As temperatures in Britain reached record highs, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland urged everyone to reflect on climate change and urge our political leaders to take immediate action to tackle the harms of global warming.

Writing on the Church of Scotland website on July 19 – the day a temperature in excess of 40°C was recorded in Britain for the first time – the Rt Rev Iain Greenshields compared the lack of political action over climate to Nero fiddling while Rome burned. He said he was especially concerned that climate was not a major issue in the Conservative leadership debates.

He said that the wealthiest in the world ought to be encouraged to ‘dispense with the greatest part of their wealth on projects that positively impact on climate change’, while those who have ‘enough’ must be content with that or less, ‘both for the sake of the future of the planet and for those who suffer most as a consequence of global warming – the poor’.

And he challenged congregations and individual Christians to ‘achieve the lowest carbon footprint possible’ and be ‘a responsible steward of their energy use, travel modes and financial resources’.

Dr Greenshields finished: “These calls to action are not mere platitudes. They are the essence of good sense rooted in what the Theological Forum described as ecotheology in its report to the 2022 General Assembly. Will we act now and insist our leaders follow through on their COP26 commitments? Or will we allow them to continue to fiddle while the earth burns?”

A week earlier, the Church of Scotland was among faith organisations supporting a call for the UK Government to fulfil its promise to combat climate change, made at last year’s COP26 climate conference.

The letter was released in response to increasing concerns among faith groups that international developments since COP26 have diverted attention from the commitments made under the Glasgow Pact to prevent global temperatures increasing by more than 1.5°C.

Church of Scotland climate justice officer Paul Williams said: “The integrity of Creation hangs in the balance as climate change already threatens the safety and security of millions of people.

Honouring the promises of COP26 is an essential way to pursue justice for those already suffering from the effects of climate change and give future generations the dream of a just and sustainable future.”