Climate change

God’s Earth is crying out for our care and if we do not urgently limit greenhouse gas emissions and the destruction of species we will permanently disfigure our common home preventing billions of God’s children from flourishing.

The Church in Wales recognises responsible stewardship of creation is integral to Christian discipleship and, given the urgency of the situation, commit to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions to zero as quickly as practically possible, embedding care for the natural world into all aspect of Church life from worship and teaching to the sustainable management of buildings, land, and financial resources.

Practical and scriptural approaches

• Wondering where to start on the net zero carbon journey? This 4-page booklet lists some easy actions that nearly every church can start with (see Section A). Then, medium-sized churches may wish to consider the actions in Section B and for bigger, busier churches Section C lists more complex projects that are aimed at high energy users:
  A Practical Path to Net Zero Carbon (PDF)
• A rediscovery of our core calling to care for creation:
  Our Christian Calling to Care for Creation (PDF)

Useful resources

1. Eco Church: Eco Church is a great way to plan your path to being an environmentally friendly church and is supported by all Welsh Dioceses. Eco Church has also produced some excellent new resources.:
   Eco Church - An A Rocha UK Project
2. Very useful guidance has been prepared by Bangor Diocese about Eco Church to help local churches in Wales get involved:
   Treading Lightly on Holy Ground. A short guide to Eco-Church (PDF)
3. This really helpful and practical Eco Church booklet compiled by St Asaph Diocese can get you started on your Eco Church journey:
   Caring for each other, caring for God's creation (PDF)
4. The reflective Caring for Creation calendar, produced by St Davids Diocese, highlights key environmental themes through the liturgical year:
   Caring for Creation through the Liturgical Year (PDF)
5. Also, for inspiration, check out the wonderful eco-church stories and videos from St Asaph.
   https://dioceseofstasaph.org.uk/eco-church/eco-church-stories-and-inspiration/
6. The Church of England has prepared some brilliant webinars on topics related to net zero:
   Webinars on getting to net zero carbon | The Church of England
7. After the success of Climate Sunday, the dedicated Climate Sunday website remains active and still has some great resources:
   Climate Sunday | Home | Worship | Commit | Speak Up
8. There are some very useful products and services that can help you save energy and money at Parish Buying:
   Parish Buying - Parish Buying - Buy together Save Together

Contact

For further information please contact our Climate Change Champion, Julia Edwards at JuliaEdwards@churchinwales.org.uk