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The Church of England Diocese of London is pleased to announce that it is working to lower churches’ energy use and carbon footprint, as part of the Church of England’s national Shrinking the Footprint campaign.
The Diocese of London's 480 parish churches had a total carbon footprint of 22,600 tonnes in 2005, this is an average 47 tonnes of CO2 each – enough to fill a church’s own volume with CO2. The Climate Action Plans process has been devised as a way to drive down energy and carbon without huge capital costs.
For each participating church a savings target is calculated , using the Diocese’s Energy-saving Benchmarking model. To help churches meet their targets, the Diocese of London provides a checklist of zero-cost efficiencies – simple management and user actions – which are used to create tailor-made menus for each church to plan savings.
Churches can then sign up to renewable-energy supplier Good Energy or use the non profit-making company Charity Funding Solutions, which works with each parish to negotiate the best tariff for their circumstances.
The final piece in the jigsaw looks at residual carbon emissions (those that can’t yet be avoided) and emissions associated with non-renewable energy. How to neutralise these emissions and become carbon neutral?
Churches can become carbon neutral by buying carbon allowances and withdrawing them permanently from the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). This is facilitated by Carbon Retirement, an award-winning, Government-accredited carbon offsetting firm. The cost to churches of going carbon neutral through Carbon Retirement will be funded by energy savings and tariff reductions.
Brian Cuthbertson, the Diocese of London’s Head of Environmental Challenge, said,
We shouldn’t go on leaving our carbon costs till the never-never, falling into debt with the future! Far better to pay these costs now. It's wrong to leave the planet in a worse state than we found it. We’re proud to work with Carbon Retirement, who use a government approved approach, to pay the cost of carbon emissions.”
Jane Burston, Director of Carbon Retirement said,
“The Climate Action Plans programme is an excellent way for London churches to work towards the Church of England’s ambitious, but necessary, climate change targets. Churches can become carbon neutral without spending any more than they currently do, through saving energy and then using the money saved to remove carbon allowances from the European market. Carbon Retirement is pleased to be a partner in this programme.”
Contacts for more information:
Brian Cuthbertson, Head of Environmental Challenge, Diocese of London Brian.Cuthbertson@london.anglican.org or 020 7932 1229
Emily Haynes, Assistant Director, Carbon Retirement Emily.Haynes@cabonretirement.com or 020 7183 0188.
 Carbon Retirement is a Government-assured carbon offset provider that removes 'pollution allowances' from the European system, forcing industry to invest in clean technology.
Created because of the perceived lack of transparency and robustness in the carbon markets, Carbon Retirement is different to all other offset providers. Instead of selling project based offsets, we cancel the EU’s pollution permits from the emission trading scheme on behalf of companies wishing to offset voluntarily. This effectively reduces the amount of permits that heavy industry in Europe can use to pollute. It is 100% additional and tackles carbon reduction right here in Europe.
If you’ve got any questions or would like to arrange an informal discussion, get in touch: info@carbonretirement.com or +44 (0) 207 1830 188. Visit us at www.carbonretirement.com.
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