The climate crisis is not just a physical reality, but is also an existential challenge. A doctoral thesis in theology presents a new picture of climate activists: those who are motivated by their faith and who believe that religious faith and suffering in the world cannot be separated. The study is based on interviews with activists in Sweden and South Africa, from pastors and priests to grassroots activists, churchwardens, lobbyists and climate strikers.
Doctoral thesis
Despite global scientific consensus that rapid and far-reaching societal changes are needed to address the climate crisis, solutions are slow to come in the political and societal arenas. The gap between insight and action has caused increasing numbers of researchers to take an interest in factors other than the technical and scientific. What role do world views, value systems, norms and cultural ideas have to play in ongoing climate efforts?
An existential challenge
“The climate crisis is not just a physical reality, but is also an existential challenge,” says Sofia Oreland. “How are people to live, hope and act in times that are marked by the consequences of climate change? In my research on climate activists, I see that the combination of climate science and religious faith can be particularly fruitful for them. The science gives knowledge about the extent of the crisis, while faith contributes meaning, hope for the future and motivation to act.”
In a new doctoral thesis, Oreland has explored the constructive and motivating role that religious faith can play in the climate transition and in managing consequences of the climate crisis that are already with us.
Spirituality gives hope and motivation
The thesis is based on qualitative interviews with a total of 21 faith-based climate activists in Sweden and South Africa. They range from pastors and priests to grassroots activists, churchwardens, lobbyists and climate strikers. Christian activists are in the majority, but in the South African context, Muslims and interreligious activists have also been interviewed, as well as activists belonging to the Khoisan indigenous people. The participants have been chosen because of their public advocacy of more vigorous climate policies, and because of the way they have reflected on the relationship between their climate activism and their religious faith.
The thesis shows how religious faith can complement climate science. While the science often gives rise to climate anxiety and worry about the future, spirituality and faith offer hope, meaning and motivation for continued action.
Gap between standpoints and practical opportunities
Several of the Swedish activists in the study are members of the Church of Sweden or the Uniting Church in Sweden (Equmeniakyrkan), for example. They perceive a gap between the churches’ theological standpoints on the climate issue and the possibility of pursuing climate action in their congregation. This makes it easier to pursue a commitment to climate issues in secular networks than in Christian congregations. Climate activism becomes an important arena for finding a new direction that creates opportunities for a more sustainable life, not just in terms of lifestyle choices but also in relation to nature, other people and God. Here faith becomes a key resource for daring to change direction.
As Oreland describes it, the South African activists have more extensive access to historical and organisational resources. In particular, the inheritance from faith-based anti-apartheid activism offers well-trodden paths that current climate activists can follow. Church networks and environmental organisations also provide better opportunities for political advocacy in the South African context.
Religious faith and suffering in the world are bound up together
The thesis shows that it is above all the experience of a spiritual relationship with God, other people, nature and past generations that gives strength and direction to the climate commitment. A sense of relationship is more important than specific theological doctrines. Having said that, the activists are united by a central theological imperative: religious faith and suffering in the world cannot be separated. Being a believer therefore also means being committed to climate issues.
“The activists stand on a foundation of climate science, but it is their religious faith that offers both existential and practical tools in the age of climate crisis: hope beyond the often gloomy forecasts of the science, narratives of meaning and responsibility that make it possible to continue to act despite fear and uncertainty,” says Oreland.
Case study
People
Pathfinding amid climate catastrophe: Faith-based activists in South Africa and Sweden
13-Feb-2026