July 2022

Dear Friends,

In the context of extreme temperatures in Europe and now in the UK, last week’s Global Divestment Announcement by 35 faith institutions feels particularly powerful and significant.

While politicians and governments are failing to do what is required to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions at the pace required – and while oil and gas companies have expansion plans that would shatter the goal of limiting global heating to 1.5°C – Churches are choosing a different path, showing what a prophetic witness looks like by getting out of fossil fuels.

Our partners Laudato Si’ Movement estimate that this latest divestment announcement represents institutions with over $1.25 billion in combined assets, as reported by Vatican News.

This includes five Church of England dioceses, two Catholic dioceses in the UK, and the Methodist Church in Ireland. All told, 19 of the 35 faith institutions that divested were from the UK. Some of these institutions had made divestment commitments in the months leading up to our announcement, while others publicly announced their divestment for the first time, including the Diocese of Leicester, Leicester Cathedral and the Catholic Archdiocese of Armagh.

Just days before last week’s divestment announcement, Most Revd William Nolan, Archbishop of Glasgow and Lead Bishop on the Environment for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, which divested from fossil fuel companies in 2021, said: ‘I think it’s going to get to the stage (where) it will be an embarrassment for any Catholic institution that hasn’t divested. This has gone from a purely symbolic gesture to something much, much more than that.’

The Operation Noah Team

The Diocese of Truro’s journey towards net zero and investment in climate solutions

Mike Sturgess, Chair of the Diocesan Board of Finance for the Diocese of Truro, shares the steps the diocese has taken on its journey towards reaching net zero by 2030 and investing in climate solutions, including solar power, wind power and battery storage. Read more.

35 global faith institutions announce divestment and call for no new fossil fuels

Organised by the World Council of Churches, Operation Noah, Laudato Si’ Movement, Green Anglicans and GreenFaith, this latest divestment announcement comes from faith institutions in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Italy, the UK and the US, and comes just weeks before Anglican bishops gather for the once-a-decade Lambeth Conference. Read more.

On the Operation Noah blog

Methodist Church of Great Britain endorses Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty

In late June, the Methodist Church of Great Britain unanimously endorsed the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, becoming the largest denomination in the UK to join the movement calling for an end to all new oil and gas exploration around the world and for a fair, just transition that supports workers and communities. Read more.

Resources, news, events and opportunities

Are you going to Greenbelt this August Bank Holiday Weekend? If so, come and visit Operation Noah’s festival stall, or get in touch if you would like to volunteer for a couple of hours by emailing us at admin@operationnoah.org. Our trustee Hannah Malcolm will also be at Greenbelt, giving a talk on Words for a Dying World – a collection of essays she edited.

Operation Noah trustee Shilpita Mathews, an environmental economist, is one of the featured speakers for the two-day Sustaining Church conference, which will be held online. Shilpita is scheduled to speak on Thursday 14 July at 1.30pm. Register here.

Christian Climate Action recently sent a letter to Church of England Synod members, calling on them to vote in favour of the CofE’s Routemap to Net Zero Carbon 2030 and to encourage ‘all sections of the Church of England to commit to divest from fossil fuels as a matter of urgency’. The Synod approved the Routemap to Net Zero at its 8 July meeting in York but the Church of England has yet to fully divest from fossil fuels. Read CCA’s letter here.

The Presbyterian Church USA has voted to divest from five oil and gas firms, including ExxonMobil – a company the Church of England is still invested in. The motion for divestment – which was put before the denomination’s General Assembly on 6 July, just one day after the Global Divestment Announcement by faith institutions – passed 340-41. Read more.

Representatives from Scotland’s faith communities have written to COP26 President Alok Sharma, asking for a meeting to discuss what progress has been made since last year’s UN Climate Change Conference and calling on the UK Government to end all new oil and gas exploration. In June, the Climate Change Committee said that the UK Government was failing to meet its carbon reduction targets. Read the letter from Scottish faith leaders here.

Operation Noah’s Bokani Tshidzu and Shilpita Mathews were featured in a recent Church Times article which asked, ‘Why is the climate movement so white?’ Read the article here.

Please support the work of Operation Noah

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