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July 2020

Dear friends,

Welcome to the July edition of Operation Noah’s newsletter. Thanks to a busy month at Operation Noah we're sending it on 1 August. We have news of new trustees, a Methodist motion to divest from fossil fuels and Climate Sunday is just over a month away now!

We're praying you're continuing to keep well in these uncertain times.

All the best,
The Operation Noah team

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Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash

60 supporters join Operation Noah's first online Supporters’ Event and AGM

In keeping with the times, Operation Noah held its 2020 Supporters’ Event and AGM online. Around 60 people joined us on 15 July for the event which was themed around ‘Climate Courage for the 2020s’.

Our Keynote Speakers were:

▪ David Pickering, Moderator of the United Reformed Church National Synod of Scotland, and Chair of Operation Noah from 2005 to 2010. David played a key role in leading the United Reformed Church to divest from fossil fuel producing companies in 2019.
▪ Bokani Tshidzu, Bright Now Campaign Officer at Operation Noah. Bright Now is our campaign asking churches to divest from fossil fuels.
▪ James Anthony, Climate Sunday Project Coordinator. Climate Sunday is supporting churches of all denominations to hold a special service on climate change in the run-up to COP26.
David Pickering, Moderator of the United Reformed Church National Synod of Scotland, and Chair of Operation Noah from 2005 to 2010. David played a key role in leading the United Reformed Church to divest from fossil fuel producing companies in 2019.
Bokani Tshidzu, Bright Now Campaign Officer at Operation Noah. Bright Now is our campaign asking churches to divest from fossil fuels.
James Anthony, Climate Sunday Project Coordinator. Climate Sunday is supporting churches of all denominations to hold a special service on climate change in the run-up to COP26.

A number of documents from the event are now available online:

▪ Video of the keynote speeches
▪ Chair’s Report from our AGM
▪ A briefing on the upcoming 2021 COP conference
▪ Notes from our workshop on how to deliver Operation Noah’s presentation
Video of the keynote speeches
Chair’s Report from our AGM
A briefing on the upcoming 2021 COP conference
Notes from our workshop on how to deliver Operation Noah’s presentation
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Operation Noah appoints four new trustees

▪ Cameron Conant has co-led the Citizens UK campaign to make London carbon-neutral by 2030.
▪ Richard Dimery is a vicar in Pudsey, who, with a fantastic congregation, is working towards Eco Church status. He spent five years on the national committee for Christians in Science.
▪ Claire Ives is heavily involved in her local church, particularly in family work as well as trying to raise the profile of environmental issues.
▪ Kevin Shang's interest in climate change stemmed from PhD research, which was part of the Light Alloys Towards Environmentally Sustainable Transport EPSRC programme. He is keen to explore how faith and science work together on climate change.
Cameron Conant has co-led the Citizens UK campaign to make London carbon-neutral by 2030.
Richard Dimery is a vicar in Pudsey, who, with a fantastic congregation, is working towards Eco Church status. He spent five years on the national committee for Christians in Science.
Claire Ives is heavily involved in her local church, particularly in family work as well as trying to raise the profile of environmental issues.
Kevin Shang's interest in climate change stemmed from PhD research, which was part of the Light Alloys Towards Environmentally Sustainable Transport EPSRC programme. He is keen to explore how faith and science work together on climate change.

Read more about all our trustees here.

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Methodist Central Hall, Westminster (Photo credit: museumsandheritage.com)

Methodist Conference supports motion on divestment and refers decision to Methodist Council

Methodist Conference members have voted to support an amended motion to divest from fossil fuels but have deferred the decision on divestment to the Methodist Council, a smaller representative body, in the autumn.

The debate, at a virtual meeting, followed the announcement from the Central Finance Board of the Methodist Church earlier in July that it would divest from BP and Total, but continue investing in four oil and gas companies. It has continued investing in Shell, Repsol, Eni and Equinor after the Methodist Church’s Joint Advisory Committee on the Ethics of Investment (JACEI) concluded that these companies ‘are aligned, or are close to being aligned, with the Paris Agreement'.

Martha Rand, a representative of the Methodist Youth Assembly, proposed the motion arguing that JACEI’s recommendations did not fully implement a motion passed at the 2017 Conference to divest from any fossil fuel company that had ‘not aligned their business investment plans with the Paris Agreement target of a global temperature rise well below two degrees’ by the 2020 Conference.

The motion was seconded by Revd John Howard, the former Chair of JACEI. He said: ‘Even five years ago I would have wanted to do everything we could with engagement. But the process now is one in which we really need greater urgency.’

In June, ahead of the conference, 260 Methodists, including 114 ministers and former Presidents and Vice Presidents of the Methodist Conference, signed a letter calling for the Central Finance Board to complete divestment from fossil fuel companies. The letter highlighted the fact that no oil and gas companies have aligned their business investment plans with the Paris Agreement goals, according to analysis from the Transition Pathway Initiative and Carbon Tracker.

Read the full notice of motion and responses here

In this guest blog, Revd John Howard offers reflections on the 2020 Conference and the important decisions to be made at Methodist Council this autumn.

Church of England fund managed by CCLA exits from fossil fuel investments

One of the Church of England’s three National Investing Bodies, which is managed by investment management company CCLA, has recently sold its last remaining shares in fossil fuel companies. CCLA, whose CBF funds manage investments on behalf of most Church of England dioceses and many local CofE churches, said it had dropped its investments in oil giants Shell and Total for financial reasons earlier this year.

According to DeSmogUK, a spokesperson for the Diocese of Coventry explained that the funds no longer invested in fossil fuel companies ‘on the basis of the financial risks posed by the short to medium term outlook for the oil and gas markets’. CCLA confirmed that they shared this view, telling DeSmog that the decision was made for investment, rather than ethical, reasons.

Read more

Next Global Divestment Announcement – November 2020

We will be collaborating again on a Global Divestment Announcement in November this year, watch this space for more information.

We would love it if any of your churches wanted to be involved. Please get in touch with Bokani Tshidzu on bokani.tshidzu@operationnoah.org for further information or to register your interest.

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Climate Sunday - black

Climate Sunday

Sunday 6 September 2020 - Sunday 5 September 2021

The start of Climate Sunday, an initiative begun by Operation Noah and now supported by more than a dozen organisations, is now just over a month away. What is your church planning?

Climate Sunday is encouraging local churches to hold a local Climate Sunday at any time during the 12 months starting on 6 September 2020. 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 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.

The culmination of the campaign will be a national Climate Sunday event on Sunday 5 September 2021, to share church commitments and pray for bold action and courageous leadership 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.

Chief Executive of A Rocha UK, Andy Atkins, and chair of the coalition, said: ‘Our vision is to leave a lasting legacy of thousands of UK churches better equipped to address this critical issue as part of their normal discipleship and mission; and to make a very significant contribution to civil society efforts to secure adequate national and international action at the COP26 conference.’

Read more

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Catch up with our most recent blog posts

Are faith and science compatible?** Shilpita Mathews, a Research Assistant at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change, believes that the climate crisis requires faith communities to be catalysts for change, as she writes in this guest blog for Operation Noah.

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The Right Reverend Rowan Williams at a Christian Climate Action protest

Events & Campaigns

1. September Rebellion. Members of Christian Climate Action (CCA) will be taking part in climate rebellion protests this autumn. From 28 August high-impact actions will happen locally and from 1 September people will gather in London, Manchester and Cardiff. CCA members are organising a prayer vigil outside parliament. Support roles including praying and arrestee support. Read Operation Noah's position on Extinction Rebellion.
2. Young Christian Climate Network launches. YCCN is a new action-focused community of Christians in the UK aged 18-30, choosing to follow Jesus in the pursuit of climate justice and launching on Saturday 1 August. The group aims to connect young Christians into an inclusive community engaged with climate justice, to take and facilitate collective action towards climate justice, motivated by faith, and to see members and their communities grow in passion and understanding, learning with humility and reflection. The network is ecumenical - the set-up team has members from the Anglican, Methodist, Baptist and Quaker traditions.
3. RSPB calls for ban on peat burning. Ahead of the annual UK peat burning season in the autumn, Operation Noah has joined RSPB and more than 30 other organisations to call for a ban on peat burning. A letter to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy notes that 'England’s upland peatlands are internationally important for nature and vital in the fight against climate change, with all of England’s peatland storing an estimated 500 Mt of carbon.'
4. Possible calls for aviation workers' bailout.. Possible, the organisation formerly known as 10:10, is calling on the government to convert a job retention scheme for the aviation industry into a retraining programme to support workers. The proposals would ensure any bailouts given to airlines would support workers transitioning out of the sector, while reducing aviation emissions in line with the UK’s climate commitments. The industry currently faces the same scale of job losses as the coal industry did in the early 1980s with at least 70,000 jobs at risk.
5. Biofuelwatch calls for big biomass subsidies to be transferred to wind and solar. Operation Noah has joined more than 60 organisations in calling on the government to transfer subsidies from big biomass to cleaner energy such as wind and solar power.
6. Call for Pensions Minister to support fossil fuel divestment..**** More than 70 prominent civil society leaders, including Operation Noah's Chair, Darrell Hannah, have signed an open letter rebutting the Pensions Minister Guy Opperman’s public support of continued fossil fuel investments.
1. September Rebellion. Members of Christian Climate Action (CCA) will be taking part in climate rebellion protests this autumn. From 28 August high-impact actions will happen locally and from 1 September people will gather in London, Manchester and Cardiff. CCA members are organising a prayer vigil outside parliament. Support roles including praying and arrestee support. Read Operation Noah's position on Extinction Rebellion.
2. Young Christian Climate Network launches. YCCN is a new action-focused community of Christians in the UK aged 18-30, choosing to follow Jesus in the pursuit of climate justice and launching on Saturday 1 August. The group aims to connect young Christians into an inclusive community engaged with climate justice, to take and facilitate collective action towards climate justice, motivated by faith, and to see members and their communities grow in passion and understanding, learning with humility and reflection. The network is ecumenical - the set-up team has members from the Anglican, Methodist, Baptist and Quaker traditions.
3. RSPB calls for ban on peat burning. Ahead of the annual UK peat burning season in the autumn, Operation Noah has joined RSPB and more than 30 other organisations to call for a ban on peat burning. A letter to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy notes that 'England’s upland peatlands are internationally important for nature and vital in the fight against climate change, with all of England’s peatland storing an estimated 500 Mt of carbon.'
4. Possible calls for aviation workers' bailout.. Possible, the organisation formerly known as 10:10, is calling on the government to convert a job retention scheme for the aviation industry into a retraining programme to support workers. The proposals would ensure any bailouts given to airlines would support workers transitioning out of the sector, while reducing aviation emissions in line with the UK’s climate commitments. The industry currently faces the same scale of job losses as the coal industry did in the early 1980s with at least 70,000 jobs at risk.
5. Biofuelwatch calls for big biomass subsidies to be transferred to wind and solar. Operation Noah has joined more than 60 organisations in calling on the government to transfer subsidies from big biomass to cleaner energy such as wind and solar power.
6. Call for Pensions Minister to support fossil fuel divestment..**** More than 70 prominent civil society leaders, including Operation Noah's Chair, Darrell Hannah, have signed an open letter rebutting the Pensions Minister Guy Opperman’s public support of continued fossil fuel investments.
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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.

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