The United Church of Canada, the country’s largest Protestant Christian denomination, voted Tuesday to drop fossil fuels from its investment portfolios.
Meeting in Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador, the church’s General Council voted 67 per cent in favour of the decision.
As a result, $5.9 million will be shifted to investments into green renewable energy ventures.
Supporters of the decision said there is a strong moral argument against holding the fossil fuel shares, based on biblical arguments that humans are entrusted to guard God’s creation.
Supporters also cited church outreach programs that work with people in countries like the Philippines where human-induced climate change may be contributing to poverty.
The United Church of Canada is the second largest Canadian Christian denomination after the Roman Catholic Church.
Church statistics for the beginning of 2014 showed 450,886 members and approximately two million adherents, about 5.7 per cent of the total Canadian population.
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