MEDIA RELEASE

For Immediate Release: January 19, 2021 

Interfaith Power & Light calls for Confirmation of Biden’s Climate, Interior, and EPA nominees

Oakland, CA– Interfaith Power & Light and its state affiliates expressed strong support for President-elect Biden’s choices for key climate and environmental positions, and called for swift confirmation. These nominees will ensure that justice and equity are front and center and science and expertise prevail in these key roles and agencies in the federal government.

Specifically, our experience with Gina McCarthy, who Biden has tapped to head a new White House Office of Climate Policy, Rep. Deb Haaland of New Mexico for Interior Secretary, Secretary Michael Regan for EPA Administrator, Janet McCabe for Deputy EPA Administrator, and former Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack for Agriculture Secretary give us confidence that they are the right people to advance climate justice in the new administration.

In response, Interfaith Power & Light and Interfaith Power & Light state affiliates have released these statements:

“Gina McCarthy brings a strong track record of advancing climate justice, clean air, and protecting human health as US EPA administrator in the Obama administration. Her experience and expertise, her understanding of the urgency of acting on climate, as well as her strong personal faith, give us confidence that she will be invaluable in developing and implementing the new administration’s climate strategy.” — Rev. Susan Hendershot, President, Interfaith Power & Light

“People of faith in New Mexico are grateful for the nomination of Representative Haaland as Secretary of Interior. She has been working on climate change efforts in New Mexico and will continue to do so as Secretary of Interior. It is so important to have an Indigenous woman to stand for the sacredness of land, water, air and communities. We hope this will lead us as a nation into a more just way into the future.”  — Sister Joan Brown, osf, Executive Director, NM Interfaith Power and Light.

“Michael Regan is a faithful family man deeply committed to science-based environmental stewardship to protect all communities. In his role as NC DEQ Secretary, Michael Regan created the Environmental Justice and Equity Advisory Board with a scope to assist the agency in achieving and maintaining the fair and equal treatment and meaningful involvement of North Carolinians regardless of where they live, their race, religion or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. Michael Regan’s consistent engagement between communities, industry, and the government will ensure the protection of human health and the environment.”    — Susannah Tuttle,MDiv., Director – NC Interfaith Power & Light, a program of the North Carolina Council of Churches

“Secretary Vilsack has long advocated for justice, science, and smart public policy. He often speaks publicly in words and with values grounded in his own Christian faith. He is politically really well prepared to help rural America lead in implementing the Biden Harris administration’s four priorities: a public health response to COVID-19, the movement for racial justice, rebuilding our economy around economic justice, and taking climate action. USDA leadership and programs and of course rural communities are critical to helping solve all four of these challenges. I’ve known Secretary Vilsack for over 20 years and he is the right leader to unleash the power of rural Americans to be the change our world so desperately needs.”  —Matt Russell, executive director Iowa Interfaith Power & Light and 5th generation Iowa farmer 

“Hoosier Interfaith Power and Light folks couldn’t be more pleased that our own Janet McCabe is going to be back in her old job of Deputy Administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency where she was instrumental in developing the Clean Power Plan. Her deep values of honesty, trustworthiness, social responsibility, and environmental justice are just what we need now.”  —-Ray Wilson, Hoosier Interfaith Power & Light board chair

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Interfaith Power & Light is a national nonprofit organization with 40 state affiliates and 22,000 congregations in all 50 states. IPL  inspires and mobilizes people of faith and conscience to take bold and just action on climate change.

For Immediate Release: October 22nd, 2020

CONTACT: Tiffany Hartung

POLL: Voters of Faith Support Fighting Climate Change

A new poll commissioned by IPL to be released today finds American voters of faith, including evangelical and mainline Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, and religiously unaffiliated voters, overwhelmingly believe climate change is happening and are worried about it. The poll from Climate Nexus, Yale University Program on Climate Change Communication, and George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication also finds more than seven in 10 (72%) voters support increasing federal funding to protect vulnerable communities from the impacts of extreme weather as part of the COVID-19 recovery.

Almost three-quarters (73%) of voters say they are worried about climate change, including 87% of Black Protestants, 82% of nonwhite Catholics, 77% of white Catholics, 76% of Jews, and 57% of white evangelical Protestants. More than six in 10 (61%) voters, including majorities of Black Protestants (70%), nonwhite Catholics (68%), white Catholics (65%), and Jews (67%) and nearly half (47%) of white evangelical Protestants, also believe climate change is having an effect on extreme weather in their state.

Voters are generally supportive of policies and candidates that address climate change. A majority of voters across faith groups say a comprehensive bill addressing climate change is an important priority for Congress and the president in 2021. Almost two-thirds (64%) of voters want a multi-trillion-dollar federal economic stimulus to invest in clean energy infrastructure as part of COVID-19 recovery, including 72% of Black Protestants and 54% of white evangelical Protestants, and 63% of voters say they’d be more likely to vote for a candidate who supports an economic stimulus with investments in clean energy infrastructure.

Nearly three-quarters (74%) of voters support increasing government funding for renewable energy, including Jewish (66%), white mainline Protestant (55%), and white Catholic (54%) voters, and 55% of voters say domestic production of renewable energy is more likely to produce a greater number of jobs. Only 27% of voters think domestic production of fossil fuels will do the same.

Voters are also motivated to address climate change, with 81% saying fulfilling their responsibility to protect God’s creation is an important reason to address climate change, including strong majorities of Jews (75%), Black Protestants (94%) and white evangelical Protestants (90%).

“All religions have a calling to care for Creation. We have a sacred duty to be stewards of the Earth which supports all life, for all God’s creatures and for future generations,” said Rev. Susan Hendershot, president of Interfaith Power & Light. “This poll clearly demonstrates that there is wide support by people of faith for the president and Congress in 2021 to take bold action on the climate crisis.”

“We are called to be stewards of God’s creation and we look to our leaders to safeguard our communities,” said Dr. Ambrose Carroll, founder of Green the Church. “This poll underscores that now is the time to take bold aggressive action to address the climate crisis, our lives are depending on it! We need leaders to care for creation, who are committed to ending systems of oppression, environmental injustices, and tackling climate change.” 

“Climate action is a concrete response to Jesus’ call to love God and to love our neighbors,” said Rev. Kyle Meyaard-Schaap, National Organizer for Young Evangelicals for Climate Action. “This poll shows that Christians are hungry for leaders who will do just that.”

“Along with people of many faiths, American Jews support bold action on climate change,” said Rabbi Jennie Rosenn, Dayenu Founder and CEO. “Our Jewish values call us to build a just and sustainable world for all people for generations to come, and this election is essential to making that possible.” 

“As Catholics we say we have a covenant with God to protect creation,” said Dan Misleh, Founding Executive Director of Catholic Climate Covenant. “For decades now, the Catholic Church, including St. John Paul II, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, and especially Pope Francis have added urgency to the call for Catholics to address climate change and to truly listen to the cry of the poor, who are the people most affected by a warming climate. People are dying today from the impact of our neglect of God’s creation. The results of this poll confirm what we know from our Catholic member organizations, parishes, families, schools, and other communities – that Catholics care deeply about climate change.” 

For more details on the poll results, please see the poll toplines. 

Climate Nexus, in partnership with the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication, conducted a representative survey October 13, 2020 of 1,884 registered voters in the United States, on behalf of Interfaith Power & Light. The margin of error for this survey is +/- 2.4% at the 95% confidence level.

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