Bishop Roger Coffi Anoumou of the Diocese of Lokossa in Benin represented the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) at the second African Climate Summit on Sept. 7-8, 2025, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. / Credit: SECAM

ACI Africa, Sep 10, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Members of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) are calling for methods that are “African, community-rooted, and just” in addressing climatic crises manifested in droughts, floods, and cyclones, among others, on the world’s second-largest continent.

In a statement read out during the Second Africa Climate Summit held at the Addis Ababa International Convention Centre in Ethiopia on Sept. 7–8, SECAM members said the climate crisis is both a moral and ecological emergency whose impact is greatly felt in Africa.

“Africa bears disproportionate impacts — droughts, cyclones, floods, desertification — despite contributing least to global emissions,” Africa’s Catholic bishops said in their statement for the event organized under the theme “Lighting the Way: Renewable Energy and the Dignity of Life.”

In the statement that Bishop Coffi Roger Anoumou of Benin’s Diocese of Lokossa read aloud, SECAM members said: “The Catholic Church in Africa calls for bold, fair, and urgent action to ensure that climate solutions are Africa-led, community-rooted, and just.”

On Africa-led climate solutions, the bishops said, “SECAM insists that Africa must not merely be a recipient of external agendas but a full architect of its ecological future.”

“Rural communities, rich in Indigenous wisdom, are laboratories of integral ecology and must shape pathways to sustainable development,” they said at the event they organized in collaboration with Laudato Si’ Movement in Africa and Caritas Africa.

To address the climate crisis, the bishops also called for the need to advance nature and technology-based approaches, saying: “The Church supports renewable energy, regenerative agriculture, and appropriate technologies that protect biodiversity and respect cultural heritage.”

“True solutions must integrate social equity, human dignity, and creation care, not short-term profit or ‘false solutions’ such as harmful offsets or extractive projects,” the bishops said.

The Church in Africa must move beyond the mentality of appearing to be concerned but failing to bring about substantial change, the bishops said, and added: “We are still not facing the issues squarely, and the commitments made are weak and hardly fulfilled.”

“We cannot continue to make excuses; what is needed is courage and determination to move away decisively from fossil fuels, to embrace renewable sources of energy, and to make genuine lifestyle changes for the sake of our common home,” the bishops said.

In the three-page statement, the bishops in Africa further advocated for the scaling of renewable energy.

“SECAM urges investment in decentralized, community-driven renewable systems — especially solar — creating decent jobs, empowering women and youth, and reducing energy poverty while curbing carbon emissions,” they said.

“The future is this renewable energy, namely, solar panels. It is crucial to invest in clean energy and upgrade infrastructure to address Africa’s energy poverty,” the bishops said.

SECAM members also called for the mobilization of climate finance with justice, saying: “The Church calls on wealthy nations to repay their ecological debt through transparent, accessible, and non-indebted climate finance.”

“Loss and Damage and Adaptation Funds must be swiftly operationalized, reaching vulnerable communities directly and fostering resilience rather than dependency,” the bishops said in the statement.

As Catholic communities in Africa, SECAM members said, “we ask the leaders of nations and institutions to recognize their moral duty and commit to urgent and ambitious action to protect our common home and the most vulnerable.”

The bishops in Africa lamented that delay and half-measures in protecting the common home only deepen the suffering of the African people and jeopardize future generations.

“A deal must include finance for loss and damage, which is compensation for countries that are already suffering the devastating impacts of climate change but are not responsible for causing it,” they said, adding: “This is a matter of justice and solidarity with the poorest and most affected communities.”

The bishops also called for adaptation efforts to “safeguard food security, water systems, and livelihoods, prioritizing the poor and marginalized. Faith communities stand ready to collaborate in educating, mobilizing, and accompanying affected populations.”

“The Loss and Damage Fund must be urgently operationalized to respond to the devastating impacts of climate change that are already destroying lives and livelihoods,” the SECAM statement said.

“We must stop the expansion of fossil fuels and instead expand clean, renewable energy solutions that empower our communities, respect our cultures, and protect our common home,” the bishops said, adding: “The earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor.”

This story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.