Diocese of Chichester Divests + Celebrating the Bright Now Campaign: We are pleased to announce that the Diocese of Chichester has divested from BP and Shell and no longer holds any investments in fossil fuel companies. Chichester was the final Church of England diocese to divest; now that it has, all 42 Church of England dioceses have taken their money out of fossil fuels, as have the National Investing Bodies of the Church of England, which include the Pensions Board and Church Commissioners. The full divestment by the Church of England is the culmination of Operation Noah’s Bright Now Campaign, which for over 10 years has worked to ensure that UK Churches and faith bodies take their money out of fossil fuels and stop funding the driving cause of global heating. Read more. 

Engaging with Catholics on Green Investment: Building on the idea that the Church can use its investments to respond to the climate crisis, we published a toolkit based on Catholic Social Teaching to help religious orders and dioceses accelerate the adoption of climate solutions. The positive response to the toolkit and our accompanying 4-part webinar series led to the creation of a Catholic Investors’ Forum, a community for sharing experiences. We look forward to expanding this work in the new year. 

New Small Group Resource on Money and the Climate Crisis: This year we launched an exciting new resource for churches called, Where Your Treasure Is, and piloted it online with a small group. Perfect for the Season of Lent, the Season of Creation, or any time, this Bible-based discussion course is designed to help Christians and churches think practically about the often neglected role that money plays in the climate crisis and helps us think about how we can use our money in positive ways to care for creation.

International Advocacy: Supporting global efforts to halt oil and gas expansion is an important part of our work, and in May we co-hosted a delegation from the Centre for Energy, Ecology and Development (CEED) in the Philippines, joining them at the AGMs of HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank to challenge both banks’ financing of destructive oil drilling in the environmentally sensitive Cape Verde Passage. Our joint press release secured prominent coverage in the Church Times, and we welcomed CEED delegates to speak at the National Justice and Peace Network Environment Conference during their visit.

Church Land Use Campaign Ramps Up: We handed an Open Letter signed by over 500 supporters, calling on denominations to achieve net zero land emissions by 2030 among other environmental asks, to denominational leaders in Edinburgh, Cardiff and London on World Environment Day. This was accompanied by our beautiful ‘Growing Hope’ photo book, documenting the positive work churches are already doing to care for church land, as well as an inspiring webinar series which showed the potential for church-owned land to help restore nature, help communities and become a carbon sink.

National Campaigns: As Christians, it’s not enough to get our own houses in order, we are also called to stand against climate injustice more widely. One way we did so this year was by taking part in the Act Now, Change Forever mass lobby of parliament in July; there, Operation Noah supporters and staff met with MPs to call for stronger climate action. We were also encouraged when over 100 of our supporters responded to a letter from economist Ann Pettifor, one of our patrons, who asked our supporters to call on their MPs to stop the Rosebank oil field, which will neither lower energy bills nor improve security.

Operation Noah at Conferences and Festivals: It’s always a joy to meet with our brilliant supporters at a range of festivals and conferences throughout the year. This year’s highlights included attending the Greenbelt and New Wine festivals, Hazelnut Community’s Landscapes Conference, the Wild Summit, the Association of Provincial Bursers’ Conference, the National Justice and Peace Network Conference and the Church of England’s Land Conference. 

Green Investment Declaration Gains Momentum: The Green Investment Declaration gained significant momentum this year, with the Quakers of Britain signing the declaration and allocating 8% of their investments to renewable energy projects. Our webinar series for Church investors and a new ecumenical campaigner toolkit have seen fantastic engagement across various denominations. And then in December, the World Council of Churches – a fellowship of 356 member Churches representing more than half a billion Christians – announced that they would endorse the Green Investment Declaration.

Advent Appeal: For over 20 years, Operation Noah has worked with Churches and Christians to inspire action on the climate crisis and to care for God’s creation – and we have seen enormous progress in that time, from UK Churches refusing to fund fossil fuels to denominations starting to invest in climate solutions. Yet in a year of record-breaking temperatures and inadequate climate commitments, our collective leadership is needed now more than ever. We believe the Church has a vital role in speaking truth, showing climate leadership, and living out the hope of Christ, and your donation could help us expand our work on Church investment in climate solutions and Church land-use as well as to help us create an even stronger faith-based climate movement. This Advent and Christmas – as we lament the world as it is and long for the world as it could be – would you consider supporting Operation Noah with a regular or one off donation?

Big Bank Switch: Money is fuelling the climate crisis, and in a year which has seen major UK banks row back on their climate commitments and continue to pump money into fossil fuels, Operation Noah, along with JustMoney Movement, Laudato Si and Just Love, have stepped up our banking campaign, the Big Bank Switch, which is calling on Christians to switch from banks still lending money to the fossil fuel industry – which includes a number of prominent High Street UK banks – to a bank which refuses to finance fossil fuels. We are currently engaging with Nationwide on its acquisition of Virgin Money, trying to determine whether Nationwide is still fossil-free and an institution we are able to list as a green bank.