About Interfaith Power & Light
Since the year 2000, IPL has partnered with thousands of congregations to address climate change by stewarding Creation
Our Mission
IPL inspires and mobilizes people of faith and conscience to take bold and just action on climate change.
Our Vision
Interfaith Power & Light envisions a stable climate where humans live in right and just relationship, interconnected with a healthy, thriving, natural world.
Our History
Interfaith Power & Light effort began in 1998 with Episcopal Power & Light and the support of Grace Cathedral as a unique coalition of Episcopal churches aggregated to purchase renewable energy. In 2000, this Episcopal effort broadened its focus, brought in other faith partners, and California Interfaith Power & Light was born.
California IPL developed a successful organizational model that engaged hundreds of congregations, educated thousands of people of faith about the moral and ethical mandate to address global warming, and helped pass California’s landmark climate and clean energy laws. Building on California’s success, this model has now been adopted by 40 state affiliates, and we are working to establish Interfaith Power & Light programs in every state.
The Rev. Canon Sally G. Bingham, IPL founder, has brought widespread attention to the link between religious faith and the environment. As one of the first faith leaders to fully recognize global warming as a core moral issue, she has mobilized thousands of religious people to put their faith into action through energy stewardship. Sally continues to serve IPL as a President Emeritus.
Our Values
What we hold most sacred
Because we embrace faith and spirituality, we are grounded in the interconnectedness of the sacred, the natural world, and one another.
Because we embrace justice, we act with inclusion and respect, working in solidarity with vulnerable and marginalized communities.
Because we embrace hope, we are empowered to live into our vision for the world for present and future generations.
Because we embrace courage, we speak with a prophetic voice to create equity and restore wholeness to all.
Because love is central to who we are, we are committed to ending the suffering caused by climate change.
We live this out by…
Inspiring and engaging...
individuals, families, and faith and local communities to embody spiritual and societal transformation by reducing their greenhouse gas emissions while building a new relationship with Earth.
Mobilizing...
people of faith and conscience to advocate for just and equitable climate solutions at the local, state, and national levels.
Working collaboratively...
with the IPL national network, diverse partner organizations, and marginalized communities.
Modeling shared leadership...
and decision-making within our organization and our partnerships.
Focusing on our common values...
broadly communicating the moral obligation to address the urgency of global warming.
IPL’s JEDI Statement
Interfaith Power & Light Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Statement
Interfaith Power & Light is actively working to become an anti-racist organization. We believe that relationships must be centered in justice and equity within the human family, as well as with all of the natural world. We must strive together toward this sacred goal.
We bear this responsibility with integrity, insisting across our network that we do what is right, even when the path is not obvious or easy. As advocates for climate justice, we commit to working against systemic racism and anti-Blackness; ending both the historic disenfranchisement of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, and racially-rooted economic and health disparities; and dismantling structures of racial and economic marginalization and colonialism.
Our diverse religious and spiritual traditions call us to work for systemic change and a more just society that embraces differences based on religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, and physical ability. The IPL network will address this with specific, often-updated commitments regarding internal processes, policy positions, diversity efforts, training, funding mechanisms, and more.
Together we will work to reverse paradigms of oppression of humans and the natural world as we build a thriving, inclusive, and equitable future on behalf of all who inhabit this good Earth.
-Adopted by Board of Directors on October 15, 2020
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