What we do: Environment and sustainability

Caring for God’s Creation

The natural environment, which is God’s Creation, is facing many threats, including waste in the oceans, the extinction of many animals and plants, and above all the mounting crisis of climate change. Human beings have a hand in all these things. We need to change our ways in order to tackle them.

Climate change has never been more urgent. According to the UN’s latest report, human activities have ‘unequivocally’ caused the global heating which is driving climate change. 40 degree temperatures and destructive wild fires in London have literally brought this home to us.

Global heating is caused principally by greenhouse gas (‘carbon’) emissions from our buildings and our daily activities. That’s why the Church of England and Diocese of London are working to cut our carbon (CO₂e) emissions to ‘net zero’ by 2030. Our churches have already achieved improvements of 41.8% in their net CO₂e emissions, from 2005 – 2021.

Recent news and articles

It all starts with ‘reduce reuse and recycle’
LOAF and Wine
Accidental Zero
Iconic City church goes green in £1.1 million refurb
Ground-source heat at St Paul’s Cathedral Chapter House
Diocese of London’s eco-credentials earn Eco Diocese Bronze Award
Diocese of London backs progressive divestment from fossil fuel companies.

Whose future?

Climate change and other dangerous environmental changes are a challenge to governments, businesses, people young and old, communities, people, churches. Us. Our lives will change. Our actions can influence how.

In an address to faith leaders on 4th February 2021, the Archbishop of Canterbury said:

“The Covid-19 pandemic has forced the world to look at how we have been living. We have been confronted by our behaviour: by our sin; our greed; our human fragility; our exploitation of the environment and encroachment on the natural world. For many this uncertainty is new. But many more around the world have been living with uncertainty for decades as the grim, real and present consequence of climate change. To think it is a problem of the future rather than a scourge of the present is the blind perspective of the privileged.

“But the pandemic has also revealed our capacity for change; the opportunities for repentance; the potential for hope amidst suffering.”

We want the voice of children and young people to be heard and reflected in our actions concerning the environment, especially climate change. It is their future.

Christians believe the future is also in God’s hands, and we must ultimately answer to God.

Page index

ALMA and the Environment
An Interconnected World
Biomass Heating
Care for Creation
Churches and People
Church of England Environment Programme
Churchyards and Wildlife
Churchyards for London
Climate Action Finance
Climate Action Programme
Climate Action Projects
Climate and Environmental Risks
Conserving Water
Creation Care Champions
Diocesan Environmental Policy
Diocesan Synod Report 2012
Diocesan Synod Report 2014
Diocesan Synod Report 2016
Diocesan Synod Report 2018
Diocesan Synod Report 2020
Diocesan Synod Report 2022
Eco Church
Energy and Carbon, Global Heating and Climate Change
Energy Footprint Tool
Environment and Mission Action Plans
Environmental Work so Far
Food and Drink
Gas and energy supply and prices
Generating your own Energy
Genetically Modified (GM) Food
Green Energy Suppliers
Heat Pumps
Heating and Energy Use
Landscape, oceans and humans
Lighting and Energy Use
Measuring Energy Use
Smart Metering
Solar Panels
Sustainable Building
The Environment around the Year
Transport, Air Travel and the Environment
Trees in Churchyards
Waste Collection and Recycling
Wildlife, Ecology and Biodiversity

To find out more

Contact Brian Cuthbertson, Head of Environment and Sustainability.

External links

• Church of England Environmental Programme
• A Rocha UK and Eco Church
• Operation Noah (ON).