Church joins global divestment announcement

The Church in Wales is among 36 faith groups from 11 countries announcing their divestment from fossil fuels today (May 17).

It is joining institutions in Brazil, Argentina, India, the Philippines, Uganda, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Ireland, the UK and the United States in showing a commitment to divest from fossil fuels and invest in clean alternatives in response to the growing climate crisis.

The Church in Wales, with more than £700m of assets under management, voted to divest from fossil fuels at its Governing Body meeting in April. Also included in today’s global divestment announcement is the Diocese of Bristol and the Diocese of Oxford, the first Church of England dioceses to announce their divestment from fossil fuels, as well as the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Catholic Diocese of Hallam and the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches.

The announcement takes place as the UK prepares to host the G7 Summit in June and the UN climate summit (COP26) in Glasgow in November. As governments around the world continue to invest significant sums in economic recovery packages, the faith groups say it is vital that these investments support a just and green recovery from Covid-19. According to the UN, only 18% of the Covid-19 recovery spending announced by the world’s 50 biggest economies in 2020 can be considered green.

The Bishop of St Davids, Dr Joanna Penberthy (left), said, “Every part of the world is now feeling the effects of climate change. At our Governing Body meeting in April, the Church in Wales declared a climate emergency, pledged ourselves to reach net zero carbon emissions ideally by the end of this decade, and took the decision to divest from fossil fuels by the end of the year. Whilst these decisions are a major step forward for us, we recognise that there is still much to be done, and we hope that the actions of the churches will encourage governments and industry to work towards alternatives which will help to arrest and overcome the disastrous global warming which is affecting us all.”

James Turner, chair of the Representative Body of the Church in Wales, said, "We believe our investment policy should be consistent with our Christian concern for the environment. Fossil fuels are major contributors to climate change and we are seeing the devasting impact of that across the world. We have been monitoring the situation for some years and engaging with oil companies with the aim of influencing policy, but have now come to the position that divestment is necessary and the right thing to do."

The global divestment announcement comes a day before the Royal Dutch Shell AGM is set to take place, on Tuesday 18 May. Shell has been coming under considerable pressure as a result of its plans to increase gas production by 20 per cent in the next few years. The Methodist Church announced it had divested its remaining fossil fuel holdings at the end of April, including £21 million of shares in Royal Dutch Shell, citing Shell’s ‘inadequate’ climate plans. The Church of Scotland recently announced that it had also sold its remaining shares in oil and gas companies.

The announcement takes place during Laudato Si’ Week, a celebration of the progress the Roman Catholic Church has made on its journey to ecological conversion following Pope Francis’ encyclical on climate change and ecology. As well as the Catholic Diocese of Hallam, six Catholic dioceses in Ireland and several religious orders are announcing their divestment commitments.

Faith communities have long been at the forefront of the global divestment movement, and have contributed the single greatest number of commitments. Out of the global total of more than 1,300 divestment commitments made to date, more than 450 are from faith institutions.

• A full list of the 36 institutions divesting from fossil fuels and statements from leaders can be found here.