We are taking forward our ethical banking campaign this spring with a series of vigils planned outside Church of England cathedrals. Anyone can join the campaign by holding a prayer vigil outside a cathedral or church building in their area. 

Over the Spring and early Summer 2026, our CCA local groups will be holding vigils outside Church of England cathedrals. Contact your local group to find out if one is happening near you, or email christianclimateaction@gmail.com if you’d like help with planning your own vigil.

What happened in 2025

Christian Climate Action (CCA) launched a campaign in 2025 calling on Church of England dioceses and cathedrals to stop banking with fossil fuel funding banks. We held vigils outside 11 cathedrals and church buildings and spoke to cathedral deans, bishops and diocesan officers, urging them to ditch major high street banks including Barclays, HSBC, NatWest, Santander and Lloyds, and switch to an ethical provider.

• 🎉Progress is being made with six cathedrals telling CCA they are switching
• 🎉Derby Cathedral already banks with the Co-op, an ethical bank, and Sheffield Diocese banks with Yorkshire Bank (now Virgin) which has little fossil fuel exposure
• ➡️Several more cathedrals tell us they are reviewing their financial arrangements – so we want to encourage them to push ahead with switching this year!

Get involved in 2026

• 📄There is an updated Ethical Banking Action Guide for 2026 which describes how to hold a vigil
• 📄We can provide flyers to hand out, and a banking banner to hold
• ✍🏽The Guide also helps with writing a letter to your cathedral dean or financial officer explaining why you are unhappy with their banking arrangements

We’re focussing the campaign on the Church of England, as our national church, but you can also choose to target Catholic or other denominations. 

Why are we doing this?

Moving away from fossil fuel banks is one of the biggest actions an organisation can take on the Climate Emergency. According to Mothertree, keeping £10,000 in a Barclays bank account creates 2.38 tonnes CO2 per year – the same as flying London to Rome and back 12 times, or driving 5,881 miles. This can be lowered to 0.328 tonnes by switching to the Co-op.

Shockingly, major banks are funding fossil fuel expansion 50 times more than oil, gas and coal companies themselves. 

Although organisations like the Church of England have been urging banks to stop it is not working. Barclays’ fossil fuel investments actually rose by $11.2bn to $35.4bn in 2024, HSBC’s increased by $3.3bn to $16.2bn, Santander’s rose by $2.8bn to $17.3bn, and NatWest’s rose by $0.6bn to $2.7bn.

We want our national Church to lead by example. Switching to an ethical bank, a cathedral or diocese makes a statement that they will not continue to support the destruction of God’s Creation. To find out more about why ethical banking is important, and ways you can get involved, read our Ethical Banking Action Guide.