Fossil Fuel Divestment
- Rick Bonetti
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
Updated: 8 hours ago
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COP30 in Brazil is in its final days, mid-November, Bloomberg reports: "Dozens of countries are pushing for the COP30 summit to deliver a 'road map away from fossil fuel use' as its key outcome,.. At the United Nations meeting, representatives from the Marshall Islands, Colombia, the UK, Germany, Kenya, and Sierra Leone led a group of about 20 countries in calling for a path to shift away from oil, gas, and coal. Organizers of the push claimed to have more than 80 nations supporting the effort."
Anthropogenic Global Warming
Pew Research reports that "Most Americans say the Earth is getting warmer, including a narrow majority (53%) who say it is mostly because of human activity, such as burning fossil fuels. Most also view global climate change as an extremely or very serious problem. Assessing potential consequences,
62% foresee rising numbers of extreme weather events
58% think an increase in refugees and displaced people is likely within the next 30 years because of global climate change.
54% expect food and water shortages
46% expect climate change to impact the quality of life."
"Members of non-Christian religions and people who do not identify with any religion – particularly self-described atheists and agnostics – consistently express the highest levels of concern about climate change." However, other than evangelicals, many religious/spiritual communities also believe that it is vital to take climate action now. "
Quiet Religious Leaders
A very interesting and recent (2025) study of U.S. Christian religious leaders (1,600 of them) found that nearly 90% believe in anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change to some degree. PubMed+2Phys.org+2
Among those leaders, 60% said humans play a major role; 30% said humans play a minor role. PubMed
However, despite this high belief among leaders, many rarely talk about it: roughly half have never mentioned climate change to their congregation, and only a quarter have spoken about it more than once or twice. Phys.org+1
Furthermore, many congregants underestimate how many of their leaders accept human-caused climate change. In a surveyed group of Christians, people thought climate-denying leaders were much more common in their own church than they actually are — by a factor of about 5!
The biggest challenge may be communication, not disbelief — many religious leaders believe in climate change but just don’t bring it up.
Religious leaders not only need to speak out, but to encourage congregants to take action - divestment from fossil fuel is a concrete action.
Evangelicals
"Evangelical Protestants are among the most skeptical Christian subgroups about anthropogenic climate change. For example, only about 32% of evangelicals say the Earth is getting warmer mostly because of human activity, while 36% say it's due to natural patterns, and another big chunk are “unsure or not convinced." Evangelical tend to focus on individual salvation, life after death, and 'end times' rather than stewardship of the earth is partly responsible, but political identity plays a big role. Pew notes that "climate views often align with party affiliation (e.g., many evangelicals lean Republican), which is strongly correlated with climate skepticism." Pew Research Center
Speaking Out about Divestment from Fossil Fuels
Meanwhile, a growing number of faith-based groups are speaking out. The Laudato Si Movement reports that as COP30 meets in Brazil, 62 faith institutions announce fossil fuel divestment commitments. A full list of the 62 institutions divesting from fossil fuels and statements from leaders can be found here. This list highlights religious institutions in Canada, Italy, Ecuador, and Germany, and is not an exhaustive list.
The United States, along with Canada, Australia, and Norway, is among those most responsible for fossil fuel expansion since the Paris Agreement. "Together, these four countries increased fossil fuel production by nearly 40% between 2015 and 2024, while production in the rest of the world combined fell by 2% during the same period."
"Globally, more than 1,700 institutions, with combined assets of over $40 trillion, have made some form of fossil fuel divestment commitment. Faith groups have led the way, with more than 600 faith institutions around the world making divestment commitments. Religious institutions manage a combined $3 trillion of investments globally. As well as divesting from fossil fuels, faith communities are calling on governments and banks to phase out their support for fossil fuels and to scale up investment in clean energy. More than 600 faith institutions have supported calls for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty."
Climate leadership to accelerate the transition to a fossil-free future continues, even as the Trump administration continues to call global warming a hoax. State and local governments, as well as faith organizations, are responding to the climate emergency.
Practical Pathways
Transform theology and worship: Reframe theology to reflect care for creation as central to Christian faith. Observe the Season of Creation annually. Create space for lament while nurturing hope rooted in the resurrected Christ.
Promote holistic analysis: Help churches understand how climate connects with gender, race, economics, and colonialism—recognizing that vulnerable frontline communities bear the greatest burden.
Equip faith communities: Provide practical Climate Justice Toolkits and training programmes. Teach ecological metanoia. Train "climate chaplains.”
Mobilize collective action: Build momentum through Global Climate Justice Fasts, climate pilgrimages, and interfaith campaigns. Collaborate with ACT Alliance, Lutheran World Federation, and other ecumenical and interfaith partners.
Advocate for systemic change: Churches exercise their moral responsibility to speak prophetically, compelling governments to raise climate ambition. Campaign for Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, support climate litigation, and push for ecocide recognition. Support the "Turn Debt into Hope" campaign and strengthen Indigenous Peoples' territorial rights.
Invest in grassroots solutions: Remove funds from fossil fuel companies and redirect resources towards renewable energy projects, Indigenous-led protection, and solidarity funds. Install solar panels, reduce waste, create community gardens - practices that embody the Economy of Life, replacing extraction with regeneration.
"It's absolutely critical for churches to be where the climate-impacted communities are. Churches have to be in the streets. Churches have to be with the people demanding climate justice, demanding debt justice." ~ Athena Peralta, director of the WCC Commission on Climate Justice and Sustainable Development.
Some of the many organizations engaged in climate justice divestment include :
Laudato Si’ Movement is a global movement of grassroots leaders and member organisations, mobilising and inspiring the Catholic community to achieve climate and ecological justice.
The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of 356 Churches from more than 120 countries, representing over 600 million Christians worldwide. It includes most of the world’s Orthodox churches, scores of Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, and Reformed churches, as well as many United and Independent churches. Read its Save Children’s Lives resource on responsible banking:
Green Anglicans is "a movement started by the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, which is focused on empowering, encouraging, and holding the church accountable in caring for the earth that God has graciously placed us in."
GreenFaith is "a grassroots, international, multi-faith climate justice organization with staff in 12 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. GreenFaith campaigns to stop new fossil fuel development, to upscale renewable energy development in an ethical manner, and to pressure historic climate polluters – governments and corporations – to pay for the damage they have caused."
Third Act in 2023 had a Day of Action to demand that banks stop financing the expansion of fossil fuels. Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, and Wells Fargo have invested more than $1 trillion in fossil fuels since the Paris Climate Accord. Find out more here.
UCC Environmental Justice asserts, "The climate crisis is not a moral issue located in a distant future. It is a life and death struggle right now. It is a justice issue right now. Not everyone suffers equally from the pollution of fossil fuel industry." They support putting pressure on banks that invest in fossil fuels.
Divest Oregon in 2025 was an advocate for divestment, supporting the PAUSE Act: SB681, which would have created a five-year moratorium on new PERS investments in private fossil-fuel funds. But they faced opposition from the Oregon lobbying firm Public Affairs Counsel and Oregon PERS Retirees Inc. (OPRI), which was "lobbying on behalf of the Koch Companies, which are one of the biggest funders of climate denialism. In 2025, this Koch-friendly firm helped defeat Divest Oregon’s Pause Act." F Minus has uncovered these lobbying conflicts with its first-of-its-kind database of every fossil fuel lobbyist in Oregon–and in every other state.
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