The top decision-making body of the Church of England, the national General Synod, has strongly backed long-term climate action with a wide-ranging motion that received an overwhelming majority of votes.

The motion calls for world leaders at the UN Paris Climate Change Conference in December 2015 to agree long term pathways to a low carbon future to limit the global rise in average temperatures to a maximum of 2 ̊C.

The motion comes as the Archbishops of Melbourne and of the Anglican Church of South Africa stressed the moral imperative of climate action in a joint editorial published in the Canberra Times yesterday. 

The motion further backs an end to fossil fuel subsidies as well as the redirection of resources into lower carbon energy alternatives.

The Bishop of Salisbury, Nicholas Holtam, the Church of England's lead bishop on the environment who introduced the motion, emphasized that the current level of consumption is unsustainable and that a common good needs to be sought.

Speaking during the debate, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby called on the Church to look outwards to tackle climate change. He stated that actions have to change if words are to have effect.

More and more religious leaders are reminding world leaders that acting on climate change is a moral obligation. Only last month, the Pope released a groundbreaking encyclical on climate change.