Stop Fuelling the Fire

An interview with Hannah Abban

Hannah Abban, Leader of Stop Fuelling the Fire

‘By funding fossil fuels abroad, we are only exacerbating the injustice already presently being suffered by the global South due to climate change,’ says Hannah Abban, leader of the fledgeling environmental group Stop Fuelling the Fire. ‘We believe our country could be doing better on this front by divesting the funds to more sustainable alternatives like renewable energy.’ Stop Fuelling the Fire is a group of 25 young Christians, scattered across the UK, who have made it their mission to urge the British Government to stop funding fossil fuel extraction overseas. The group was born out of an idea Hannah had late last year. ‘It was around the time that Greta Thunberg had led the school walkouts,’ Hannah recalls. ‘I was working at an advertising agency at the time, and the agency teamed up with several others to make a statement against climate change. Suddenly all these corporations were getting on the bandwagon. I decided that it was up to us Christians to keep the momentum going and make sure that we actually saw some fruit.’ Hannah is a member of the campaign’s press and parliamentary team. ‘We don’t really have any heads in team, to be honest,’ she explains. ‘But my brief is to engage with the media and local MPs.’ Hannah studied philosophy and politics at the University of York and graduated in 2018, after which she worked for USPG’s sister organisation, SPCK Publishing. ‘I've volunteered for charities in one capacity or other since I was in secondary school,’ she says. ‘I've always been interested in social change. My current day job is in PR and I thought that starting this campaign would be a great way to reconcile my faith with the change I want to see in the world.' ‘We definitely want to engage churches in this because we all belong to a church. We believe that churches are a key instrument to spreading the message of climate justice. It’s linked to the gospel and to our call as Christians to be champions of justice.’ Trying to organise a climate change campaign in the midst of a pandemic has been challenging, to say the least. ‘It has been difficult,’ Hannah says. ‘Getting everyone on the same page has been hard because people have been affected by the pandemic in different ways and you have to think of everyone's welfare. Some of us are working and some are furloughed, so availability varies. Zoom has been great for updating everyone and checking on the progress of the different teams. ‘Also, it does feel like the message of climate change - which was so loud last year - has got lost a bit. But it remains a problem, and we should definitely not lose sight of trying to figure out solutions to combat it.’ The group is currently petitioning the Prime Minister to end the use of UK Export finance to fund fossil fuel projects overseas. To add your signature to the petition, go to https://tinyurl.com/stopfuelling ■