The Adani coalmine will hasten a climate catastrophe. As faith leaders, we must act | Jonathan Keren-Black and Tejopala Rawls

A Buddhist leader has told environment minister Josh Frydenberg he would stand in front of machinery if digging started. All people of faith should join him

Earlier in August, six faith leaders met Australia’s environment and energy minister, Josh Frydenberg. Our group included Bishop Philip Huggins, the president of the National Council of Churches, a Uniting Church reverend, a rabbi, a Catholic nun and an ordained Buddhist. This is not the start of a joke, but a polite and serious exchange.

It might seem that religion has little to do with the environment or energy. Yet each of us at the meeting wanted to raise a matter that, when we consider the deepest values of our respective traditions, is of grave moral concern: the proposed Adani coalmine. We were there to ask the minister to revoke its environmental licence.

Related: Indian opposition calls for investigation into Adani over financial fraud allegations

Whichever way you look at it, this is the great moral issue of our time

Related: Why Adani's planned Carmichael coalmine matters to Australia – and the world