Ecumenical Decade of Climate Justice Action
Pray & worship
Put creation at the heart of worship: liturgies, hymns and the Season of Creation.
Act together
Join fasts, pilgrimages and campaigns with churches worldwide.
Connect the crisis
Understand how climate connects with poverty, race, gender, peace and health.
Transform systems
Advocate for fair policy, just transitions and climate justice in law.
Equip your church
Toolkits, training and "climate chaplains" to get your community started.
Support solutions
Back local and Indigenous-led projects: renewable energy, agro-ecology and resilience.
WCC to join Season of Creation prayer amid climate extremes
26 August 2026Faith groups carry a grants-not-loans demand toward COP31
09 September 2026
A spiritual crisis. A decisive moment.
The climate emergency isn't only environmental. It's a call to faith and discipleship. For ten years, churches worldwide are choosing to act together: in repentance, in hope, and in justice for those who suffer most.
Ecological metanoia means a turning of heart and mind: repenting of the habits, economies, and powers that harm creation, and letting that change reshape how we live, worship, and act together.
Scripture does not place us above creation but within it: the Earth is the Lord's, we are kin to all that lives, and our wellbeing and its wellbeing cannot be separated.
"The Earth is the Lord's and all that is in it."
PSALM 24:1
"Bear fruit worthy of repentance."
MATTHEW 3:8
"But the Earth will be desolate because of its inhabitants, for the fruit of their doings."
MICAH 7:13
21 June 2025, Johannesburg, South Africa: People undertake a collective closing act of unity and commitment to urgent climate action, at the conclusion of a Pilgrimage Encounter with Creation – including the launch of an Ecumenical Decade of Climate Justice Action – at the 2025 Central Committee meeting of the World Council of Churches taking place in Johannesburg (South Africa) from 18 to 24 June 2025 on the theme ’Pilgrimage of Justice, Reconciliation, and Unity’.
We're close to tipping points we can't undo. Indigenous Peoples, people living in poverty, and young people are hit hardest by climate change, despite contributing least to it. This Decade puts their leadership first.
- Image
Participants of the event explored the new WCC resorce "Hope for Children Through Climate Justice: Legal Tools to Hold Financiers Accountable”.
Ivars Kupcis/WCC - Image
6 November 2021, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom: A climate activist carries a sign reading 'There is no climate justice without debt justice' as tens of thousands of people - including environmental groups, children, youth, charities, climate activists, trade unionists and indigenous people - march through Glasgow city centre during the United Nations climate change conference COP26.
Albin Hillert/Life on Earth Pictures - Image
30 November 2023, Dubai, United Arab Emirates: World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay speaks as people gather for a so-called Talanoa dialogue at the (Anglican) Christ Church Jebel Ali in Dubai, in connection with the United Nations climate summit COP28.
LWF/Albin Hillert
The Ecumenical Decade sits within the WCC's Living Planet programme: work on water, food, energy, climate litigation, and ecological justice that began long before 2025. For these ten years, that wider work gathers under the Decade's umbrella as a season of shared commitment and celebration. It is part of a much longer journey: the WCC fellowship has advocated for climate and economic justice for generations, and the Decade carries that witness forward.
Climate and biodiversity: two crises, one calling
In 2026, churches confront climate breakdown and species loss together, not as distant issues, but as urgent tests of faith. This hits hardest where justice is already scarce: among people living in poverty, Indigenous Peoples, island nations, subsistence farmers, and the species disappearing around them.
"God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good."
GENESIS 1:31
KEY FOCUS AREAS
Learning from Indigenous wisdom and traditions of reciprocity. Ecological reparations through climate finance, fossil fuel divestment, and loss-and-damage support. Nature-based solutions rooted in community rights, not corporate greenwashing. And systemic change confronting unjust economies, through prayer, advocacy, and direct action.
2026 ACTIVITIES
Regional consultations gather bishops, lay leaders, and educators from every continent. The first Global Climate Fast anchors Lent in penitence and solidarity. Churches mark the UN International Day for Biological Diversity on 22 May, and take part in the Season of Creation from 1 September to 4 October.
- Global Systemic Carbon Fast
- Season of Creation
- Biodiversity Day
- CBD COP17, Yerevan, Armenia
- UNFCCC COP31, Antalya, Turkey
- CCD COP17, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
WHAT 2026 WILL DELIVER
A global theological statement on climate and biodiversity justice. Regional frameworks tailored to local contexts. Worship resources, educational tools and advocacy materials for congregations. Faith-based submissions to UN processes. A network of regional ambassadors sustaining the Decade's work.
Ten years, ten themes
The Decade opened with the WCC executive committee statement on renewing commitment to the integrity of creation, regional launch events and the first Climate Justice Toolkit. Browse the 2025 archive.
This year links the climate and biodiversity crises: protecting forests, water and land alongside emissions, led by Indigenous Peoples and the communities most affected. Resources, liturgies and advocacy briefings are on this page.
The theme for 2027 will be set by the WCC executive committee, shaped by proposals from member churches and regional ecumenical organisations.
The theme for 2028 will be set by the WCC executive committee, shaped by proposals from member churches and regional ecumenical organisations.
The theme for 2029 will be set by the WCC executive committee, shaped by proposals from member churches and regional ecumenical organisations.
A mid-Decade review year: the theme will be set alongside a stocktake of what churches have achieved in the first five years.
The theme for 2031 will be set by the WCC executive committee, shaped by proposals from member churches and regional ecumenical organisations.
The theme for 2032 will be set by the WCC executive committee, shaped by proposals from member churches and regional ecumenical organisations.
The theme for 2033 will be set by the WCC executive committee, shaped by proposals from member churches and regional ecumenical organisations.
The closing year of the Decade: a theme of accountability and celebration, gathering ten years of church action for climate justice.
News, features, and interviews from churches living out the Ecumenical Decade of Climate Justice Action.
Search for stories:
WCC to join Season of Creation prayer amid climate extremes
26 August 2026Faith groups carry a grants-not-loans demand toward COP31
09 September 2026Season of Creation 2026 opens with living water and a new feast
03 September 2026WCC leaves COP17 in Ulaanbaatar with the same land question
03 September 2026WCC leads climate justice workshops at ECEN Assembly
03 September 2026Patriarch Bartholomew calls for global ecological solidarity
01 September 2026Churches to tackle war economies at Panama consultation
27 August 2026GEM School shows 21 leaders that another economy is possible
27 August 2026WCC tells COP17 that land restoration needs faith partners
26 August 2026What 25 West Africans took home from the World Social Forum
20 August 2026GEM School to gather church leaders on debt and tax justice
13 August 2026
Six pathways. Real, concrete steps.
Open a pathway to see five things your church can do this month, with the tools to help.
- Use the Season of Creation liturgy pack for four Sundays
- Add a creation-care prayer to weekly intercessions
- Sing one of the Decade's commissioned hymns
- Hold an outdoor blessing-of-creation service
- Light a candle each week for a community facing climate loss
- Host a study session on climate & poverty using the WCC discussion guide
- Invite a speaker from a community most affected by climate change to share their story
- Watch and discuss the Decade’s short films as a small group
- Map how climate change touches gender, race and money in your context
- Share one story from the Decade in your newsletter this month
- Train a volunteer as your church’s “climate chaplain”
- Run the Climate Justice Toolkit workshop with your council
- Set up a creation-care team with clear roles
- Audit your building for energy and water use
- Join a regional training cohort for congregational leaders
- Join the Global Climate Justice Fast during Lent
- Take part in a Season of Creation pilgrimage
- Organise a local climate justice hearing
- Partner with an interfaith group on a joint action
- Fast one day a week alongside your congregation
- Sign your church onto the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty campaign
- Write to your representative on climate finance
- Support a climate litigation case with prayer and funds
- Back calls for ecocide to be recognised in law
- Submit a church statement to a UN climate process
- Review your church investments against a fossil-fuel screen
- Fund a renewable-energy project in a partner community
- Support an Indigenous-led land protection project
- Contribute to a climate solidarity fund
- Redirect one collection a year to communities most affected by climate change
