Faith groups march in London to protect our Common Home

Columban Missionaries and FCJ Sister outside British Museum before the start of the march

Faith groups were among thousands of climate justice campaigners who marched peacefully through central London on Saturday, accompanied by colourful banners, chanting and drumming. They lobbied the UK government and world leaders to work towards climate justice, and to do it urgently. They included representatives of Christian Climate Action, Green Christian, Laudato Si Movement, Columban Justice, Peace and Ecology Team, Columban Sisters, Faithful Companion of Jesus Sisters, Quakers in Britain and Faith for the Climate Network.

The march was part of an annual Global Day of Action for Climate Justice which always takes place midway through the annual international United Nations Climate Conference, which this year is in Baku, Azerbaijan 11- 22 November. Other marches lobbied COP29 in 25 places across Britain, including Brighton, Southampton, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, and Glasgow.

The London march - organised by more than 60 groups - started at the British Museum, which has a £50 million partnership with the oil company BP. Speakers argued that the fossil fuel industry has no place in the arts. And the route was via the HQ of Azerbaijani oil company SOCAR, co-owner of the BTC pipeline with BP, which supplies nearly 30% of Israel's oil.

At its end in Downing Street, a rally called for the UK government to end its reliance on fossil fuels and to commit to paying climate reparations. It was stressed that climate justice and human rights are inseparable. The government's complicity in Israel's destruction of Gaza was criticised and the link between conflict and climate change highlighted.

Columban missionaries are members of the Climate Justice Coalition which organised the march. Fr Kevin McDonagh SSC spoke to several media at the event of his experience of climate concerns during four decades of mission work in Peru. "The rapid melting of glaciers has meant that water supplies to major urban centres such as Lima are under threat," he said; "and the poorest people will be impacted the most." The Columban banner highlighted 'Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor', wording used in Pope Francis' landmark encyclical Laudato Si'. A group of Columban Sisters included their congregational leader Sr Anne Carbon. Alongside was Sr MaryAnne, of Faithful Companions of Jesus, who works on faith and ecological justice at the FCJ Spirituaity Centre in Euston, and said she was on the march as part of the 'Care for Our Common Home' mission of the FCJ sisters internationally.

Events in the UK were part of the Global Day of Action which saw at least 150 events worldwide. In Baku itself, faith groups were among those holding a silent protest at the climate summit demanding the phase-out of fossil fuels, climate financing for the Global South, and a just transition to clean energy. And faith groups announced further divestment from fossil fuels last week, including a number of Catholic Dioceses in France and the Jesuits in Britain, Canada, Australia and Euro-Mediterranean Province. Pope Francis called for "an ambitious agreement" on climate in a message read 13 November in Baku by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

UK-based Faith for the Climate Network highlighted that Faith leaders and advocates, gathered at a COP29 side event in Baku last week to call for a climate finance strategy rooted in justice and accountability. The event, partly hosted by the World Council of Churches, emphasised that effective climate finance must go beyond financial figures to directly support the adaptation and resilience of communities facing the harshest climate impacts. There were calls for "real finance", not just loans which will get poor countries further into debt, and for tax justice, including a wealth tax, to fund effective climate action.