Fordham has joined with other U.S. Catholic institutions in formally expressing support for action that addresses climate change.
On May 24, Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, signed the U.S. Catholic Climate Declaration, which calls for the United States to return to the Paris Agreement and join other nations in establishing a framework to reduce carbon emissions.
“There are few issues as consequential for the human family—and indeed life on Earth—as combating climate change,” said Father McShane. “On Fordham’s behalf, I have signed the U.S. Catholic Climate Declaration, which commits to the climate goals outlined in the Paris Agreement, to signal the University’s intellectual and moral support for actions that will help determine the fates of billions of people. The need is urgent, and the time is now.”
Organized by Catholic Climate Covenant and backed by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the declaration calls climate change “an urgent moral issue because it compromises the future of our common home, threatens human life and human dignity, and adds to the hardships already experienced by the poorest and most vulnerable people both at home and abroad.”
The effort demonstrates U.S. Catholic solidarity with the We Are Still In campaign, in which governors, mayors, university presidents, and other leaders—including Father McShane—signed a declaration in support of the Paris Agreement just after President Donald J. Trump withdrew the United States from it in June 2017.
Fordham has signed on to several environmental protection initiatives in the past few years. In 2016, the University joined the Catholic Climate Covenant in filing an amicus brief in support of the Clean Power Plan, which was unveiled under President Barack Obama and is currently under threat of repeal by the Environmental Protesction Agency. In May 2017, Fordham signed a petition in support of carbon pricing.
