CCA has launched a fossil–fuel banking table to show which Church of England cathedrals still bank with fossil-fuel-funding banks and which say they plan to switch. We hope this will encourage more cathedrals to bank ethically.

Take part in our week of prayer

You can help encourage cathedrals to bank ethically by taking part in our Week of Prayer from Saturday 17th to Sunday 25th October 2026. 

We’re asking people to turn up at their local cathedral, hold up a sign in green, amber or red, and take a photo of themselves, to show whether the cathedral has any plans to switch to a greener bank. Placards will be available shortly for you to print off – please check back. Have a look at the banking table above to find out where your local cathedral stands on banking.

If you’re planning to visit a Cathedral, please let us know ahead of time so that we can invite the Dean and Members of Chapter to meet and pray with you. we may also be able to put you in touch with other people who would like to visit the same cathedral. Finally, we can also send you our Ethical Banking Vigil Guide and give you more information on the status of your Cathedral’s banking arrangements.

What have we done so far?

At least two or three times a year, for the last two years, CCA has been contacting Church of England cathedrals to ask for an update on their banking and we’ll continue to do this. This has now led to the creation of our traffic light table.

CCA members have also been holding peaceful prayer vigils outside cathedrals during Spring and Summer 2026 (at Ely, Hereford, Rochester and St Albans), speaking to Deans and members of Cathedral Chapters about their banking. 

Members of CCA have also written to their local cathedrals to urge them to bank ethically. You can still take part in our letter writing campaign.

How did we decide where to place a Cathedral in the banking table?

Green

CCA is aware of eight cathedrals which have made a pledge to switch to an ethical provider in the near future. These are Birmingham, Bristol, Chelmsford, Durham, Southwark, Sheffield, Truro and Worcester. Derby Cathedral already banks ethically with the Co-op bank. We are showing these nine cathedrals as green in the banking table. 

Amber

There are 20 cathedrals which have either corresponded with CCA by email, or talked to us directly about switching. They may still be looking for a suitable ethical bank, having internal discussions about ethical banking or dealing with internal finance systems prior to planning a switch. In addition, two cathedrals have already drained their fossil-fuel bank accounts – moving money into ethical savings, and leaving just enough for day-to-day payments. We are showing all these as amber in the banking table. 

Red

There are 15 cathedrals for which we are not aware of any plans to switch. This is either because the cathedrals have told us they plan to stay with a fossil-fuel-funding bank, or because they haven’t responded to our emails or letters asking for information. We are showing these as red in the banking table.

CCA will consider moving cathedrals between the categories if we are given new, up-to-date information about where they stand on ethical banking. We hope more cathedrals will move up the table to join the ambers and greens very soon!

Why are we doing this?

The main UK high street banks are still pouring billions into oil, gas and coal projects, despite making public climate change commitments. They are fuelling the climate crisis by making vast investments that the fossil fuel companies cannot afford to finance by themselves.

It is our responsibility as Christians to use our money wisely. Church institutions like cathedrals should lead the way by taking their money out of banks which are driving the destruction of God’s Creation and moving them to an ethical provider. This is something we are all called to do. We need to create a tipping point where the big banks ditch oil and gas companies and focus instead on financing renewable energy and powering the green transition we urgently need.

The UK’s five leading high street banks, Barclays, HSBC, NatWest, Santander and Lloyds poured $71.12bn (£53.05bn) into fossil fuels in 2025 alone, an increase on the $70.01bn (£52.23bn) they funded in 2024, and the $54.35bn (£40.55bn) they invested in 2023. 

Banks are back-peddling on their stated climate commitments, and engagement is not working; they are not listening to customers urging them to change.

According to the Banking on Climate Chaos 2026 Report, the five least ethical banks in the UK financed fossil fuel companies by the following climate-wrecking amounts in 2025:

• Barclays $34.1 billion 
• Santander $16.8bn
• HSBC $15.9bn
• NatWest $2.5bn
• Lloyds $1.7bn

The banking campaign group Bank.Green has looked into banks’ ’emissions intensity’, or ‘carbon footprint per invested dollar’ by comparing their disclosed financed emissions to their total loans and advances:

“Our analysis shows that fossil-fuel-funding UK banks typically fall within the range of 0.14 to 0.35 tCO2e (tonnes of Co2 emissions) per $1,000. In contrast, sustainable alternatives maintain a significantly lower profile, with intensities ranging from just 0.006 to 0.02 tCO2e per $1,000. 

“However, for some of the most carbon-intensive institutions, the resulting figures can appear suspiciously low. This is not surprising given the current regulatory landscape. The ‘comply or explain’ loophole makes it relatively easy for banks to underreport by simply not looking too hard.”

What else can you do?

• If you would like to explore fossil-fuel-free, or low-fossil-fuel-funding banks you can use Bank.Green’s online tool.
• If you would like to explore ethical banking options for your church, try the Bank Well campaign.
• If you would like to explore ethical bank options for your yourself, then Ethical Consumer is a paid-for-website.