Net Zero Carbon 2030

The Church of England’s General Synod has set an ambitious target to achieve Net Zero by 2030. In July 2022, General Synod also endorsed the National Routemap 2030, which is the action plan for how we can work together to achieve this.

Click here to find our Net Zero Steps for Churches

Click here for information relevant grants for church projects to reduce carbon emissions

Here at the Diocese of Exeter we wholeheartedly believe that we need to reduce our carbon footprint, and we have been working on this for nearly 20 years. Some of the practical actions we have taken in the past have been to:

• Roll out an extensive insulation programmes for clergy housing
• Switch to renewable energy tariffs from Ecotricity for our two Diocesan Offices in Exeter and Plymouth
• Install secondary glazing and low energy lighting in our Grade II* listed Old Deanery office
• Implement flexible working to enable to staff to reduce their travel emissions
• Support various renewable energy installations at local churches
• Secured funding for energy audits for churches and schools
• Provided free low energy light bulbs to churches
• Provided a bike for staff to use for local meetings
• Updated tenancy agreements with our farmers to encourage better soil management
• Much much more!

In October 2021, Diocesan Synod approved funding to create a new part time post for a Net Zero Carbon Officer. The purpose of this post was to enable the Diocese to develop a plan to pull together, measure and report on our progress towards net zero carbon emissions by 2030.

In March 2023, Diocesan Synod passed a motion to align with the National Routemap and set our own net zero target and endorsed the Devon Climate Declaration to show our support for decarbonisation across the whole of Devon.

In October 2023, we presented our Net Zero Action Plan to Diocesan Synod. You can read our NZAP here: Exeter Diocesan NZAP Sep23 – please don’t print though its 40 pages!

What does Net Zero Carbon mean for us?

The Church of England defines Net Zero Carbon as the reduction as far as possible of all in-scope carbon emissions (from the oil, gas and electricity we use in our buildings and petrol and diesel transport) and the removal of an equivalent amount of carbon from the atmosphere for the remaining in-scope emissions by use of accredited offsetting schemes. The National Routemap sets out actions we need to take to achieve Net Zero from our Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030, and paves the way for the actions to achieve Net Zero in our Scope 3 emissions after 2030 and before 2050.

Our target is for a 90% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 2030 in activities under our direct control.

What are we doing right now?

This section will be regularly updated

• We’re encouraging churches to fill in the Energy Footprint Tool to measure our carbon footprint
• We are actively reducing our emissions by insulating all possible remaining uninsulated clergy houses
• We’ve allocated some funding to upgrade the heating controls and fit more energy efficient lighting at our Grade II* offices
• We’re subsidising energy audits  churches
• We’re piloting a number of projects to help churches to reduce their carbon emissions.

Please sign up to the Season’s newsletter to keep in touch, and we’d love to hear from you about what your church is doing to reduce your carbon footprint.