Many faith leaders have signified their commitments to climate action. For example, Pope Francis of the Catholic Church penned the Laudato Si, critiquing consumerism and irresponsible development and calls on people for swift and unified global action. The pope has also committed to net zero by 2050. The Church of England has also committed to net zero by 2030. Their plan includes reducing emissions from Cathedrals, churches, dioceses, and schools.

Rowan Williamson, when he was the Archbishop of Canterbury, launched the second phase of the Tyndall Centre back in 2006, speaking to us about how climate change is a moral issue. According to World Vision, faith has great potential in addressing the climate emergency. According to Pew Research Center, 84% of the world’s population or 8/10 people identify with a religious group. This is an opportunity for religions to transform their communities in different ways to help in climate action. For this episode we have Chris Walsh from the University of Manchester and Rachel Sowerby from the Church of England to talk to us more about the role of faith/religion in climate action.

Chris has been at the Tyndall Centre in Manchester for 6 years working on a variety of projects, his work with churches began with the UK Climate Resilience Programme working as an embedded researcher in the Church of England Cathedrals and Church Buildings co-producing climate resilience guidance for churches across the country. He has also since worked with Salford Catholic diocese and the Guardians of Creation group to create a decarbonisation guide for places of worship. For him climate action is a key part of his faith, and a lot of his research interests and work stem from that.

Rachel is an affiliate researcher with the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research as part of her role as the Bishop's Environmental Research Officer for the Bishop of Norwich Graham Usher. Bishop Graham is the lead Bishop for the environment for the Church of England. Rachel holds an MSc in Environmental Science from the University of East Anglia. Her areas of interest include behaviour change, carbon reduction and fuel poverty. She currently aids the environmental work of the Church including the pathway to Net Zero, biodiversity (particularly on Church land) and engaging with the wider public on climate related issues.

Music by BenSound