Bright Now

This article was first published in the November edition of Reform magazine.

With climate experts announcing that we have 12 years to contain climate change, is it time for all Churches to stop investing in fossil fuel companies, asks Operation Noah’s James Buchanan. Next month, the United Reformed Church’s investors respond.

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The Church of England’s governing body, General Synod, voted overwhelmingly on Sunday to divest by 2023 from oil and gas companies not on track to meet the Paris Agreement target of limiting global average temperature rise to well below 2°C.

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Oxford City Council’s decision to preclude direct investment in fossil fuel companies is a very welcome development. Following earlier announcements by, among others, the World Council of Churches, the University of Stanford and the British Medical Association, this signals that there is a growing momentum towards disinvestment.

The council’s decision reflects a recognition, both that fossil fuels threaten our future and that fossil fuel companies are not the safe investment they have hitherto been. This latter fact was recently dramatically confirmed by the news that the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation would also be disinvesting from fossil fuels and re-investing in clean energy. In the words of a friend and parishioner of mine: ‘… when smart money gets out, we need to follow before there is a crush at the door’. Read more

The UCA lists social, environmental and intergenerational justice amongst their reasons for voting to disinvest from fossil fuels; a decision likely to raise the ire of the Australian mining lobby.

There was very good news this week as the Assembly of the Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) became the latest Church to vote to disinvest from companies engaged in the extraction of fossil fuels. It’s a decision which is important and striking for three reasons:

Firstly, the UCA joins a rapidly expanding list of Churches around the world electing to disinvest from fossil fuel companies. It’s clear that the momentum of the disinvestment campaign continues to grow. The UCA decision comes hot on the heals of a vote by the World Council of Churches in July this year to disinvest from fossil fuels, and the call in April by Archbishop Desmond Tutu for an anti-apartheid style boycott of the fossil fuel industry. Read more

'At this moment in history, we have catapulted ourselves to a crossroads of two possible paths for mankind. The direction we take cannot result from inertia but rather intentional choice. This choice will be informed by our technology, our financial systems and our policy, but it must also be indisputably steered by the overarching moral compass innate to all of us.' Christiana Figueres

The queue, snaking its way outside St Paul’s at 5.30pm on Wednesday last week, reminded me of other similar occasions, often at opportune moments in time. Over 1000 people turned up to listen to Christiana Figueres, the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The evening was chaired very effectively by retired Bishop James Jones. Read more