Euro Vision on Climate Change

The first Church of England Representative to the European Union, the Revd Dr Gary Wilton, has started work in Brussels.

The new post underlines the importance that the Church of England attaches both to the EU and to climate change.

Dr Wilton will be responsible to the Europe Bishops’ Panel for promoting the Church of England’s engagement with European social, political, and environmental issues. He will also be associate staff member of the Conference of European Churches’ Church and Society Commission, and a Canon of Holy Trinity Pro-Cathedral, Brussels.

The post is part of the Church of England’s response to the Lisbon Treaty which provides for a regular, open and transparent dialogue between churches and the EU institutions.

Dr Wilton, former head of the postgraduate programme in theology and religious studies at York St John University, will be responsible for taking forward a core work programme around the European response to climate change.

Dr Charles Reed Secretary to the House of Bishops' Europe Panel said that the new post reflected the reality that the UK’s climate change policy and the wider global process is largely being shaped in Brussels, not London. “Climate change is a global problem that requires global collective action,” he added.

 For more details of the work of the House of Bishop’s Europe Panel see

www.cofe.anglican.org/info/socialpublic/ international/europe/