RECONCILIATION and advocacy for peace were the World Council of Churches’ (WCC’s) imperatives in countries ranging from Bangladesh and Colombia to Sudan and Ukraine last year, it reports.

In its 2025 accounts, the WCC reports a deficit of £2.08 million for the year, attributed partly to costs associated with its Green Village sustainable development project in Geneva, and the costs of moving to a new office building.

Its advocacy work is powered by a “deep well of faith that inspires Christians to join hearts and hands with us to heal the world”, it says in its annual review.

In Sudan, ecumenical groups joined with the WCC to draw attention to the escalation of hostilities, which included an attack on a humanitarian aid convoy. In the Philippines, the WCC joined congregations to protest against government corruption; in South Korea, its general secretary, the Revd Professor Jerry Pillay, supported church leaders and communities in their struggle for reunification.

In a foreword to the annual review, Professor Pillay writes there has been “robust and consequential advocacy for justice, peace and reconciliation in Palestine and Israel, Ukraine, Sudan, Korea and a host of other conflict zones”.

The WCC also launched a decade of work for climate action in June. The work focuses on helping congregations to understand climate change as a question of justice, and prioritises supporting those who are most affected.

The WCC has also launched a project to teach partner Churches and organisations about the opportunities for climate litigation, to address the root causes of climate change and protect future generations. As catastrophic weather events devastated vulnerable communities, the WCC has highlighted how, in developing countries, debt obligations are an obstacle to basic human rights and effective responses to the climate emergency, it says.

The Revd Peter Adenekan, a WCC researcher, during the 58th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, said that many countries were “spending more on servicing debt than on lifesaving public services and responding to the climate emergency. In other words, obligations to repay debt are preventing governments from meeting people’s rights to health, education, and a clean environment.”