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This year, the Church of Ireland passed a motion at General Synod the effects of which have rippled across Ireland and beyond. It was a motion to divest from all fossil fuels. Synod decided overwhelmingly that ending investments in fossil fuel extraction companies by 2022 was necessary because climate change is leading to disaster both for people and for investments. It is a significant change that affects  €16m  of funds. Climate change, caused largely by pollution from burning fossil fuels, is beginning to impact at home. We had a very wet winter last year followed by a record-breaking summer heatwave. Furthermore, around the  world , the poorest are suffering from storms, heat, drought, and floods that in some countries fuel conflict and refugee crises. Air pollution from burning fossil fuels is also a serious problem. Thousands of people in the British Isles suffer from health issues and even early death from dirty air. The RCB h...

Yesterday was the seminar on 'Helping parishes respond to climate change' organised by the Church of Ireland. It was very good to see this happen in Belfast and the was a lot of interest from attendees on how churches can do more on climate. I was one of the speakers and it was great to have a full room in the Council Chamber in Church House in Belfast, beside the beautiful cathedral. I have reproduced the slides and the text of the talk below. A Biblical Perspective on the Environment [Slide 1] I have been asked to set the scene and provide a Biblical Perspective on the environment. But to be honest, I do not know why I was asked, for I am not a theologian nor I am not a clergy person. But I think the reason might be this - several years I was impacted by what the Bible has to say on about creation, how we treat it, and how the church has responded to the crisis unfolding before us. And we are facing a crisis. Be it climate change, pollution, or loss of bio...

During synod season I always read on the speeches of the various bishops in the diocesan synod presidential addresses. Today I was pleased to read that the Bishop of Armagh, The Most Revd Dr Richard Clarke, spoke about the health of the planet. It was a good speech that focused on various aspects of health – mental health, political health and the health of the environment. Here are some of the best quotes, "It will be our children and grandchildren who will pay a terrible price if we do not act as responsible guardians of the health of the earth on which we have been placed." This is one of the best quotes I have ever heard our archbishop on the state of the creation. He goes on, "We are nearing the point where the wasteful pollution and unnecessary heating of this planet is about to find a tipping point from which there can be no return. We have been placed on this earth by God to protect its health and wholeness. We are the guardians of its health, not the despoi...

Helping parishes respond to climate change and the environment Are you interested in how your parish can help the environment? The Church of Ireland’s Church and Society Commission is holding a climate change and environment seminar at Church of Ireland House, Donegall Street, Belfast.  Stephen Trew, one of the speakers at the event said: “The Church has a key role in tackling climate change. We can speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves and develop sustainable lifestyles and mission. This seminar will explain how your church can do more.” When:  Wednesday 14 November at 10.00 am, concluding with a light lunch at 1.00 pm  Speakers Stephen Trew  (environmental campaigner) –  A Biblical Perspective on the Environment David Thomas  (Christian Aid Belfast) –  Impact of Climate Change on the Developing World David Ritchie  (Chief Officer, Representative Church Body) –  Practical Action in Parish Life Attendance ...

Here is another very useful resource for anyone interested in energy and climate change. The London School of Economic is regarded as one of the most prestigious universities in the world and is the best for economics. The Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment is highly regarded for its work on the economic impact of global warming. At a lecture in July 2018 Jeremy Grantham, the co-founder of the institute, gave a lecture on the Mythical peril of divestment from fossil fuels . He carried out a study to gauge the impact of divestment from the fossil fuel sector and found there was no negative impact at all. Furthermore, with significant pressure to reduce emissions and usage of fossil fuels he suggests now is the time to get out of coal, oil, and gas. He concludes, Investors with long-term horizons should avoid oil and chemical stocks on investment grounds.  It is time to divest from fossil fuels.

I'm going to recommend some divestment resources. The first is Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis - ieefa.org I hope readers of this blog find some inspiration and will pursue divestment within their own church, university pension fund or local council. Over the years I have read a lot on divestment and the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis ieefa.org is one of the best sources of information and Tom Sanzillo, their Director of Finance, is very quotable. Recently the ieefa.org released a report —“The Financial Case for Fossil Fuel Divestment” — that gives an up-to-date and robust reasoning for divestment. The article  IEEFA update: Divestment 101  provides a useful summary of the report and this graph which shows the poor performance of fossil fuels over the last 5 years.

THE WORLD is on fire. Wildfires have raged from Athens to the Arctic. Heatwaves have broken records in Africa, Japan, North America and Europe. Sadly, the wildfires and heat have led to lives lost and property destroyed. In Ireland, we suffered a very wet winter, and the wettest decade in 300 years. This has been followed by the worst drought in 40 years. Armagh broke its 175-year-old temperature record on 27th June with the heat reaching 30.4 celsius. Climate change is hitting hard and farmers and vulnerable people are struggling. The Church of Ireland offered prayers for the farming community, but is that it? Ireland has one of the worst environmental records in Europe (Irish Times 1st August), so where is the call from the House of Bishops for governments, both north and south, to accelerate the response to climate change, reduce pollution and prevent environmental degradation? As Bishop N.T. Wright said, “God is the Creator God, he doesn’t want to say, ‘Okay, creation wa...

Photo by  Jason Blackeye  on  Unsplash The Catholic Bishops' Conference has announced that the Catholic Church is to divest from fossil fuels. This is the second major church in Ireland to announce full divestment following the decision by the Church of Ireland to divest at its General Synod in 2018. The decisions by the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland put further pressure on the other mainline churches in Ireland to also divest from polluting fossil fuels. The Bishops' Conference spokesperson said, “Today, on the eve of Pope Francis’ historic visit to Ireland, I wish to announce the decision of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference to divest from fossil fuels. The Bishops’ Conference has signed the global Catholic fossil free pledge and today begins the process of divesting its resources from all fossil fuels. In doing so, we are responding directly to Pope Francis’ call in his 2015 encyclical letter Laudato Sí (on care for our common home) by mov...

An excellent article on church divestment in the Financial Times today. The Church of Ireland's decision to divest at this year's general synod gets a mention. "We have to do something about it when we have the evidence [that global warming is happening]. And our investment portfolios have to reflect that,"

New Wine Ireland is a Christian conference that takes place in Sligo each year. It aims to help local churches change nations. I spoke at a seminar this year along with David Ritchie, the Chief Executive of the Church of Ireland's Representative Church Body. The seminar was on how local churches can help care for God's creation. The audio of the seminar is available from New Wine Ireland but I have put the text of my talk and a video of the slides below. The Church of Ireland also released a press article giving a summary of the seminar . It's time to Care for Creation Introduction Today David and I are going to give you two short and complementary perspectives on God’s creation and the actions we can take in response to environmental issues. Then we’ll take questions and hear what you have to say. I’m going to cover three points: A call to care A call to act, and  Time to Take action So first, [Slide 1] A call to care Conferences like New Wine a...

The Church of England got its act together at General Synod and voted to divest from oil and gas companies that do not align to the Paris Agreement goals. This is a significant step forward and a great success for the Operation Noah Bright Now campaign. Some great coverage from the press, including this article from Bloomberg , And an excellent comment piece in the Telegraph from Rowan Williams .

On Sunday 8 July 2018 the Church of England General Synod will vote on whether to divest from oil and gas companies not unequivocally aligned to the Paris Agreement goals of keeping global warming below 2C. This would be a historic vote and would echo the Church of Ireland commitment at its 2018 General Synod to divest from all fossil fuel producers by 2022. The Church of England is a powerful voice in institutional investments. It has led strongly in collaborative engagement in recent years. A successful amendment vote on Sunday at General Synod would send one of the strongest signals to fossil fuel companies that the time for serious action has arrived. Oil majors have been tripping over themselves with green announcements recently. Shell, ENI and Equinor have promised to reduce production emissions and to transform themselves into ‘energy companies’ rather than oil and gas companies. These announcements are welcome, but the Paris Agreement goals require a rapid reduction fossil fu...

This blog post was written for www.brightnow.co.uk Blog 21 MAY 2018 The Church of Ireland votes to divest from fossil fuels The Church of Ireland’s General Synod voted last week in favour of  full divestment from fossil fuels . Campaigner Stephen Trew explains how it happened. At the Church of Ireland General Synod 2018, I proposed a motion to exclude investments in all companies where more than 10% of turnover is from the production of fossil fuels. It was a long shot, for I am just a regular parishioner, not a member of the Standing Committee or the Representative Church Body (RCB). If it was successful, the RCB would have to divest millions of euro from fossil fuel producing companies over the next four years. The motion passed. The successful vote was by an overwhelming majority: about 80% supported it. Synod members were presented with the strong ethical case of withdrawing investments from an industry that causes human suffering and that poses an incre...

This article was published by the Christian Times 14 May 2018 Church of Ireland votes to divest from fossil fuel companies by 2022 Jardine Malado 14 MAY, 2018 (Wikimedia Commons/TripodStories- AB) The Church of Ireland has voted to divest from companies involved in production of fossil fuels such as oil and coal. The Church of Ireland has voted to stop investing in companies involved in fossil fuel production by 2022 as part of its efforts to reduce the impact of climate change. According to  Irish Times , the Church will be divesting from companies with more than 10 percent turnover from fossil fuel production by 2022. "Ethical investors around the world, and now the Church of Ireland, have looked at the ethics and the risks and concluded that divestment from all fossil fuels is the right thing to do," said Synod member Stephen Trew, as reported by  Irish Times . Th...