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Church of England sets 2030 Net Zero carbon target

Published March 24, 2020

The Church of England is to work towards becoming Net Zero by 2030. 

Earlier this month, members of the Church of England’s General Synod voted to accelerate efforts to reduce carbon emissions. The motion called for urgent examination of the steps needed to meet the new target date of 2030. The new date is 15 years earlier than originally proposed.

The Church also intends to introduce an energy foot-printing tool for parishes to calculate their carbon footprint.

The final motion called on “all parts of the Church of England…to work to achieve year-on-year reductions in emissions and urgently examine what would be required to reach net zero emissions by 2030 in order that a plan of action can be drawn up to achieve that target.”

From 2022, the Church’s Environment Working Group must report on progress every three years.

Alfa Energy’s Carbon Compliance Manager, Nikki Wilson, commented:

“As organisations plan their path to net zero, they may want to consider what initial steps on carbon management are already in place. For example, this could be an Environmental Management System, or it may have submitted a CDP disclosure.”

Nikki Wilson also pointed out the importance of defining what emissions organisations should include in their net zero target, for instance the carbon neutrality specification, PAS 2060. She added:

“New standards are expected to be introduced as a result of the widespread commitment to net zero. Plans for emission reductions will need to have some flexibility to allow for the direction of new government policies and new technologies.”

Tags Church of England Net Zero 2030 Nikki Wilson PAS 2060 Synod