WCC News: WCC, with churches in Caribbean and North America, debuts training on climate litigation

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has offered the first in what will be a series of training workshops on climate litigation. In partnership with the Caribbean and North America Council for Mission (CANACOM), the WCC led the training through a lens of child protection and our future generations. Kingston, Jamaica. Photo: WCC 06 February 2025 Jennifer P. Martin, Education in Mission secretary for CANACOM, said all of CANACOM’s member churches are located in countries with governments that have a reasonably high awareness of climate change and of the climate chaos into which the world is descending. "Most, if not all governments have environment and climate change policies, officers, or agencies. Some work is being done,” she said. “No CANACOM member church or member church country could with any honesty claim ignorance of these matters,” said Martin. “Whereas there is some knowledge, the popular levels of awareness range on the spectrum from very low to very high.” The workshop held in Jamaica on 20 January played a valuable role in providing participants with more information, added Martin. “It forced us to look more keenly at facts which are staring at us,” she said. “It also drew to our attention the catastrophe which is waiting to erupt in our midst.” In the CANACOM regions, she said, some persons are more shocked by climate change realities in the Pacific, for example, rather than in the "disappearance of beach shorelines" in their own countries or flooding of forest areas which have for centuries been home to some Amerindian communities—for example, Suriname. “We are grateful for the participants who were able to attend and hope that there will be more training opportunities in the future so that a wider cross-section of persons can become involved,” said Martin. Following the training will be a handbook on climate litigation published by the WCC.  A new route toward justice Both the training and the handbook are answering calls from the next generation, noted Frederique Seidel, senior programme lead for Children & Climate at the WCC. The World Council of Churches has for decades been calling for climate action and climate justice—but climate litigation is a new area for the WCC. “It was the children from our churches who asked us to take this new route of climate litigation, which is new for the WCC and is the only way that really gives solid hope for children in the face of what science tells us about the climate emergency,” she said.  Harj Narulla, a lawyer specialising in climate law and litigation, gave an overview during the training on how legal action can work to try to address the climate crisis. He noted that 75 percent of climate cases in 2023 were filed by individuals or civil society groups, mostly against governments. But, increasingly, cases are being filed against companies involved in the fossil fuels industry.  Martin said she believes the training and handbook will potentially create an environment where more people can successfully—and safely—engage in climate change litigation. “The response for example, to the effects of extractive industries on the environment and climate, and lives of people in mineral rich areas, is frequently one of forlorn acceptance,” she said. “Protest tends to range from noisy to muted but is generally short-lived.” She believes the litigation process with reference to climate change is slowly beginning to take hold in the Caribbean and North American regions. “There is an opening for deeper global partnership in this regard,” she said. “The workshop represented such a window.” Churches and partners who would like to join the WCC project “Legal action by churches for intergenerational justice” are invited to send a note to churchesforchildren@wcc-coe.org. New report focuses on accelerating climate solutions through youth-focused litigation (WCC news release, 5 February 2025) Young leaders share insights and passion for intergenerational climate justice (WCC news release, 08 November 2024) WCC highlights legal action for climate justice at multi-faith conference (WCC news release, 24 October 2024) When can legal action be a climate justice tool? WCC project will provide answers (WCC news release, 12 September 2024) Learn more about Churches’ Commitments to Children and Climate-Responsible Banking See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 352 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa.  Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches Chemin du Pommier 42 Kyoto Building Le Grand-Saconnex CH-1218 Switzerland