The World Council of Churches, which comprises 345 member churches including the Church of England but not the Catholic church, made the decision which was hailed by a climate change campaigners and environmentalists as a “major victory”
They have been calling on companies and financial institutions such as pension funds, banks universities and local governments to divest from coal, oil and gas.
In an article for The Guardian, Archbishop Desmond Tutu said that “people of conscience need to break their ties with corporations financing the injustice of climate change” and even events sponsored by fossil fuel companies could be boycotted.