WCC NEWS: "There is a biblical mandate for us to be at the table": Faith leader on climate justice at COP30

The climate crisis, growing global debt, and persistent hunger aren't separate problems - they stem from the same systemic injustice, according to faith leaders gathering at COP30 in Belém, Brazil. Rev. Dr Angelique Walker-Smith, World Council of Churches (WCC) president from North America and senior advisor at Bread for the World, says fixing these crises takes more than technical solutions. It demands real commitment to equity, solidarity, and what the biblical tradition calls "jubilee": a time of repair and reconciliation between those who have been harmed and those who hold resources and power. Rev. Dr Angelique Walker-Smith, World Council of Churches (WCC) president from North America and senior advisor at Bread for the World joined the WCC delegation at COP30, in Belém, Brazil. Photo: Valter Hugo Muniz/WCC 20 November 2025 In this interview from the heart of the Amazon region, Walker-Smith explains how faith communities can connect these global challenges. She offers a vision rooted in hope and justice as she prepares to carry these messages from COP30 to the G20 summit in Johannesburg. How are climate change, food, and debt connected? Rev. Dr Walker-Smith: Climate, food, and debt are connected because all of those issues are dealing with the root causes of injustice. This is the basic theological principle: we have the climate crisis in part because we haven't adequately addressed the inequities of justice that come even before climate has come to us. The issues of hunger and poverty follow the same theological premise. They are issues of injustice and inequities, and therefore communities are disproportionately affected by these ills - ills that can be addressed in hope. That is what the faith community offers: we can do this better; we can overcome these inequities. We need the will, and we need the plans. That's partly why COP30 and the upcoming G20 matter. At the table, without weapons, but having the voices of civil society coming together to discuss - as the Bible says - to reason together, to pray together, and to find a discerning way forward. What does the biblical vision of jubilee offer in response to the intersection of climate, hunger, and debt? Rev. Dr Walker-Smith: The Bible also speaks to this issue of repair - right? - repairers of the breach. It speaks to our campaign around taxation and illicit financial flows and other kinds of financial issues that are ancient and found in the scriptures. The Bible says there needs to be a period - this 50-year period - whereby those who have been most affected by injustices and inequities are actually reconciled with the communities that do have. So there is a biblical mandate for us to be at the table to address all of these issues that, unfortunately, have been with us since the beginning of time. After COP30 in Belém, you are heading to Johannesburg where the G20 is taking place. What is WCC's key call to the G20 leaders? Rev. Dr Walker-Smith: So, the G20 is addressing three major issues: sustainability, solidarity, and equality. These are the main rubrics of the G20 in South Africa. Under each one of those rubrics come some of the same issues that are being addressed here at the COP, because we know climate injustice and solidarity with groups that are disproportionately affected - Indigenous persons, Afro-descendants, women, children - are all under those rubrics, especially equality. What does equality look like? But more than this - not a charitable approach, but one of solidarity, walking with. We're on this pilgrimage at the World Council of Churches, aren't we? It's a pilgrimage that looks at reconciliation. We do that as companions - as companions. As we move forward, we want to increase this opportunity in multilateral spaces - not just in the faith community, but giving witness within the multilateral spaces where decisions are being made by policy leaders. Follow WCC's COP30 coverage at www.oikoumene.org/cop30   COP30 Photo Galleries Click here to join the WhatsApp channel with daily live update from Belém, Brazil "Our common home is one": Rev. Sônia Mota urges faith communities to unite for climate justice at COP30 (Interview, 18 November 2025) "To care for the Earth is to love the Creator": Indigenous leader at COP30 (Interview, 14 November 2025) "Less Can Be More:” Bishop Bedford-Strohm on metanoia and hope at COP30 (Interview, 13 November 2025) #COP30 Interviews: Rev. Dr Angelique Walker-Smith | How are climate change, food and debt connected? 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 356 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