Tuesday October 6th — save the morning
Join the multi-faith movement for a Fossil Fuel Treaty
On Tuesday October 6th, faith communities across Australia will come together for a major national moment of public action, standing with our Pacific neighbours.
We are planning highly visible gatherings and giant banners at significant places of worship and other locations in cities across Australia.
The more people who are there, the more powerful the message we can send to our Pacific neighbours, the media and political leaders.
Save the morning of Tuesday October 6th and plan to be there.
Australia has a unique responsibility. We are one of the world's largest exporters of fossil fuels, while also being a close neighbour and partner of Pacific nations already experiencing the devastating impacts of climate change.
Across Australia, people of faith are responding to a call from our Pacific neighbours to end the fossil fuel era.
Inspired by our shared values of compassion, justice, care for creation and love for our neighbours, we are building a national multi-faith movement that stands alongside our Pacific neighbours and supports a planned global phase-out of fossil fuels.
As Pacific leaders gather in Fiji this October for the Pre-COP Summit to press for stronger climate leadership, we have a chance to show them that Australia's faith communities are standing alongside them.
Stand in solidarity with our Pacific neighbours
There are three simple ways to add your voice.
1. Join us on Tuesday October 6th
Public gatherings will be held across Australia ahead of the Pre-COP Summit in Fiji.
Save the morning, find your local gathering and plan to be there.
Events are being held in:
- Cairns · details TBC shortly
- Brisbane - 10am at St John’s Anglican Cathedral, 373 Ann St, Brisbane City
- Sydney · 10am at Leigh Memorial Uniting Church, 119 Macquarie St, Parramatta
- Melbourne · details TBC shortly
- Adelaide · 9:15am Pilgrim Uniting Church, 12 Flinders St, Adelaide
- Perth details TBC shortly
We're also working to establish actions in Canberra, Newcastle and other locations.
Times and locations will be added as they are confirmed.
2. Hold the Pre-COP Summit in prayer and reflection
Prayer and reflection — 2–4 October
The 4th of October is the Feast Day of St Francis of Assisi, the final day of the Christian Season of Creation, and the day before the Pre-COP climate summit begins in Fiji.
On that day, the Pacific Conference of Churches will hold a service in Fiji as part of the opening of the Pre-COP.
We are encouraging people across Australia to mark this important moment through prayer, meditation, reflection or another appropriate spiritual practice, holding our Pacific neighbours and the Pre-COP in our hearts.
For Christians, this will be part of the Christian Season of Creation and the Feast of St Francis. People of other faiths and spiritual traditions will be invited to mark the moment in ways appropriate to their own traditions in the days leading up to 4 October — for example, people in the Jewish community on Saturday 3 October and Muslims on Friday 2 October.
More details and suggestions for each tradition will be coming soon.
3. Sign the international multifaith Fossil Fuel Treaty petition
There are two versions — sign as an individual or faith leader, or sign on behalf of your institution.
If you're able to bring this to your community or leadership team, an institutional signature carries particular weight: showing that entire communities, not just individuals, stand behind this call.
→ Sign as an individual or faith leader
→ Sign on behalf of your institution
More than a petition
This is more than a public statement.
The international multifaith petition is one of the campaign's principal organising tools.
Every signature begins a conversation.
Every conversation helps more people understand why a planned transition away from fossil fuels matters.
Every conversation strengthens relationships within our faith communities.
Every conversation invites someone new into the movement.
Our goal is not simply to collect signatures. Our goal is to build Australia's faith climate movement.
And the petition will continue well beyond October 6th as we build a constituency strong enough to make our message heard by political leaders.
Why a Fossil Fuel Treaty?
The world has agreed that we need to tackle climate change — but there is still no international agreement specifically designed to manage a planned and fair transition away from coal, oil and gas.
The Paris Agreement was a historic step forward, but it does not provide a framework for coordinating the global phase-out of fossil fuels or supporting countries and communities through that transition.
A Fossil Fuel Treaty would help fill that gap: bringing countries together to plan the transition away from fossil fuels, support those most affected, and ensure that the transition is fair.
The idea originated in the Pacific, particularly through the leadership of Vanuatu and Tuvalu, and Pacific nations continue to call for stronger international action.
The call is also supported by a growing international movement. Faith communities and organisations around the world have added their voices, including GreenFaith, the World Council of Churches, the Laudato Si' Movement, Ummah for Earth and Soka Gakkai. The Vatican has also endorsed the idea of a Fossil Fuel Treaty.
As countries increasingly confront the question of how to move beyond fossil fuels, Australia's faith communities have an opportunity to stand with our Pacific neighbours and add our voices to this growing global movement.
Help make this massive
Signing is just the beginning. A movement grows when it multiplies, and here's how you can help carry it further.
Bring others on October 6th
Invite friends, family and your wider faith community to join you at a public gathering on Tuesday 6 October.
We've created resources to help you promote this. The more people standing together, the stronger our message.
→ Download gathering resources (adding more as locations and times are confirmed)
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Slide to promote the events at your faith community gathering (coming soon)
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A4 Posters (more locations coming soon)
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Social media posts and tiles (location specific) for Instagram and Facebook: (more locations coming soon)
Invite others to pray in the days before October 6th
Share the prayers and reflections with your own faith community, small group or network, and encourage others to hold the Pre-COP Summit in prayer, meditation or reflection in ways appropriate to their tradition.
Resources coming soon.
Encourage others to sign
Ask people in your networks — individuals, faith leaders or institutions — to sign the petition.
It's also a great way to start the conversation about the Tuesday October 6th gatherings. You can:
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have conversations with people around you;
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think of anyone you know with a wider platform or influence;
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share the campaign through your faith community's newsletters, bulletins and social media.
→ Sign-up sheet to print out
→ A printable version of the petition
→ Faith-leader invitation and this overview for faith leaders
Planning something in your faith community?
Tell us what you're doing — whether you're inviting people to sign the petition, including prayer or reflection, attending or helping organise a public event on 6 October, hosting a conversation, sharing the campaign through your networks or encouraging another faith community to become involved.
→ Tell us what you're planning
Get involved locally
You don't have to build this campaign alone. Join your local ARRCC group to connect with others, plan actions and help build the movement in your community.
Faith Communities Standing Together
Congregations, schools, religious orders, charities, faith organisations and national bodies have already signed the international multifaith petition.
Together they are helping build Australia's multi-faith movement for a Fossil Fuel Treaty.
Already here in Australia these faith organisations have signed up.
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Bayside Church Melbourne, Australia
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Catholic Justice and Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of Brisbane
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Catholic Religious Australia
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Christian Life Community (CLC) Australia
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Christians for Peace Newcastle Australia
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City Baptist Church, Australia
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Coast and City Sangha, Australia
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Columban Centre for Christian-Muslim Relations
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Common Grace
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Edmund Rice Centre
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Environmental Action Group of the Uniting Church in South Australia
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Golden Wattle Sangha, Australia
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Good Shepherd Sisters, Province of Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand
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Jesuit and Ignatian Spirituality Australia (JISA)
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Jewish Spirituality Australia
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Jewish Sustainability Initiative (JewSi), Australia
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Josephite Justice Network, Australia
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Laudato Si' Movement, Brisbane Chapter
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Loreto Sisters Australia - South East Asia
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Mary MacKillop Precinct, Kensington SA, Australia
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Mary Mother of the Church Catholic Parish Ivanhoe, Australia
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Catholic Diocese of Parramatta
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Missionary Society of St Columban, Australia
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OLR Caloundra LSC4C Group
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Presentation Sisters of WA, Australia
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Religions for Peace Australia
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Shepparton Interfaith Network, Australia
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Sisters of Mercy Parramatta, Australia
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Society of the Divine Word - Australia Province
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Sydney Zen Centre, Australia
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The Anglican Parish of Aspley Albany Creek, Australia
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Uniting Church in Australia, Synod of Victoria and Tasmania
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Uniting Church Western Australia
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Victor/Goolwa Catholic Parish
Check out the international list here.
Why Faith Communities?
Climate change is not only an environmental issue.
It is also a moral issue.
Every major faith tradition teaches compassion, justice, care for creation and responsibility towards future generations.
Faith communities are deeply woven into Australian society through places of worship, schools, charities and community organisations.
Together we have an extraordinary opportunity to help create the public support political leaders need to act with courage.
What We're Building Together
This movement is about much more than a series of events.
Together we are building:
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stronger relationships across Australia's diverse faith communities;
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deeper partnerships with Pacific communities;
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authentic partnerships with First Nations faith leaders as the movement develops;
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thousands of trusted climate conversations;
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greater confidence to speak about climate as a moral issue;
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new local leaders and organisers; and
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a larger, stronger and better-connected faith climate movement.
Over the coming months there will be many opportunities to pray, learn, organise and take public action together.
The action on 6 October is one important moment in that journey — not the end of it.
This Momentum Continues
Our work calling for a Fossil Fuel Treaty doesn't end on 6 October.
We will continue building the constituency of people, faith leaders and faith communities who are prepared to stand with our Pacific neighbours and call for a planned, fair phase-out of fossil fuels.
Whether you're an individual, congregation, school, religious order or national faith organisation, there is a place for you in this movement.
→ Stay connected with campaign updates
Thank you for standing with our Pacific neighbours.
