Faith leaders tell Government: climate crisis is a moral issue, make polluters pay

Campaigners and MPs with their message outside Parliament - Image by Quakers in Britain

Source: Quakers in Britain

Quakers and people of faith joined politicians, trade unionists and climate campaigners outside Parliament yesterday, Wednesday, 14 October, to call for oil and gas companies to pay their fair share towards climate damage.

Paul Parker, recording clerk for Quakers in Britain, and Shanon Shah, director of Faith for the Climate, both addressed the crowd ahead of the autumn budget.

Paul Parker said: "This action reflects the message Quakers have been taking to international forums. Responding to the climate crisis is not only an environmental challenge but a moral one, raising questions about responsibility, fairness and how resources are shared."

Shanon Shah said: "The public tide is turning. I can feel it. More and more people of all faiths - and none - are realising that the fossil fuel industry's behaviour is neither normal, healthy, moral nor sane. And our political leaders have to act. The vast majority of the world is already with us in body, mind, and spirit. We can win this. Make polluters pay."

Richard Burgon, Catholic-born Labour MP for Leeds East, said: "Fossil fuel giants knowingly took us to the cliff-edge of climate catastrophe in the pursuit of ever-greater profits. This campaign is about ensuring those responsible for the climate crisis pay up for the damage they have caused and the climate action we need. This is not only a just demand, it's a popular one. I put down a bill in Parliament to Make Polluters Pay and there's growing parliamentary support for this cause. This is a campaign we can win!"

Hannah Spencer, Green MP for Gorton and Denton, who is a Christian, said: "The world's five biggest oil companies made almost £400 million in profit every single day this spring. That is what we mean when we say that the climate crisis is a crisis of accountability, and a crisis of fairness. Because right now while polluters celebrate cashing in on war, it is households and communities all across the country footing the bill - through soaring energy costs and through climate breakdown."

The Make Polluters Pay coalition is calling on ministers to resist industry lobbying to weaken taxes on fossil fuel companies. It warns that households and businesses must not be left to foot the bill for climate breakdown while oil and gas giants cash in on unearned war-driven mega-profits.

The budget comes days before oil and gas companies are expected to announce another round of quarterly profits, forecast to be even higher.

The rally follows a summer of wildfires, drought and extreme heat in the UK, and a glacier collapse in the Himalayas that caused devastation in Nepal. It also follows UN Secretary-General Faith leaders tell Government: climate crisis is a moral issue, make polluters pay's final General Assembly speech, in which he told world leaders, "polluters must pay".

Louise Hutchins, co-convenor of the international coalition, said: "Oil and gas giants have made $2.8 billion in profit every single day for 50 years. Now, they're cashing in on war-driven price rises while lobbying to pay less tax."

The coalition wants the funding to speed the move to secure renewable energy, support workers leaving high-carbon jobs, and help firefighters, schools, hospitals and communities facing climate impacts.

LINKS

Faith for the Climate: https://faithfortheclimate.org.uk/

Quakers in Britain: www.quaker.org.uk/