FossilFreeUMC

On Saturday at COP 30 in Belém, Brazil, 50,000 people “celebrated the death of fossil fuels” outside the United Nations climate summit. The “Great People’s March” and makeshift “Funeral for Fossil Fuels” was organized by civil society organizations and Indigenous Peoples groups from Brazil and beyond. Their demands included a fair phaseout of fossil fuels and a just transition toward renewable energy and an egalitarian economy. They protested the rapacious greed of fossil fuel companies and demanded that these big polluters pay for the immeasurable damage they have caused worldwide over the last century.

We United Methodists who have a heart for creation and who seek justice for those who are oppressed, would do well to pay attention to what these demonstrators are saying and how their message pertains to us. Calls for climate justice are based on the reality that many of the poorest, most marginalized, and most climate-vulnerable communities and countries that have contributed least to the climate crisis are being impacted first and worst by fossil fuel pollution and fossil-fueled disasters. We know this, yet The United Methodist Church continues to fund the fossil fuels that drive climate change, including over $1billion of investments through our Board of Pensions, Wespath.

Rev. Mark Davies says, “As a shareholder in fossil fuel companies, the United Methodist Church holds a share in their profits, and thus we hold a share of the responsibility for the ecological damage and loss of a livable climate that these companies perpetuate. When we as a denomination profit from investing in fossil fuel interests, we weaken our prophetic resistance and become complicit in profiting off the demise of the community of all creation.”

Global oil, gas, and coal corporations continue to blatantly harm God’s good creation. They are bad actors who have lied about the danger of their products, promoted denial about climate change, lobbied against climate legislation, and delayed the transition to clean renewable energy. Corporate engagement strategies will not change the reality that their core business model depends upon the expanded production and use of their primary product: fossil fuels.

ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, and other oil companies that The United Methodist Church invests in strongly influence the outcome of international climate conferences. Many fossil fuel executives participate in the negotiations in their roles as official delegates. Their conflict of interest is clear, and their undue influence continues to prevent strong national and international climate action. At least 1,600 fossil fuel industry lobbyists are present at the Belém climate conference according to a report by the Kick Big Polluters Out coalition. This makes industry lobbyists the second-largest delegation overall, second only to the delegation of Brazil, the host nation.

As United Methodists, institutional divestment from fossil fuels is one practical way to respond to calls for climate justice from people in Belém and around the world. Some of our pastors, churches, and annual conferences are doing so. In this way, we phase out fossil fuels from our own portfolios and participate as allies with the global movement for climate justice.

Sharon Delgado, Convener, Fossil Free UMC

In January 2026, Sharon Delgado is launching the revised edition of her book, Love in a Time of Climate Change: Honoring Creation, Establishing Justice. To request a PDF sample chapter and table of contents, Contact Sharon.