Why are churches and faith-based investors increasingly focused on climate accountability in banking? Harper: Because there comes a point where silence becomes complicity. Climate change is no longer a future risk discussed in conference halls and annual reports. It is already reshaping lives. Communities are losing homes to floods, facing failed harvests, enduring extreme heat, and living through growing instability. And as ever, the poorest suffer first and suffer most. Banks are not bystanders to this reality. Modern finance helps decide what is built, what expands, and what the future economy looks like. Capital is not neutral. For years, large financial institutions have spoken the language of climate responsibility. They have published pathways, alliances, targets, and commitments. Yet many continue to finance fossil fuel expansion that appears fundamentally at odds with the climate ambitions they publicly endorse. That contradiction matters morally. There is a powerful moment in the Gospels where Jesus enters the temple and overturns the tables of the money changers. It is often misunderstood as anger about commerce itself. It was not. It was about what happens when systems built to serve life, justice, and worship instead become systems that obscure responsibility and protect power. I think many people increasingly feel that same frustration today. There is a growing sense that parts of the financial system have become extraordinarily sophisticated at talking about responsibility while remaining structurally resistant to meaningful change. Why should this matter to faith investors? Harper: Because the church cannot preach justice while remaining indifferent to the systems that undermine it. The Methodist tradition, to which I belong, has always insisted faith must have practical consequences in public life. John Wesley spoke repeatedly about wealth, exploitation, and moral responsibility. He understood that economics is never just economics because financial systems always shape human lives. Climate change is not merely an environmental issue. It is about poverty, displacement, hunger, inequality, and the inheritance we leave future generations. As faith investors, we therefore have a responsibility to ask whether the institutions we invest in are helping move the world toward a more just and sustainable future, or helping delay the changes science and morality increasingly demand. And frankly, there are moments where stewardship requires more than polite concern. Some would argue banks are simply responding to market realities and energy demand. How do you respond? Harper: Of course the transition is complicated. No credible person believes society switches off fossil fuels overnight. But complexity cannot become a permanent justification for contradiction. The concern is not simply that banks finance energy. The concern is whether institutions are saying one thing publicly while financing another reality privately. If a bank presents itself as climate aligned while continuing to support expansion strategies incompatible with internationally recognised climate goals, then investors have every right to ask serious questions about integrity, governance, and accountability. The financial sector has become very comfortable with the language of sustainability. The real test is whether that language still means something when genuine commercial interests are at stake. Why is now the time to act? Harper: Because the era of endless patience is running out. For years, many investors pursued quiet engagement behind closed doors. Questions were asked. Meetings were held. Assurances were given. Yet globally, emissions continue rising and fossil fuel expansion continues at a pace deeply difficult to reconcile with climate science. At some point, stewardship has to move beyond simply documenting concern. There is a danger that sustainable finance becomes a kind of moral theatre - sophisticated language, carefully managed disclosures, and polished commitments that create the appearance of progress while underlying behaviours change too slowly. Faith investors have a particular responsibility to challenge that. The prophets in scripture were rarely welcomed because they disrupted comfortable narratives. They insisted people confront the gap between what they claimed to believe and how they actually lived. In many ways, this is not so different. What are you hoping to achieve? Harper: Accountability. Clarity. Honesty. We want serious examination of whether climate commitments are genuinely reflected in financing decisions, governance structures, and institutional behaviour. But more broadly, we want to challenge the assumption that markets can indefinitely separate profit from moral consequence. One of the great temptations in finance is to believe responsibility becomes diluted as it moves through systems, committees, and balance sheets. That no individual institution is truly accountable because responsibility is dispersed across the market. But the climate crisis is exposing the limits of that thinking. The decisions made inside financial institutions today will shape the conditions under which millions of people live tomorrow. That should weigh heavily on all of us. Finally, what would you say to other investors? Harper: That stewardship means very little if it never costs anything. If investors are only willing to speak when it is comfortable, reputationally safe or commercially convenient, then the market will continue mistaking public relations for accountability. This moment requires moral courage from investors, regulators, civil society, and financial institutions themselves. Because ultimately this is not simply about climate targets or disclosure frameworks. It is about what kind of economic system we are building and whether human dignity, justice, and the integrity of creation genuinely sit within it—or merely appear in the marketing materials. Learn more about the Churches’ Commitments to Children and Climate-Responsible Banking | 
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