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For more information please contact Christian Climate Action on christianclimateaction@gmail.com or 07427770385.

Christian climate activists ‘died’ on the steps of St Paul’s on the 18th and 19th February to call on Church of England leaders to urge the Government to refuse the Rosebank oilfield in the North Sea.

The protestors staged the ‘die in’ on the steps of the cathedral on Ash Wednesday to highlight inaction on the Climate Emergency which is killing millions of people from famine, flood, forest fires and drought. 

Christian Climate Action (CCA) wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally, the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell and the Bishop of Norwich, Graham Usher, the lead bishop for the environment, urging them to speak out prophetically and demand plans for the vast Rosebank oilfield be stopped.

The group said: “Christian Climate Action is urging the Church of England to be a prophetic voice in this existential crisis and speak out against the forces that are driving the Climate and Nature Emergency. This includes calling out the fossil fuel companies, their financers, enablers and lobbyists, and using its position as the established Church to call on the UK Government to make responsible decisions for the future of the people of this country.” You can read the full letter here.

Members of CCA lay covered in shrouds with tombstones at their feet to represent the people around the world who are dying due to extreme climate impacts. They held up banners on the steps saying ‘Stop Rosebank’ and ‘Don’t Crucify Creation.’ The banner holders were ashed in the sign of the cross with a substance that resembled oil. 

The Government is expected any day to announce a decision on the vast Rosebank oilfield, which lies 80 miles off Shetland. It is the UK’s largest undeveloped oil and gas field and would produce 500 million barrels of oil, creating more CO2 annually than the world’s 28 low-income countries combined. Most of the oil will be exported and will never reduce UK energy bills. 

CCA staged the die-in at the start of a 24-hour Ash Wednesday vigil outside St Paul’s as part of the Stop Crucifying Creation campaign. The campaign urges the Church of England to take radical and urgent action in the face of the Climate and Nature Emergency and to speak out prophetically and unapologetically against the forces that are driving planetary breakdown.

People are due to vigil around the clock outside the iconic cathedral, praying on the hour throughout the day and night, and lighting candles for victims of extreme weather events around the world until 12noon on Thursday.

Rev Helen Burnett, Church of England vicar from Chaldon, Surrey, said: “Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent,  which is the season of repentance and reflection. A time when Christians consider their commitment to living within the limits of the gospel which frees us to live in ways that bring justice and peace. 

“That’s why we have chosen today to urge the Church to speak out against fossil fuel extraction and here in the UK that means stopping the Rosebank oil field from being developed. The Church of England can ‘Speak Truth to Power’, and be a prophetic voice on climate, calling out oil and gas companies and government inaction on the climate and nature crisis.”

Judith, 64, a Franciscan tertiary, from London, said: “With almost daily reports about the impact of the climate and biodiversity crisis from scientists, economists and security experts, I deplore the lack of action and engagement by institutions such as the Government and the Church. 

“By taking part in this 24-hour vigil at the start of Lent – a season when through prayer and acts of self-sacrifice we are encouraged to reflect on and realign our lives with Christ – I hope I can draw attention to the urgency with which we should be changing direction. We must stop crucifying creation.” 

James Grote, a retired Baptist minister from Oxford, said: “Climate change is crucifying creation through flood and drought, heat and storms. We must speak up with those who are suffering the loss of everything in our one and only planet. If we are to continue to live in hope we have to act now, move away from fossil fuels, call out the oil and gas giants and stop Rosebank.”

Mark Francis, 59, from Sussex, said: “Each new oilfield delays the transition to renewable energy, delays the investment into new green jobs, and locks us further into both an expensive and climate-wrecking energy system. Rosebank is clearly the defining test of this government’s credibility on climate change.”

Sandie, a grandmother from Lincolnshire, said: “The climate crisis is upon us, and Christians need to speak up on behalf of the vulnerable – both humans and non-human creation so generously gifted by God. We are calling on our church leaders to step up, tell the truth, and be part of the solution.”

Stop Rosebank Campaigner Lauren MacDonald said: “The scientific evidence is clear that we cannot open new North Sea oil and gas projects if we are to stay within the 1.5ºc threshold set out in the Paris Agreement, to which the UK is a signatory. In fact, Rosebank’s vast CO2 emissions would equate to more than 700 million people in the Global South produce in a year.”

For further information please contact Christian Climate Action – christianclimateaction@gmail.com , or 07427770385

• Christian Climate Action is a community of Christians supporting each other to take meaningful action in the face of imminent and catastrophic, anthropogenic climate breakdown. We are inspired by Jesus Christ and guided by the Holy Spirit. Following the example of social justice movements of the past, we carry out acts of public witness, nonviolent protest and civil disobedience to urge those in power to make the changes needed.  Christian Climate Action – Direct action, public witness for the climate