Articles

By Laura Treneer

The Church of England continues towards its 2030 net zero ambitions, not least through the national Demonstrator Church project. Every diocese has the opportunity to nominate a church for national funding to cut carbon emissions.

Action Planning has the huge privilege of being the chosen partner for delivery of fundraising support for this (read the background of how Action Planning is helping). We are coming alongside Demonstrator Churches to help them work on their strategy and give them the best chance of success.

We sometimes get asked what Net Zero Carbon has to do with a church’s mission. It is helpful to remember:

• Responding to the climate crisis is an essential part of our responsibility to safeguard God’s creation and achieve a just world.
• Tackling climate change also supports our local mission. It bears witness to our communities that we are people who care about climate justice, now and for the future. 
• Many of the steps needed to reduce energy use will make our buildings brighter and warmer and more welcoming, so they are suitable to be used more often by more people and can save us money on our running costs. Warmer buildings are more likely to be used for mission!
• For a Church that is growing younger, and for young people in churches, this is an issue that cannot be ignored. The Church communicates powerfully to young people by taking steps to a sustainable future for them.

For Church of England churches, the project is well-established. Some stats:

• ·In 2021, the Church of England estimated that its buildings emitted 410,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases annually. To put that in context, it would take around 100,000 trees to absorb that amount of carbon.
• The Church of England has around 32,000 buildings. Schools account for just under half the emissions. Churches and church halls account for just over 30% of emissions. 
• The priorities for action are the 10-20% of buildings with the highest carbon footprint. For churches that means a focus on larger buildings, usually in urban areas, that are being heavily used by the local community throughout the week, for a wide range of vital services.
• The Vision is that by 2030 the buildings of the Church will be warm, bright and welcoming, powered by renewable energy and using low or zero carbon technologies for heat and light. Overall energy consumption will have fallen. On-site renewable energy generation will have increased.

We’ve had some great feedback from some of the churches helped by our community of consultants:

“This is the largest project that we've taken on board. Our Action Planning consultant has given us lots of advice, lots of insight. The green [Net Zero Carbon] aspect of the project has certainly captured the imagination of the PCC, and will for others, but for some it is going to be the use of the building to the local community in helping the poor, the needy, those looking for solace and support, and how that needs to continue into the future. It’s great to have some key next steps and a strategy plan.”

“We were given contacts and commentary in a variety of areas – potential funders, useful CofE and local authority websites, of which we were unaware. We were given a wealth of knowledge with regard to grant funding. The slides for us to study after the meeting were a brilliant resource.” 

If you would like help with your church capital project or fundraising towards Net Zero, please email [email protected].