Hope for children: churches turn to the law to hold fossil fuel financiers accountable
Hope for children: churches turn to the law to hold fossil fuel financiers accountable
iku
Thu, 10/15/2026 - 15:33
At a World Council of Churches (WCC) joint conference in Chiang Mai, lawyers, campaigners, and church leaders showed how courts, regulators, and shareholders can challenge the money behind fossil fuel expansion.
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Photo journalist Sean Hawkey shares his experience documenting impacts of Cerrejon coal mine on environment and local communities in La Guajira, Colombia, as part of the initiative by Methodist churches submitting an OECD complaint regarding the HSBC bank financing the mine operation.
Photo: Ivars Kupcis/WCC
Children born today will live with the climate that today's decisions on coal, oil, and gas create. At the Joint Conference of WCC Commissions and Reference Groups on Life, Justice, and Peace, delegates asked a practical question: what can churches do about it in a court of law or before a regulator?
A plenary on legal interventions titled "Hope for Children through Climate Justice,” moderated by Rev. J. Makena Mutuma, brought together speakers from Kenya, Namibia, France, South…
