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God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.
Genesis 1:31
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favour.
Isaiah 61:1-2a
The World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee is meeting in Hangzhou, China, at a time in which humanity stands at an imponderably dangerous precipice, not only for ourselves but for the whole Living Planet.
Underneath all political and economic questions connected with the ecological crisis of our time, there are deeply spiritual and moral questions. As the message of the Ecumenical Peace Convocation of the WCC in Kingston, Jamaica, already stated in 2011, "the environmental crisis is profoundly an ethical and spiritual crisis of humanity. Recognizing the damage human activity has done to the Earth, we reaffirm our commitment to the integrity of creation and the daily lifestyle it demands." Pope Francis in his encyclical "Laudato Si" in 2015, quoting Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, has drawn attention to “the ethical and spiritual roots of environmental problems, which require that we look for solutions not only in technology but in a change of humanity.” (Laudato Si, par 9).
1700 years after the ecumenical Council of Nicaea, we continue to be united through the creed expressing our belief in the triune God. We confess that “We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth”. We acknowledge that this Earth, and the intricate web of life that it so wonderfully and abundantly sustains, is God’s precious and unique Creation, crafted by God’s divine will. And yet, together with all humanity, by our profligate exploitation, negligence and abuse, we have brought this Living Planet to the verge of tipping points that imperil the natural systems on which our lives and those of all future generations depend.
It is not for lack of information that we now face this crisis. The science of climate change has been abundantly clear for many years, despite the efforts of some to discredit it. Moreover, people around the world – including our member churches and Christian communities – are directly experiencing the increasingly destructive impacts of climate change on their lives and livelihoods – from Typhoons Kalmaegi and Fung Wong in the Philippines, Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica, major floods in eastern Mexico, Brazil and West and Central Africa, and devastating wildfires in southern Europe, the Amazon, and California, to the rising sea levels that threaten the future existence of small low-lying island States in the Pacific. Nor do we lack the technological capacities or financial means to protect the future sustainability of this Living Planet.
Indeed, more than a political or technological problem, humanity’s collective inability or unwillingness to commit to taking the needed action to avert climate catastrophe represents a profound spiritual and ethical crisis, a failure of moral responsibility, a lack of justice and compassion. As Christians, our faith in God the Creator is inseparably linked with our public advocacy for all Creation. Our prayer to the triune God and the compassion of Jesus Christ move us to action for climate justice.
Accelerating Climate Change in a Shifting Geopolitical Landscape
The UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) has just concluded in Belém, Brazil, against a backdrop of accelerating climate change impacts, looming tipping points,[1] and increasing geopolitical division and confrontation.
The US government had already withdrawn – for the second time – from the Paris Agreement[2] (and from COP30), rolled back environmental regulations, propped up the fossil fuel industry, and suppressed climate science. As the world’s second-largest emitter[3] and largest economy, these US policy shifts have far-reaching global implications.
Furthermore, escalating conflicts and tensions around the world are diverting resources away from urgently needed climate action toward increased military spending, in addition to the massive environmental impacts and emissions generated by armed conflicts themselves.
COP30 made important progress in some areas, including especially in the agreement to triple adaptation finance for developing countries by 2035, in the stronger focus given to the role and rights of Indigenous Peoples, in the introduction of the first-ever Just Transition mechanism, in the initiation of a ‘Global Ethical Stocktake’ as part of the COP process, and in the integration of gender in climate policies through a Gender Action Plan. However, it failed to deliver on ambitions – and the existential necessity – for a clear roadmap for phasing out fossil fuels,[4] nor for ending deforestation.
Meanwhile, banks, pension funds and other institutions and investors continue to finance fossil fuel exploration and development, and governments continue to provide subsidies to artificially sustain the future-destroying fossil fuel industry.[5]
At the same time, during its meeting in China, the executive committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) has drawn renewed hope and inspiration from China’s extraordinary progress and immense investment in renewable energy, creating potential for aligning economic and environmental interests for the renewable energy transition both domestically and internationally, due especially to China’s advances in producing affordable technology for solar and wind power.[6]
Hope is also to be found in the landmark Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – issued in July 2025 – affirming that states have a legal duty to protect the climate system and that breaches of this duty may entail reparations.[7]
The Climate-Debt Nexus
A growing number of vulnerable countries are spending more on debt repayments than on responding to the climate emergency and providing essential public services[8], with debt burdens being compounded by the costs of increasingly frequent and severe climate disasters, as well as rising interest rates.
The G20 Leaders’ Summit which took place in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 22-23 November 2025 – though also without the participation of the United States – served as an important forum for exploring the relationship between debt and climate change and a critical opportunity for advancing proposals for debt relief and climate finance for climate-vulnerable nations.
While the G20 Summit produced agreement on strengthening climate-related disaster response and resilience, it missed a critical opportunity for advancing proposals for debt relief and climate finance for climate-vulnerable nations. It also emphasized the need to stabilise the international tax system and to enhance domestic resource mobilisation, including through achieving consensus on a UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation.
Proclaiming Jubilee
Since the 1970s, the WCC has sought to address the global debt crisis, notably through the Jubilee 2000 Campaign. In this new Jubilee year and beyond, churches are called to reflect upon and advocate for God’s command of Jubilee (Leviticus 25:10) and seek new routes to restore our ecosystems, break the stranglehold of debt, redress its consequences, and prevent future debt crises. This requires nothing less than a reparative and restorative New International Financial and Economic Architecture (NIFEA).
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Meeting in Hangzhou, China, from 20 to 25 November 2025, the WCC executive committee recognizes and laments the continuing failure of States and people collectively to fulfil their responsibilities to our children and to future generations of life on Earth, and as stewards of God’s precious and unique Creation – of which we are at the same time an integral part and on which we are utterly dependent. We appeal urgently for the metanoia that will finally bring us all to our senses, enable us to recognize those responsibilities, and empower us to speak and act with the urgency necessary to fulfil them in accountability to our Creator God and with the compassion of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Call to Churches
The executive committee urges all member churches to:
- Bring to life and deepen the recently launched Ecumenical Decade of Climate Justice Action by advancing its six pathways, especially advocating in their own societies and towards their own political authorities for implementation of commitments made, for systemic change and legal accountability, and amplifying the voices of youth and children, Indigenous Peoples and frontline communities;
- Recommit and advance progress to reducing carbon emissions in our own communities, institutions and in our own lives, towards the goal of carbon neutrality;
- Actively participate in the Turn Debt into Hope campaign as part of the ecumenical NIFEA initiative, linking faith-based advocacy with global efforts for climate justice and debt cancellation;
- Model Jubilee by auditing our own investments and engaging with our financial service providers to divest from fossil fuels;
- Consider legal action as a strategy for intergenerational climate justice, and
- Join the ecumenical prayers for Jubilee for People and Planet, and the Season of Creation campaign.
Call to Governments
The executive committee also calls on governments to:
- Accelerate a just transition to 100% renewable energy, phase out all fossil fuel subsidies that artificially sustain the fossil fuel industry, commit to reducing and exiting fossil fuel production, adopt the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, ensure decent jobs for all, and protect the rights of Indigenous Peoples and other marginalised groups throughout the transition process;
- Fulfil financial obligations and commitments for developed countries to mobilise USD 1.3 trillion per year for developing countries by 2035 and provide non-debt-based climate finance for mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damage.
- Take a holistic approach to protecting biodiversity and land, water and food in relation to climate change in developing mitigation and adaptation measures;
- Cancel unjust and unsustainable sovereign debts without imposing harmful economic conditions; establish a permanent, transparent, and comprehensive debt resolution framework under the auspices of the UN, particularly a UN Convention on Sovereign Debt; and address the root causes of debt crises and reform the global financial system to prioritise people and planet over profit;
- Promote the Belém Declaration on Hunger, Poverty, and Human-Centered Climate Action; and
- Implement the recommendations from the expert dialogue on children and climate change.
[1] The latest scientific findings suggest that the world is just three years from overshooting the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C target, with devastating consequences on livelihoods, water and food security, and social and political stability especially in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Latin America and the Caribbean. Moreover, increasing warming threatens to trigger massive, self-reinforcing changes that will irreversibly accelerate the climate crisis: UNEP Emissions Gap Report 2025: https://wedocs.unep.org/entities/publication/9f0bf855-2069-42a6-a856-4b389f740c5c
[2] https://www.npr.org/2025/01/21/nx-s1-5266207/trump-paris-agreement-biden-climate-change
[3] https://www.worldometers.info/co2-emissions/co2-emissions-by-country/
[4] The Brazilian proposal for a roadmap for phasing out fossil fuels – the main driver of climate change – was opposed among others by Saudi Arabia, Russia, India, Nigeria and China, as well as by an unprecedented number of fossil fuel industry lobbyists.
[5] Re banks financing fossil fuel industries, see: https://www.banktrack.org/article/banks_fossil_fuel_finance_totals_869_billion_in_2024_a_dramatic_increase_in_financing; re fossil fuel subsidies, see: https://internationalfinance.com/magazine/why-do-countries-still-subsidise-fossil-fuels/
[6] https://www.economist.com/leaders/2025/11/06/chinas-clean-energy-revolution-will-reshape-markets-and-politics
[7] https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/07/1165475
[8] According to UNCTAD, today, 3.4 billion people live in countries that are spending more on debt repayments than on responding to the climate emergency and providing essential public services: https://unctad.org/news/development-action-unctad-warns-tariffs-debt-and-trust-deficit-un-general-assembly
