On 30 June, the Church of England’s Energy Footprint Tool will close to churches’ energy use entries from 2024.
This deadline is a little earlier than previous years, to give more time to analyse the data and share the results back in time for diocesan synods in the autumn.
Once you have entered all the data from your church’s energy bills, you will immediately receive a report and results on your computer or smartphone. This includes the church’s carbon footprint in CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) and how this has changed in recent years.
The data collected from the tool will help your church understand its carbon footprint and will mean you may be eligible for grants to help kickstart your net zero projects.
This work is an essential part of caring for God’s Creation, by helping to combat global heating and climate change.
The easy-to-use online tool will reveal your carbon footprint, based on the energy you use to heat and light your buildings.
So far, 17% of churches in the Diocese of Gloucester have completed the return for their 2024 data.
The Ven Hilary Dawson, Archdeacon of Gloucester said: “The Church of England’s General Synod voted in February 2020 for the whole of the Church to achieve net zero carbon by 2030. The vote recognised that responding to the climate crisis is an essential part of our responsibility to safeguard God’s creation and achieve a just world.
“The Net Zero by 2030 programme was then established and as part of this, the EFT has been created to collect data to establish a baseline and help churches locally find out their carbon footprint.
“It should only take less than an hour to fill the EFT in and the results will really help a church to kickstart carbon reducing projects as we journey together to reach net zero carbon. Thank you so much for being part of our journey towards Net Zero Carbon 2030.”
What do I need to get started?
You will need your utility bills for all your church or parish buildings for 2024: electricity, gas, oil, or whichever other fuel you use. If you have solar panels, find information on their generation over the preceding year.
Before you start collecting energy use data for your buildings, you need to determine whether a building is ‘in scope’. This online building scope checker tool will help you work this out. But essentially, if a building is not owned by the Church of England then you do not need to report on the building.
The EFT is open until 30 June 2025 and you can find it on the online Parish Returns system →
How do I find out more information and keep up to date?
Sign up to the Church of England’s monthly Environment Bulletin here →. Any updates will be posted in this national bulletin throughout the year.
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