Responding to the climate crisis is an essential part of our responsibility to safeguard God’s creation and achieve a just world.
The General Synod of the Church of England 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.
For the Church of England, being net zero carbon means that the carbon emissions of their buildings and travel will be reduced to less than 10 per cent of their baseline levels. For the next few years, we will be focusing on measures that reduce the carbon footprint of our activities. The Routemap to Net Zero Carbon describes the measures that the Church will be adopting.
In Coventry Diocese, we now have a Net Zero Carbon Project Officer. This role encompasses encouraging churches, church schools, the Cathedral and clergy across the Diocese to reduce energy use and focus on measures that will reduce carbon emissions. The NZC Project Officer is available to give advice within the Diocese and has several new resources available. A local Net Zero Carbon Resource Document is available here. A schools-based document will be available shortly. 
We are also producing Zero Interest, a series of Podcasts to reach a wider audience with the key messages of achieving Net Zero Carbon by 2030.
You can listen to the first one here.
If you want to assess heat loss and temperature/humidity cycles in a church or other building, you may be able to borrow some equipment from the NZC Project Officer. We currently have two sets of thermo/hygrometersand two thermal imaging cameras. These both link to most Smart phones and downloading data or images is relatively simple.
We are producing Case Study notes from recent Net Zero projects in Coventry Diocese. So far, these are the files:
Case Study, All Saints Church, Leek Wootton - replacement heating (Far Infra Red heating)
Case Study, St George's Church, Rugby - replacement heating (Air Source Heat Pumps)
Here are some useful Church of England resources: The Routemap to Net Zero Carbon. The Practical Path to Net Zerofor church buildings. The landing pages for net zero carbon churches and net zero carbon schools, and our net zero webinar programme to help you along that path. Our heating guidance and energy efficiency guidance. Lastly some CofE inspiring case studies.
