Churches go green by shedding fossil fuel holdings

But churches can lend a powerful moral sway to the movement, said Marion Maddox, an expert in religion and politics at Macquarie University in Australia.

“The amount of money we’re talking about isn’t going to bankrupt any fossil fuel companies,” Dr. Maddox said. Divestment by the churches, however, “has the effect of getting people to stop and think, ‘Is this respectable to be involved with?’ ”

Religious institutions were in the vanguard of the movement to divest themselves of holdings in apartheid-riven South Africa a few decades ago, according to a recent study of divestment by Oxford academics. Now, climate change has come into the spotlight as an issue poised to affect some of the world’s poorest communities, and groups from all faiths have pushed for action. But it is youthful and idealistic students who have largely taken the lead in urging the removal of fossil fuel investments from endowments. Last week, the University of Glasgow said it had become the first British university to announce plans for full divestment. Philanthropies and local governments have also joined the movement.