Faith leaders urge David Lammy to show leadership on climate

Faith representatives with Canon Giles Goddard, Chair, Faith for the Climate and Vicar, St John's Waterloo. Image: Michael Preston for Quakers

Faith leaders have united to call on the UK government to show leadership on climate justice among rich countries, as part of a nationwide week of action.

At a vigil outside the Foreign Office on Tuesday, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, Sikh, and Buddhist representatives handed in a letter to Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

The letter asks the foreign secretary to take the initiative at upcoming COP29 by contributing new funding to the International Loss and Damage Fund.

It must do this in the form of grants not loans and by taxing pollution and wealth, rather than repurposing official development assistance, the letter says.

The 21 signatories call on the UK government to champion a new "collective quantified goal" for climate finance for developing countries, including sufficient funding to respond to loss and damage.

"Our call to Make Polluters Pay is partly about our history," the letter says. "When we factor in Britain's colonial past, the UK is the fourth largest contributor to climate change."

It is also about our present, faith leaders including Paul Parker, recording clerk of Quakers in Britain and Roman Catholic Bishop of Salford John Arnold, write.

Two fossil fuel giants, Shell and BP, are based here, enjoying record-breaking profits, they write.

"Meanwhile, many British households are struggling to heat their homes. At the same time, communities all around the world are being devastated by extreme weather events, such as flooding, super storms and forest fires.

"These inequalities need to be redressed, to acknowledge the intrinsic value of every living being on our precious and finite earth."

The faith leaders conclude, "It's time for the UK - and its wealthiest polluters - to pay our fair share."

LINK

Quakers in Britain - www.quaker.org.uk