5.3 On the need for reform of the church

In their recommendations for action on sustainable development in the dioceses⁷⁴, the German bishops have emphasised the importance of a holistic approach and credible action on their own part: to better anchor creation awareness within the church – for example, by localising creation spirituality in liturgy and proclamation – as well as to consistently observe the claim of sustainability in every area of church management and decision-making. In order to implement these recommendations stringently, the corresponding organizational anchoring is needed: In some dioceses it has been shown that professional "climate protection from a single cast" can lead to enormous reductions in emissions and costs if it is understood as a cross-sectional task and, for example, the diocesan environmental officers are integrated into the corresponding management and decision-making bodies and are provided with sufficient resources. It is advisable that the dioceses offer personal support or cooperation in implementing better environmental standards to church bodies in their respective regions that are weaker in terms of personnel and structure, especially to the local religious congregations.

One of the most important indicators for sustainable climate policy and thus also socially prudent and responsible action by social actors such as companies, public authorities or also the churches is the reduction of their own ecological footprint. Within the church, the following levers are particularly important in Germany:

In building management, a consistent and systematic conversion to renewable energies is the order of the day. By expanding their own production and use of renewable energies, churches can invest sustainably and actively promote change as "prosumers" (cf. chapter 4.4). Since the gradual conversion of all heating systems to non-fossil fuels is likely to take until well into the 2030s due to their long life cycles, this should be implemented immediately in all current renovation and new building projects; also the use of ecological building materials should be a matter of course. Due to relatively low expenditures of time and costs, the nationwide switch to green electricity for all church properties should also be carried out quickly.

Church properties also offer great opportunities to better fulfil the self-declared claim of the church to "make alternative forms of togetherness experienceable and tangible"⁷⁵. Thus, among other things, the targeted, comprehensive support of future-oriented forms of social interaction through church, especially building, infrastructure is recommended. Furthermore, the principle should be strengthened, which has proven itself in many, but by no means all, organisations, of renting out church properties below local market prices in order to promote certain forms of housing (e.g. multi-generation houses) and a broad mix of different social and income milieus. It should be remembered that the preferential leasehold allocation to housing cooperatives and the special promotion of housing estates for the socially weaker in the reconstruction years after the Second World War were able to develop a great inner-church and also overall societal dynamic. Since there are more and more church properties in Germany that are no longer used for pastoral purposes, the church could contribute to the provision of affordable housing that is urgently needed in the cities also today.⁷⁶

There is also great potential in the consistent orientation of church procurement towards social-ecological criteria. If one for example takes serious the suggestions for a mobility turnaround discussed here, this would have to lead to concrete changes in the organisation and composition of church vehicle fleets and guidelines for reimbursable business trips (e.g. with regard to domestic air travel). Accordingly, with regard to the necessary change in consumption and nutrition, church kitchens (incl. church kindergartens, schools, hospitals and old people's homes) should be converted to more wholefoods, "bio-regio" and "fair trade".   Model experiments show that this is not more expensive if the people in charge are trained accordingly (this is where the real financial effort lies) and the will to eat less meat products is there. In addition, there is a visible political position on organic and locally produced products as well as on fair trade. Organic farming is clearly more resource-efficient and, in combination with the Fair Trade standard, the most sustainable form of production of food and textile goods from the Global South.

In the field of land management, there is an urgent need to clarify whether "church land" should be managed according to uniform sustainability criteria in future, which is a great challenge in view of the large number of different church legal entities.⁷⁸ Such a discussion would send out a signal to society as a whole if it were possible to discuss the many distribution conflicts that a change in leasing practice in individual parishes and church foundations would entail at an early stage with the various stakeholders and then find a common regulation on the basis of shared values. In alignment with the National Bio-diversity Strategy, the removal of church open land and forest areas from use, consistent forest conversion and a contribution to the re-wetting of moorland, one of the most important natural CO2 sinks, should also be discussed.

In the field of finance: The churches and their large asset management companies are now increasingly taking ethical and sustainable criteria into account in their investments with the aim of making ethically dubious economic activities more difficult and promoting those that correspond to their own ideas of good economic management. To achieve this, however, it is necessary not only to check and keep an eye on the credibility of the providers of such investment products, but also on the impact of these investments. In order not only to soothe their own conscience, but also to achieve a steering effect, churches as investors should try to exert more targeted influence on companies. They can strive to improve the financing conditions of sustainable business ideas through their investments. Much more than in the past, they should use the opportunity as shareholders and try to change the business policy of companies through engagement activities that are ideally coordinated with others.⁷⁹ Church funds should also be withdrawn more consistently from companies that live from the extraction of fossil fuels: steps that large German financial groups have already taken.

Further important steps that now need to be taken are the extension of the segment of ethical-sustainable financing to large parts of the diocesan asset management and the comprehensive application of the diocesan guidelines and experiences to the more numerous assets of individual church foundations, parishes and religious communities. In view of the still low interest rates and the already described investment emergency in the area of sustainable infrastructure and renewable energies, the motto, at least for a part of the church's financial investments, should be: out of fixed deposits, into active climate protection.

Of course, the fields of action mentioned here only cover a small, but in terms of climate policy very effective, area of action through which the Catholic Church can make a clear contribution to the socio-ecological transformation within its own area of responsibility. It should be emphasised that the recommendations mentioned for shared and subsidiary responsibility, for increased transparency and the effort to achieve a profound change of mindset are essential prerequisites for this transformation to succeed. Often it has been grassroots democratic groups and associations that have done pioneering work within the church on issues of the future such as active environmental protection, fair trade or sustainable investments and that continue to promote these concerns on a broad scale. In view of the structural crisis of the institutionalised church, these groups represent a resource whose importance is likely to increase greatly in the coming years: their knowledge and voluntary commitment are invaluable for the Catholic Church in Germany.

The potential that the Catholic Church can, in close ecumenical cooperation, bring to this global transformation process due to its specific content and organisational prerequisites should be cause for hope and encourage even more decisive action. If the Church consistently addresses the need for reform and transformation described here also within the Church, it can be an effective agent for change, who works together with all people of "good will" to ensure that everyone, today and in the future, can live well and preserve the whole of creation.