Bishops from across the UK have urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak to rule out backing new oil and gas developments as the country looks to stop using Russia’s energy supplies.
Dr Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, was one of 50 senior Anglican and Catholic clerics to write to Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak ahead of Wednesday’s spring budget statement.
They called for “no support for new oil and gas development” as part of the chancellor’s finance announcement.
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Johnson told the Conservative Party’s spring meeting in Blackpool on Saturday that his government planned to “make better use of our own natural hydrocarbons”.
Following her speech, Downing Street said Chancellor Helen Whitley had been tasked with chairing a forum to discuss North Sea oil and gas investment conditions with oil and gas lenders.
But senior bishops and other Christian leaders from the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church have joined forces to lobby the government to move away from fossil fuels.
In their letter, the bishops and clergy called on Johnson’s government to “ensure a rapid transition from fossil fuels to clean energy” in its upcoming spring statement and energy security strategy this month.
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They praised the British government’s decision to ban imports of Russian oil by the end of the year – which they said “fueled the catastrophic war in Ukraine”.
But Dr Williams and more than 200 other religious leaders said the UK had “a responsibility to demonstrate global leadership on the climate crisis” and invest further in renewable energy, following last year’s hosting of the UN’s Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow.
“The spring statement must not include support for new oil and gas development,” they wrote.
“The International Energy Agency says that if we are to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, there can be no new fossil fuel development.
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“New oil and gas production will not result in lower energy bills for households facing fuel poverty and will have no impact on energy supply for years.”
In addition to Lord Williams of Oystermouth, other signatories to the letter include the principal environmental bishops of the Church of England, Bishop Graham Usher of Norwich, the Catholic Church of England and Wales, Bishop John Arnold of Salford and William Nolan, Archbishop of Glasgow, Scottish Catholic Church.
They were joined by church leaders from across the country, including the Methodist, Anglican, Welsh, United Reformed, Baptist and Quaker congregations.
In the letter, bishops and other church leaders expressed support for a “windfall tax on oil and gas companies” as a way to address the cost of living crisis – a policy similar to that promoted by Labour.
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Patrick Daly is a PA political reporter.
