Over 5,000 people from across the UK gathered in Westminster on 9 July 2025, for The Climate Coalition’s Act Now, Change Forever mass lobby – one of the biggest moments for climate and nature this year, and the largest mass lobby of the decade! We hear from Karen Park from Horsham Eco Churches in West Sussex, who attended the mass lobby.
In the midst of a very busy day, Horsham MP John Milne took time out to chat with Horsham constituents in Westminster Hall. Horsham Eco Churches (made up of over a dozen churches actively engaged in Eco Church), the WI, MP Watch and Christian Climate Action were represented, together with independent residents. Our very positive conversations included supporting women, making polluters pay, the fallacies of carbon capture and storage, sustainable aviation fuel and honesty in politics.
We were very pleased to hear that our MP continues to support the Climate and Nature Bill and has already signed the Stop Rosebank Pledge.
Horsham Eco Churches representative, Karen Park, explained that Eco Churches are working towards Net Zero Carbon by 2030 and that Christians are actively divesting from fossil fuel companies and prioritising investments in climate solutions. More than half of the Horsham Churches Together churches have already registered with the Eco Church award scheme. Eight have achieved a bronze award, two churches have their silver awards and St Mark’s Church in Holbrook is progressing well towards a Gold Award.
Christians are calling on our MPs to deliver vital funding to communities hit hardest by climate change, here and around the world, to make polluters pay, to support proper taxation of fossil fuel companies, highly polluting activities and the super-rich, and to use this income to reverse aid cuts and fund climate adaptation and mitigation.
As 48% of homes in Horsham are poorly insulated, we discussed how upgrading these would save money and reduce carbon emissions. We also spoke about the increasing difficulties faced by Horsham residents during extreme heat, particularly those living in flats with windows on one side of the building only. Further information was provided in the Act Now Change Forever Christian campaign brief and How climate action will help people in Horsham with 1,833 poorly insulated homes, 56 neighbourhoods with unhealthy air and 8,806 hours of sewage spills in 2024.
Over 50 people attended Christian Climate Action’s prayer vigil outside the gates of Westminster. The nearby QEII Centre was the Lobby Hub for networking, talks and stalls including Operation Noah, Tearfund, Oxfam, Christian Aid, Green Christian, Quakers, Faith for the Climate, Eco Judaism, EcoSikh UK, Brahma Kumaris Environment Initiative, Co-op, National Trust, CPRE, WI, WaterAid, Greenpeace, Debt Justice, WWF and other wildlife groups.
Horsham Eco Churches stall at Sussex Green Hub at the United Reformed Church, Horsham on Saturday 26 July from 10am to 2.30pm will include a display of information gathered from many of these organisations.
The mass lobby was an amazing network of over 140 organisations, united in calling for action on climate and nature. Over 200 MPs met their constituents, calling on them to take action on the issues that matter most:
Fair support for communities hit hardest by the climate crisis
Warm homes and green jobs
Nature restored and protected for future generations
With huge thanks to Karen for taking the time to write up her experience of the mass lobby and for all that Horsham Eco Churches are doing together.
