How green are we?

How is your parish doing in its quest to become carbon net zero by 2030? How is the Diocese of Derby doing as a whole?

To know the answer to that, we need facts and figures.

And the way to get those is to use the Energy Footprint Tool that is available to all parishes.

This easy-to-use tool will tell your church what your carbon footprint is annually, based on the energy you use to heat and light your buildings. And the best part, it’s free!

It’s a great feeling to know that you are making a difference and as well as encouraging you and reassuring you that you’re on the right path, it has other benefits, too.

There is a lot of great work being done in our parishes to push us in the right direction.

All over the diocese, PCCs are moving to green-energy suppliers, others are moving away from fossil-fuel heating systems, some are moving towards more energy-efficient lighting, and all are considering how they can reduce their energy consumption.

Reducing consumption has the obvious benefit of reducing bills. But knowing your carbon footprint may support applications for funding to help you on your Net Zero journey. Reduced energy consumption means you really are caring for God's creation, helping to sustain a greener environment to live and work in, etc.

And, at the same time, you are helping the diocese to fulfil elements of its vision – going greener, and ultimately challenging injustice by reducing inequalities, making the world a better and fairer place. Good news for all!

We should be immensely proud of our continuing efforts to reduce our carbon footprints and being able to demonstrate it with the hard evidence you can get from the Energy Footprint Tool.

The tool makes use of data the Church of England already holds about your church buildings, and that means it needs very little additional input from you.

In fact, it was designed to be simple, but if you struggle, your deanery administrators and I are here to help, so get in touch!

All you need is to have your 2023 electricity and gas/oil bills to hand!

But time is running out – and I want to encourage us all to input our figures to the Energy Footprint Tool by 1 July.

It takes only minutes!

This one simple task will make a huge difference to your church, the diocese and the Church of England nationally.

For further help with the Energy Footprint Tool, contact our Diocesan Environmental Engagement Officer, Samuel Ojok: Tel: 01332 423368 or email: samuel.ojok@derby.anglican.org