UK Christian campaigners protest Barclays fossil fuel financing – Photo credit: Christian Climate Action
Today, 70 Christian organisations have published a statement calling on the big five UK high-street banks to end their financing of new fossil fuels which are fuelling dangerous levels of global heating.
In the largest action yet calling for change from UK high street banks on their fossil fuel financing, the Churches and Christian organisations involved join the many charities, churches, universities and medical institutions that have already taken action on this issue. Between them, the signatories represent over 400,000 members.
The signatories include national Churches, including the Methodist Church in Britain, the Scottish Episcopal Church College of Bishops and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain, eight Catholic religious orders, regional Church bodies and local churches. Major Catholic charities have also signed the statement, including SCIAF, the National Justice & Peace Network, and Justice and Peace Scotland.
Catholic religious orders signing the statement include the Religious of the Assumption (English Territory), the Sisters of St Joseph of Peace, the Columbans in Britain, the Columban Sisters, the Daughters of the Holy Spirit, the Sisters of the Holy Family of Bordeaux, the Congregation of Our Lady, Canonesses of St Augustine (UK) and the English Province of the Union of Presentation Sisters.
The statement was co-authored by a coalition of climate and Christian organisations, including Laudato Si’ Movement, JustMoney Movement, Make My Money Matter, Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI), Christian Climate Action (CCA) and Bank Better, with support from the World Council of Churches (WCC).
This statement continues the long-running tradition of Christian institutions standing up for justice. The statement raises concerns over the $556 billion that Barclays, HSBC, Santander, NatWest and Lloyds have provided to the fossil fuel industry since the Paris Climate Agreement. In 2023, the hottest year on record, the five banks collectively financed companies expanding fossil fuels with almost $25 billion.
Latest figures show that 2024 is likely to surpass 2023 as the hottest year on record, and the UN has previously called investment in the fossil fuel industry “moral and economic madness”. The expansion of oil and gas is incompatible with limiting global heating to 1.5°C, according to the UN, the International Energy Agency and thousands of leading climate scientists.
Key Christian figures have endorsed the statement, including former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, who said: “Banks are very understandably seen as institutions we need to be able to trust. What we are asking is that the main High Street banks should show themselves to be fully worthy of that trust by playing their part in creating a future we can trust, a future in which our lethal dependence on fossil fuels will at last be put behind us.”
Sr Susan Francois CSJP, Assistant Congregation Leader of the Sisters of St Joseph of Peace, one of the signatories, said: “We believe that we have a fiduciary responsibility to earth and present and future generations. We signed this statement because we agree with Pope Francis that we must transform the economy from one that kills into an economy of life.”
There is a strong precedent of Christian organisations taking action on their banks’ fossil fuel financing. The move follows in the footsteps of Christian Aid, Sheffield Cathedral and Greenbelt Festival, all of whom announced plans to leave Barclays last year due to their fossil fuel financing.
This is the largest group of institutions to raise concerns over banks’ fossil fuel financing, building on growing pressure from across society including charities such as Oxfam, more than 30 of the UK’s universities including Cambridge, Oxford and UCL, and health institutions like the British Medical Journal.
The statement highlights that the climate crisis will not only affect future generations, but is already affecting the most vulnerable today, especially in the global South. The organisations stress that this is an effort to align their financial choices with their own values. The signatories have said that until the banks halt their financing of new fossil fuels they will continue to speak out and consider alternative banking options wherever possible.
James Buchanan, Climate Finance Campaign Manager at Laudato SI’ Movement, said: “This largest-ever call for action from Christian organisations to UK banks financing new fossil fuels demonstrates the significant concern of faith groups about the role of banks in fuelling the climate crisis. The UN and International Energy Agency have made it clear that there can be no new fossil fuels, and major banks need to take action. Given the leading role of faith institutions in divesting from fossil fuel companies, banks financing fossil fuel expansion will lose a growing number of clients as faith groups move their money to ethical banks.”
The statement remains open for UK-based Christian organisations wishing to sign. You can read the full statement and see a full list of signatories here.
Where is your treasure?
Check out the resources on the Laudato Si’ Movement website on how you can divest from fossil fuel companies and switch to an ethical bank as a Catholic diocese, religious order or as an individual.