he said.
“Every day somebody is saying we have to do something about climate change and the way we generate energy because we are addicted to fossil fuel.
“I’m not a scientist, I can only go by what people in the scientific community are saying.”
Bishop Toohey said he relied on objective scientific data such as climate change computer modelling available from the CSIRO, an advisory body to the Government.
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report said global warming over the past century was “very likely” caused by human activity.
The report predicted that the Earth’s surface temperature will rise 1.8 degrees Celsius to 4 degrees and sea levels will rise 18 to 29cm by 2100.
Bishop Toohey said the best Catholic response to climate change was one that came out of our theological tradition founded on Christ in the gospels.
