CLIMATE ONE: Faith in Climate Progress

Dec 5, 2025

Guest

Iyad Abumoghli

Guest

Rabbi Jennie Rosenn

Guest

Celia Deane-Drummond

Celia Deane-Drummond, a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, discusses the legacy of Pope Francis’s encyclical on climate action. Rabbi Jennie Rosenn, founder of Dayenu, shares how Jewish ethics drive climate justice efforts and highlights the importance of grassroots mobilization. Iyad Abumoghli, founder of the Faith for Earth Coalition, emphasizes the role of faith in promoting sustainability through principles from the Quran. Together, they explore how religious communities can lead in addressing climate challenges and inspire meaningful action.

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INSIGHT

Climate As Moral And Spiritual Crisis

Pope Francis framed climate change as an ethical and spiritual crisis, not just a technical problem.
Laudato Si' links ecological harm to social injustice and calls for an 'ecological conversion.'

INSIGHT

Religious Texts Can Shift Global Talks

Laudato Si' influenced policy conversations around COP21 and elevated Indigenous voices.
The encyclical pushed recognition of alternative knowledge systems and justice for the Global South.

ADVICE

Embed Ethics To Drive Lasting Change

Integrate theology and ethics into climate policy to motivate behavioral change.
Encourage 'ecological conversion' so communities adopt creation care as core identity, not optional policy.

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It’s been ten years since Pope Francis issued his landmark encyclical on climate and caring for our common home, Laudato Si’. With the election of the new Pope Leo XIV, many are hopeful he will follow in Francis' path.

Three-quarters of the global population follow a major religion. And the Catholic Church is far from alone among religious institutions in its directives to care for creation. A few years after Laudato Si, Muslim leaders issued Al-Mizan, which restates principles from the Quran on protecting nature in terms of meeting current challenges. Organizations like Interfaith Power and Light, the Jewish group Dayenu, the Hindu Bhumi Project, and the Buddhist Climate Action Network demonstrate the universality of creation care as central to religions worldwide.

Especially at a time when governments are failing to take meaningful action on climate progress, can faith traditions provide new paths forward?

Guests:

Celia Deane-Drummond, Director, Laudato Si' Research Institute; Senior Research Fellow in Theology at Campion Hall, University of Oxford

Rabbi Jennie Rosenn, Founder & CEO, Dayenu

Iyad Abumoghli, Founder, Former Director, Faith for Earth Coalition, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); Founder and Chair, Al-Mizan

For show notes and related links, visit ⁠ClimateOne.org⁠.

Highlights:

00:00 – Intro

00:10 – Quick update on COP30 conclusions

03:40 – Celia Deane-Drummond explains importance of Laudato Si’

08:15 – Will Pope Leo continue Pope Leo’s environmental legacy?

11:00 – Role of religion and ethics in climate conversations

17:45 – Rabbi Jennie Rosenn explains Jewish concept of Dayenu

20:30 – What religious leaders can do that political leaders can’t

26:30 – Rosenn on deregulatory agenda of EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin

37:45 – Iyad Abumoghli on how religion shapes human actions

40:30 – Al-Mizan’s origins and approach

51:00 – Faith and political leaders meeting to discuss the role of faith and values in facing climate change and climate justice

54:40 – Climate One More Thing

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