The Faith, Energy and Society Workshop, 3 March 2017, brought together academics and practitioners from different disciplines and institutions throughout the UK. The workshop, as a part of the Energy@Cambridge's Grand Challenge, ‘In Search of “Good” Energy Policy’, explored the insights, beliefs, and practices that different religious traditions (including Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Hindu and Buddhist) might potentially bring to the development of better energy policy.
Dr Jonathan Chaplin (University of Cambridge) and Emily Hill (University of Aberdeen) have provided comment for the day and a concluding challenge.
“In recent years, many religious thinkers and communities have taken up the challenges of our mounting environmental crises with renewed vigour and insight. In the West the lead has often come from Christians but many other substantial contributions are now emerging from monotheistic, Dharmic and other faiths. Notwithstanding the significant remaining differences in theology, metaphysics and ethics across such faiths, it is striking how many of them – at least their official representatives or intellectual leaderships – are today converging on key issues such as climate change.”
Jonathan Chaplin was Director of the Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics (KLICE) until August 2017. He is a participant in Energy@Cambridge's project 'In Search of "Good" Energy Policy'
Emily Hill has a background in business and is a PhD candidate in theological ethics at the University of Aberdeen and a KLICE Research Associate.