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Seidel noted that, for many children worldwide, churches are a shelter, a safe haven, a guiding light in challenging times. “So, how can churches best use their influence to improve children’s lives?” she asked.
She outlined how the WCC Churches’ Commitments to Children programme supports churches in 120 countries with tools and know-how to accelerate behavioural change towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions for and with children and young people.
“Many teenagers engaged in the WCC’s Churches’ Commitments to Children expressed dismay over banks and pension funds continuing to finance fossil fuels, which accelerate global warming,” Seidel explained. “Indeed, the 2026 Banking on Climate Chaos Report shows that fossil fuel financing from the world’s 65 largest banks has reached USD $8.7 trillion since the adoption of the Paris Agreement.”
Often our money is being used to fund activities we would never dream of supporting directly: for example carbon bombs. “A carbon bomb is a fossil fuel extraction project, such as a coal mine, that can cause over a gigatonne of CO2 emissions during its lifetime,” said Seidel. “There are 425 of these carbon bombs worldwide.”
For the planet to remain habitable, CO2 emissions must be halved by 2030.
“We need to reassure children that adults are doing all they can to halt the life-threatening increase of CO2 emissions,” she said. “Therefore we led research among WCC member churches with experts who use one of the most powerful levers for the acceleration of climate solutions: climate-responsible banking.”
More and more churches are therefore asking their financial service providers for transparency on how their investments are managed.
“In the current absence of effective legal frameworks prohibiting new carbon bombs, the most powerful alternative and source of hope for children’s future comes from asset owners,” said Seidel. “The climate crisis is a children’s crisis. And it is a fossil fuel crisis.”
She introduced the “Save Children’s Lives – Climate-Responsible Banking Survival Guide” to conference participants. “Many people in decision-making seats are not yet aware how much their assets contribute to global warming,” she said. “Others are victims of disinformation on global warming.”
Seidel urged churches and individuals to redirect their assets into sectors accelerating climate solutions, such as renewable energies.
“Every church, individual, institution, and business can help to defuse carbon bombs through their banking,” she said. “Your faith plays a crucial role to ensure that we meet the small window of time to halt CO2 emissions.”
Learn more about Churches’ Commitments to Children and Climate-Responsible Banking
World Council of Churches – We Care About Children - The Theopopettes
