No matter how large or small your church is there is something we can all do to play our part towards being more sustainable and reach our climate goals. General Synod voted in February 2020 for the whole of the Church of England to achieve net zero carbon by 2030. The vote recognised that the global climate emergency is a crisis for God’s creation and a fundamental injustice. One aspect of that vote resulted in the national Net zero carbon routemap | The Church of England. This details in clear milestones what the national church is doing to reduce its carbon footprint and what dioceses can do.
In response to national action plan the salisbury diocese agreed its own action plan that details how we can collectively play our part to caring for creation.
Our action plan to Carbon Net Zero
The journey to carbon net zero is much more than having a neutral carbon output. It sounds counterintuitive but being on the journey is an opportunity to get to learn more about why climate change is important to Christians and why looking after creation brings us closer to God. It is also a great opportunity to engage with the wider community on the issue, demonstrate what you are doing to combat climate change and to bring them along with you. The best place to start all this is by taking the Eco Church survey with your church community and see where you are on the journey and what you can do.
Energy Footprint tool:
The Energy Footprint Tool is a key component in the journey to carbon net zero. It does this by recording how much energy we are using and how much carbon we are emitting each year. This is information is helpful in several ways. Firstly, through knowing how much energy we are using we can look at ways to reducing it. The data gathered from EFT returns help us know what our collective carbon footprint is and where we can help the most to reach our target by 2030. Knowing your carbon footprint can also help to release funding from grants and when needing to apply for faculty applications.
Click here to enter your Energy Footprint data
Contact: parishsupport@salisbury.anglican.org for help on completing this.