Shrinking the Footprint - The Church of England’s National Environmental Campaign

"For the Church of the 21st century, good ecology is not an optional extra but a matter of justice. It is therefore central to what it means to be a Christian"

Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury

"In the 21st century in an interconnected world, practising love of neighbours means that we are committed to mitigate the effects of climate change which will fall disproportionately on the poor and vulnerable in the world and those least able to adapt to rising temperatures and sea levels."

The Bishop of London the Rt Revd Richard Chartres, chair of Shrinking the Footprint.

The Church of England has an ongoing commitment to reduce the energy being consumed and the greenhouse gas emissions that are produced.  In June 2006 the Church launched Shrinking the Footprint, a national strategic campaign led by the Bishop of London.  This project aims to challenge and support the whole Church to shrink its carbon environmental footprint to 40% of current levels by 2050.

Within the Church of England each diocese and parish has, or is in the process of developing, their own approach to tackling the issues of our climatic impact.  Centrally this ongoing commitment has so far delivered the following projects:

• “Measuring our Footprint” – It undertook a national energy audit, which gathered information on the energy consumed from churches from across the nation.
• In 2007 it undertook the Carbon Trust’s Carbon Management Programme
• During 2008 “Greening the Spires” completed church and cathedral energy surveys
• And also in 2008 with the support of the Energy Saving Trust (EST) the Parsonage Sustainable Energy Project was completed.

It has been calculated that the Church of England emits approximately 330,656 tonnes of carbon dioxide (tCO2) per year from the 16,200 churches, 43 cathedrals, around 100 offices, and roughly 13,000 clergy homes and many other buildings.  The 16,200 churches are responsible for 65% of the total carbon dioxide emissions of the Church of England.

Our Diocese of Southwark at its March 2007 meeting received, debated and approved a Diocesan policy on the environment, which includes the following:

The Diocese of Southwark through its central structures, deaneries and parishes is committed to:

• Affirming the fifth mark of mission 'to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth' as a central part of our worship, life, work and mission.
• Taking our environmental footprint fully into account in our mission, worship, study and education, training, pastoral, administrative and other programmes and projects.
• Increasing awareness of environmental issues within our parishes and communities whether urban, suburban or rural.
• Maintaining up to date information on the social, economic, ethical and theological elements of environmental issues.

As Christians it is our duty to care for the world with which we have been entrusted.  It is now clear that our modern, energy-hungry lifestyles are changing the planet for the worse.

As explained in the October edition of Parish News the PCC is exploring the possibility of installing Solar PV panels on the church roof.

Progress so far is as follows:

Even if you were only vaguely interested in generating electricity from Solar PV panels you are probably aware of the Government’s eight week consultation period on a proposal to roughly halve the feed-in-tariff (FIT) from 1^st April next year for all installations completed and registered on or after 12^th December this year. The consultation ends on 23^rd December and those in the industry expect that the proposals will be implemented although the announcement is only likely to be made after the New Year. The good news is that installations registered before 12^th December are not affected. The bad news is that St John’s will be unable to benefit financially as the reduced FIT barely covers the installation and maintenance costs, as shown below.

Our projected benefit at the end of 30 years (assuming 4% inflation):

(a) at the current FIT is a gross benefit of £129,000 and a net benefit of £77,000 (after deducting costs to install, maintain and remove the panels). The initial outlay is £33,500 so the net benefit is equivalent to a gain of 2.822% pa. In other words, if we invested the initial outlay in a savings account earning 2.82% pa, then the total in the account after 30 years would be £77,000. (NB figures are rounded).

(b) at the proposed FIT is a gross benefit of £68,500 and a net benefit of £16,500. The initial outlay is the same £33,500 so the net benefit is equivalent to loss of 2.345% per annum

The impact of these proposals is a massive reduction in income - money that could be used for community projects. The Church of England’s national campaign Shrinking the Footprint has started a petition calling on the Government to exempt ‘not for profit’ organisations (which includes churches). If you support that idea then please sign the petition on line at https://submissions.epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/20928

Progress at St John’s is as follows:

An application to Tandridge District Council has been submitted (but not yet verified). The Diocesan Advisory Committee has recommended our proposals for approval by the Chancellor, subject to certain comments to be resolved at a later date. The preparation of a St John’s energy audit has been completed based on the spreadsheet established by the Diocese. A response to the Government’s proposal is being prepared for sending to the Department of Energy and Climate Change before 23^rd December.

Due to the expectation that the tariff will drop the PCC chose to proceed no further at this time.