Over 450 Church leaders and Christian environmental campaigners have signed an open letter to UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, and Secretary of State, Michael Gove, calling for a rethink on the approval of a new coal mine in Cumbria.
The letter, coordinated by Young Christian Climate Network and supported by Operation Noah and Christian Aid, has been endorsed, among others, by the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, by the lead environmental bishops for the Church of England and Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales (Rt Revd Graham Usher and Rt Revd John Arnold) and by the heads of the the Baptist Union of Great Britain, Church in Wales, the Methodist Church of Great Britain, Quakers in Britain, the Salvation Army, the Scottish Episcopal Church, the United Reformed Church and Undeb yr Annibynwyr/Union of Welsh Independent Churches.
The letter states:
‘We acknowledge that this region needs investment, but the Government is supporting a dying industry, instead of securing sustainable green jobs for the long term. We know that every pound of investment in renewables creates three times more jobs than in the fossil fuel industry. Coal from this mine will continue to heat up the planet, pollute the atmosphere, and most severely impact those in the world’s poorest countries who have done the least to cause the climate crisis. We lament this great injustice. As Pope Francis says in his encyclical Laudato Si, we must listen to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor, instead of covering our ears.’
You can read the full letter, plus comments from the lead campaigners, on the Operation Noah website.
