Has your Catholic diocese, religious order or lay organization divested from fossil fuels yet?
Laudato Si’ Movement, the World Council of Churches, Green Anglicans and GreenFaith are inviting faith institutions around the world to join a global divestment announcement on 18 November 2025, during COP30 in Brazil..
Divestment from fossil fuel companies: A moral imperative
Globally, more than 1,660 institutions with over $40 trillion of assets under management have made a divestment commitment. Faith institutions have been at the forefront of the global divestment movement, representing over a third of the institutions that have divested.
Fossil fuel divestment is an increasingly urgent moral imperative, given the destructive impacts of the fossil fuel industry on climate, biodiversity and human rights. By divesting from fossil fuel companies, faith institutions remove the social licence of fossil fuel companies to continue pursuing new fossil fuel projects and exacerbating the climate crisis.
Around the world, Church leaders and civil society groups have highlighted concerns about the devastating impacts of fossil fuel projects in their communities – from fossil gas projects in the Verde Island Passage threatening the livelihoods of fisherfolk and farmers in one of the most marine biodiverse regions in the world, to the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), which is endangering indigenous rights, biodiversity and water sources across Uganda and Tanzania.
Fossil fuel companies are increasing production and abandoning climate pledges
In recent years, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned that there can be no new fossil fuel developments, if we are to have any chance of meeting the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global heating to 1.5°C. Leading economists have warned about the risk to investors of ‘stranded assets’, as vast reserves of coal, oil and gas could become unburnable.
Yet major oil and gas companies such as ExxonMobil, Shell, BP and TotalEnergies have continued to increase fossil fuel production. Several have rowed back on climate pledges: Shell scrapped its 2035 climate target to continue growing its gas business, and BP abandoned its pledge to cut oil and gas production by 2030.
In May 2025, Carbon Tracker published the latest assessment of major oil and gas companies in its Paris Maligned III report, concluding that ‘no oil and gas producer…comes close to being Paris-aligned’. Furthermore, European oil and gas companies BP, Eni, Equinor, Shell and TotalEnergies were all found to have gone backwards in the last year.
Stand in solidarity with Bishops from the Global South
In July 2025, the continental conferences of Catholic bishops in Latin America, Africa and Asia issued a joint appeal for COP30 calling for the end of fossil fuels and urged transformative action based on human dignity, solidarity and social justice: ‘Abandoning fossil fuels is not only necessary to reduce emissions, but also to repair an ecological and moral debt to the global South and communities affected by pollution, extraction, and climate change.’
This global divestment announcement offers Catholic institutions around the world an opportunity to stand in solidarity with Catholic bishops and the communities they work with in the Global South, and to increase their impact through collective action.
Raise your prophetic voice: Join the Global Divestment Announcement
Photo credit: Bokani Tshidzu – Operation Noah
Fossil fuel divestment is a powerful act of faith that more than 370 Catholic institutions globally have taken to respond to the climate crisis. As well as divesting from fossil fuel companies, an increasing number of faith investors are investing in climate solutions, including zero-carbon energy solutions for the 685 million people without access to electricity.
Any groups interested in making a divestment commitment and joining the global divestment announcement will confirm: (i) that they have divested from investments in fossil fuel companies; or (ii) that they will divest from any investments in fossil fuel companies as soon as possible, and within five years at the latest; or (iii) that they do not hold any investments in fossil fuel companies and will not invest in fossil fuels in the future.
Faith institutions wishing to join the announcement are asked to register their divestment commitment on the online form on the Laudato Si’ Movement website by Tuesday, 11 November. If you have any questions or would like further information, email [email protected].
Find out more and see the full list of Catholic divestment commitments here.