Faiths for Climate Justice

COP26 was the 2021 United Nations climate change conference, which was hosted by the UK and took place in Glasgow. Two weeks before COP26, grassroots religious communities demanded “compassionate, loving and just” climate commitments by governments and financial institutions.

Together, grassroots faith communities called for an end to new fossil fuel projects and deforestation, a commitment to green jobs, and payments from wealthy countries to address losses and damages experienced by those most impacted by climate change. This was part of Faiths 4 Climate Justice: “Killing the planet is against our religions”, a two-day global multifaith action.

On Sunday 17 October, places of worship in different parts of the UK unveiled banners demanding an end to fossil fuel infrastructure and financing. In London, a special interfaith procession and gathering was held at St John’s Waterloo, led by Canon Giles Goddard, Vicar of St John’s and Chair of Faith for the Climate, and Dr Shanon Shah, Director of Faith for the Climate.

On Monday 18 October, an interfaith delegation gathered in Parliament Square to march to 10 Downing Street to present demands and religious petitions calling for climate justice at COP26.

UK faith leaders from Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist communities carried banners and signs asking for ambitious and urgent leadership from Boris Johnson on the climate crisis.

On 25 October – less than a week before the start of COP26, projections on the Houses of Parliament urged Boris Johnson to show leadership on global climate justice. The images projected onto the Houses of Parliament asked the Prime Minister to push rich governments to provide money to countries hardest hit by the crisis and to stop support for fossil fuels.