Speaking at York Minster, Dr Williams said that God gave humans the “terrible freedom” to do “immeasurable damage” to themselves, not only as individuals but also as a race of people.
He added, "I think that to suggest that God might intervene to protect us from the corporate folly of our practices is as unchristian and unbiblical as to suggest that he protects us from the results of our individual folly or sin.
"God's faithfulness stands, assuring us that even in the most appalling disaster love will not let us go - but it will not be a safety net that guarantees a happy ending in this world."
Dr Williams added that unless people had a change of heart, humanity could face being responsible for its own destruction, despite the love of God.
“In the doomsday scenarios we are so often invited to contemplate, the ultimate tragedy is that a material world capable of being a manifestation in human hands of divine love is left to itself, as humanity is gradually choked, drowned or starved by its own stupidity.”
The Archbishop also said that ecological issues were issues of justice where decision makers in wealthy countries had a responsibility to those affected by climate change in poorer countries and to subsequent generations.
