36 faith institutions from 11 countries announced their divestment from fossil fuels in May.

The announcement came from institutions in Brazil, Argentina, India, the Philippines, Uganda, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Ireland, the UK and the United States, and from Anglican, Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian and Baptist institutions, among others.

The group includes the Church in Wales, with more than £700 million ($975 million) of assets under management, which declared a climate emergency and voted to divest from fossil fuels at its Governing Body meeting in April.

The Rt Rev Dr Joanna Penberthy, Bishop of St Davids in the Church in Wales, said: “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.”

Other organisations to announce divestment include the Church of England Dioceses of Bristol and Oxford, 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 global divestment announcement takes place as the UK prepared 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, campaigners say it is vital that these investments support a just and green recovery from Covid-19. Yet the UN has stated only 18% of the Covid-19 recovery spending announced by the world’s 50 biggest economies in 2020 can be considered green.

*See the General Assembly section on pages 18 to 23 for the latest decision on the Church of Scotland’s position on investments in fossil fuels.

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