The Church of England has agreed to help fund a new European Union lobbying drive from a €10 trillion investor group formed to press governments on climate change, as the green investment movement limbers up for December's UN climate summit in Paris.

The Church, which controls a £9 billion investment portfolio, said yesterday it would sell out of its £12 million holdings in companies involved in coal and tar sands, as part of a new investment policy aimed at combating climate change.