Religious leaders meet at White House to discuss climate goals

(RNS) — The White House hosted more than a dozen religious leaders Tuesday (Aug. 13) to discuss President Joe Biden’s climate goals and how faith-based organizations can help. take advantage of the administration’s climate program and support it in the face of the upcoming presidential election.

One of the top priorities of the meeting was to clarify how faith communities can better leverage federal funding for clean energy initiatives.

Houses of worship are entitled to use Direct Pay, a provision of the Inflation Reduction Act that helps tax-exempt entities take advantage of federal clean energy tax incentives by issuing payments equal to the value of the tax credits. The system is intended to encourage nonprofits and other entities to proactively build clean energy projects. Faith leaders from across the country at the event shared stories of the different ways their communities have used Direct Pay, from increasing energy efficiency to preparing for natural disasters.

“The main goal of the whole meeting was to help us as religious leaders understand the initiatives well enough to go back to our different communities and share how they can join in,” explained Pastor Betty Holley, presiding elder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Ohio Conference and professor of environmental ethics at Payne Theological Seminary.

Holley said the goal of the event is to help faith communities “be good stewards of what God has given us.”

“After the meeting, I was ready to leave with a banner that said, ‘Follow me to discover clean energy!’” she said.

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Environmental technology and clean energy organizations also presented at the event to highlight and expand collaboration with faith-based partners.

Bekah Estrada, Southern California Director of Re-volv, a company that provides solar financing to community-based nonprofits, spoke about the partnership with Interfaith Power and Light, an organization engaging faith communities in environmental and climate action.

Taylor-Rae West, an intern at Reworld Waste and a member of the AME Church, said Reworld reaches out to churches in local communities when power grids go down due to natural disasters that have been exacerbated by climate change. She described various initiatives churches have launched using Direct Pay funds, such as energy audits and installing electric vehicle charging devices, biomass furnaces, solar water heating and other energy-saving improvements in their buildings of worship. West said that when natural disasters strike, many people feel more comfortable “going to their homes of faith than to their local community center.”

Another example of how Direct Pay is being used is in battery upgrades that allow houses of worship to store energy even in the event of a power grid failure.

“One group talked about how they were becoming a resilient community church. People could come to them to charge their phones, to store their medications in a battery-powered refrigeration machine, which was one of the church’s projects as part of this IRA initiative,” Holley said.

Holley believes the initiative has helped level the playing field in many communities.

“I know for a fact that renewable energy is the way of the future, and if we — the Black community, Indigenous people and people of color — don’t use that knowledge, energy companies will take advantage of us,” she said.

Holley believes religious leaders should be a “beacon” for their communities in the environmental movement. If someone’s local church is committed to renewable energy, “that’s half the battle,” and parishioners will follow the church’s leadership.

“We’re looking at sustainability. How do we stay on Earth?” she said. “You know, we all only have one home and one future, and we need to be able to get on board now before we’re forced to.”

White House he said that partnerships with religious leaders will continue to be a priority for the Biden-Harris administration.

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