Churches across the diocese are showing their concern for others and God’s creation by using the Energy Footprinting Tool (EFT) to inform their action on climate change.
The EFT enables churches to track the carbon emissions for their church, as the Church of England works towards becoming carbon net zero over the next nine years.
The EFT is easy to complete, only needing the energy bills for the church for the previous year.
Once the data is entered the church receives a Carbon Emissions report that can be added to church annual reports and used to inform planning to reduce emissions.
Every parish is encouraged to complete this section of the online parish returns annually.
The deadline for completing the EFT this year is the end of August.
Jemima Parker, Diocesan Environment Officer, said: “Last year the Diocese of Leeds had the second-best return rate for the EFT, with over 50% of our churches completing this new section of the online parish returns.
“This year we’d love to have an even better response rate as the data that is generated informs our climate action.
“While 2020 was an unusual year for church energy consumption due to the pandemic, the national research and statistics team who manage the EFT, are confident that they can adjust the data collected to give a fair representation of energy use by churches.
“The first step to getting to Carbon Net Zero is mearing and monitoring our carbon emissions.
“The EFT is the tool for this.”
To find out more, please click here.