FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Cameron Conant:

The Bright Now Campaign – which also encourages Church investment in climate solutions and better land use practices – saw the Church of England divest its holdings in oil and gas in 2023

Wednesday 15th May 2024: On the evening of Wednesday 15th May, Operation Noah’s Bright Now Campaign won ‘Campaign of the Year’ at the Sheila McKechnie Foundation (SMK) National Campaigner Awards in London – the first time Operation Noah has won the award. 

In June 2023, the Church of England’s National Investing Bodies divested from fossil fuels after a 10-year campaign from Operation Noah staff, trustees and supporters. The decision to divest made international news and was a significant moment in the divestment movement given the Church of England’s global influence and longstanding resistance to selling its fossil fuel shares.

Nearly every UK Church has now divested at a national level, although a handful of Church of England and Roman Catholic dioceses in England and Wales are still funding fossil fuels. 

Operation Noah’s Chair of Trustees, Revd Dr Darrell Hannah, said, ‘Our campaign success in 2023 built on years of hard work from our staff, trustees and supporters, and we are delighted that this has been recognised by our winning the Campaign of the Year award. As Churches move from investing in fossil fuels to climate solutions we are seeing a wider impact on other investors. We will work and pray to see the Church show more leadership on the climate crisis.’ 

Operation Noah’s Campaign Director Clare Fussell said, ‘We are delighted to have won the Campaign of the Year award, and it is testament to years of dogged campaigning from Christians up and down the country to move their churches’ money out of fossil fuels. Together, we can call on national Churches to invest in climate solutions to fund a greener future!’

The Sheila McKechnie Foundation works for social change by supporting campaigners and change-makers. Its namesake was an influential campaigner and the director of Shelter, co-founder of the Foyer Federation and director of the Consumers’ Association (now ‘Which?’). 

Recent ‘Campaign of the Year’ award-winners include the British Sign Language’s ‘BSL Act Now!’ campaign (2022), which saw the passing of the British Sign Language Act, as well as footballer and campaigner Marcus Rashford who, along with FareShare, won the 2021 award for their school meals campaign and the formation of the Child Food Poverty Task Force.

Operation Noah is a Christian charity working to inspire the Church to take action on the climate and nature crises. In addition to divestment, Operation Noah also encourages Churches to scale up investment in climate solutions alongside implementing better land-use practices, such as peat restoration and tree growing. Learn more at www.operationnoah.org.