Quaker Meetings in Ireland are set to become “as sustainable as possible”, following a resolution made by Ireland Yearly Meeting (IYM) on 3^rd April 2016.

Each Meeting is asked to develop a sustainability plan before January 2017, taking into consideration factors such as accessibility by public transport, energy efficiency, use of Fairtrade tea and coffee and use of organic and locally sourced food, when possible (EcoQuakers are drawing up a template plan to help Meetings in this process).

IYM is asked to take the same factors into account when planning the next Yearly Meeting.

A commitment was also made to develop an investment strategy by January 2017 to ethically invest all funds* within Yearly Meeting in sustainable and peaceful companies, and to divest from destructive industries, including fossil fuels.

These two commitments were made following the call to action on sustainability that came from the Friends World Committee for Consultation’s Plenary in Peru in January 2016, urging the worldwide Quaker community to re-double its efforts in relation to sustainability.

*this includes all funds invested for growth or income by Yearly Meeting, Quarterly Meetings, Monthly Meetings and Preparative Meetings

Minute 40 of Ireland Yearly Meeting 2016:

Call to action on Sustainability from Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) Plenary in Peru Claire Conboy-Stephenson has read the minute agreed at the FWCC Plenary in Peru urging the worldwide Quaker community to re-double its efforts in relation to sustainability. It calls on Yearly Meetings to initiate at least two concrete actions on sustainability by January 2017.

The Special Interest Group facilitated by Eco-Quakers Ireland has reflected on this and has proposed a number of actions. We agree to the following two actions:

1.To commit to making all the Meetings within Ireland Yearly Meeting as sustainable as possible, considering such factors as accessibility by public transport, energy efficiency, use of Fairtrade tea and coffee and use of organic and locally sourced food when possible. We ask Meetings to develop a sustainability plan, no matter how simple, before January 2017. We ask Ireland Yearly Meeting to take its sustainability plan into consideration when planning for its next Yearly Meeting.

2.To follow in the steps of FWCC by developing an investment strategy, by January 2017, to ethically invest all the funds within the Yearly Meeting in sustainable and peaceful companies, and divest from destructive industries, including fossil fuels.

We also ask all Meetings to consider how truth prospers with regard to sustainability, taking care to relate this to all of our testimonies – peace, simplicity, truth and equality.