August 2020

Dear friends,

Welcome to the August edition of Operation Noah’s newsletter. As summer draws to a close we have news of a global divestment announcement, new Climate Sunday resources and new blogs on our websites.

We pray this newsletter will equip you in your work to care for God’s creation.

All the best,
The Operation Noah team

Could your faith organisation divest in 2020?

This November, could your local church, Diocese, Circuit or Synod join the next Global Divestment Announcement for faith organisations? Operation Noah is working with the Global Catholic Climate Movement and other partners to invite churches and faith organisations to divest from fossil fuels, invest in clean alternatives and support a just recovery from Covid-19.

The coming months are a crucial time for fossil fuel divestment in several Church denominations, and there are more opportunities than ever for our churches to go fossil free.

For further information or to register your interest, please contact Bokani Tshidzu on bokani.tshidzu@operationnoah.org.

Catholic webinars on fossil fuel divestment and impact investing

We are delighted to invite you to join a two-part webinar series for Catholic organisations on fossil fuel divestment and impact investing.

• September (date tbc): Fossil fuel divestment webinar led by Operation Noah
• Wednesday 21 October: Webinar on impact investing led by Catholic Impact Investing Collaborative

Sponsors of the webinars include CAFOD, Global Catholic Climate Movement, the Conference of Religious and the Association of Provincial Bursars.

Speakers will include:
• Lord Deben (Chair of the Committee on Climate Change)
• Neil Thorns (Director of Advocacy and Communications at CAFOD)
• Stephen Power SJ (former Treasurer of Jesuits in Britain).

To register your interest in attending either of the webinars, please contact Bokani Tshidzu on bokani.tshidzu@operationnoah.org.

New Climate Sunday resources available

Ahead of Creation Time, Climate Sunday has added a number of resources to its website to help churches plan a Climate Sunday service.

Climate Sunday, an initiative begun by Operation Noah and now supported by more than a dozen organisations, launches on 6 September 2020. Churches are encouraged to hold a service at any time during the 12 months following that date. During their local Climate Sunday, we invite each church to do one or more of three things:

• Climate service: Hold a climate-focused service, to explore the theological and scientific basis of creation care and action on climate, to pray, and to commit to action.
• Commit: Make a commitment as a local church community to taking long-term action to reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions.
• Call: Join with other churches and wider society by adding its name to a common call for the UK Government to take much bolder action on climate change in this country in advance of the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow in 2021, and to strengthen its credibility to lead the international community to adopt a step change in action at COP26.

Climate Sunday is being organised by Churches Together in Britain and Ireland with support from Operation Noah and other charities including CAFOD, Christian Aid, Tearfund and A Rocha UK.

New resources available here

More despatches from the climate breakdown front. While all eyes have been turned, for the last five months, to the Covid-19 pandemic, Bill McGuire, Professor Emeritus of Geophysical & Climate Hazards at UCL and a regular guest blogger for Operation Noah, has noticed that news about global heating and resulting climate breakdown has been coming thick and fast.

First UK signatory of the Catholic Impact Investing Pledge. Shaun Cooper is Head of Finance at the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood, a Catholic religious order that recently became the first UK signatory of the Catholic Impact Investing Pledge. In a guest blog for the Bright Now website, he offers reflections on the congregation’s important decision to begin impact investing.

Christians to Take Part in Climate Crisis Protests. More than 100 Christians are expected to participate in climate crisis protests around the UK during late August and early September. Members of Christian Climate Action (CCA) will join with Extinction Rebellion and a number of other organisations as part of the September Rebellion, taking place from 28 August and themed around the slogan, ‘We Want to Live’.

Quick Online Actions

Please support the work of Operation Noah

Our campaigns and activities rely on donations from individuals and organisations so please consider giving a one-off or regular donation.