Bright Now

Together with our friends at the World Council of Churches, the Global Catholic Climate Movement, Green Anglicans and GreenFaith, Operation Noah has been planning a global divestment announcement for faith organisations at the end of March 2020, which was due to coincide with the Economy of Francesco conference in Assisi.

We have been following the news in recent weeks on the coronavirus outbreak here in the UK and around the world and are remembering all those affected and everyone working to control the outbreak in our prayers.

UPDATED: New date for global divestment announcement: 18 May 2020. Please read the following.

A diverse coalition of 22 faith institutions from around the world have just announced their decision to divest from fossil fuels.

With these commitments and others, the world has reached a new milestone. Since 2014, the value of institutions divesting from fossil fuels has risen from a starting point of $50 billion to more than $11 trillion of assets today.

12 Catholic institutions connected to the world’s oceans have announced their commitment to divest from fossil fuels. These include institutions in Panama, the Philippines, Greece and port cities across Europe.

Today marks the launch of Season of Creation (or Creation Time), when Christians around the world will be praying and caring for creation. Over the coming weeks, Season of Creation will provide an opportunity to celebrate creation and contemplate our role in protecting it. Read more

On the feast day of St Francis of Assisi, Tuesday 4 October, seven Catholic institutions around the world announced that they plan to divest from fossil fuel companies, citing the inspiration of Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Sì.

Among the organisations joining the divestment announcement, the largest so far in the Catholic Church, were the Jesuits of the English Canada province; the Missionary Society of St Columban, based in Hong Kong; Presentation Society of Australia and Papua New Guinea; Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (Salesians) in Italy; the Diocese of Umuarama, Brazil – the first Catholic diocese to do so; St Louis-based SSM Health in the US; and Federation of Christian Organisations for the International Voluntary Service in Italy. Read more