With the deadline approaching for churches to complete their Energy Footprint Tool return, support is being provided to help anyone struggling with filing before July 31.
Faiths4Change are hosting a free on-line drop-in clinic with the Diocese of Liverpool's Environmental Officer Phil Leigh to provide a visual walk through of how to fill in the form step by step.
Church wardens, treasurers, eco team members and clergy are encouraged to drop in and ask questions about the EFT, from 6.15pm-7.15pm on Wednesday 14th June. Sign up here to attend.
This follows a similar troubleshooting session held in the spring, with attendees feeding back that advice from the experts helped simplify what can seem like a daunting task.
Among the attendees to the EFT clinic in Spring was Diane from St Peter’s Church in Maghull, who said: “The collecting of the data may appear a little daunting to some, but I think the energy company bills provide all the information and the math is a simple take away sum from the amount of electric & gas used in Jan ‘23 compared to the figures showing on the year’s 2021 December bill.
The Church of England’s Energy Footprint Tool (EFT) was developed for churches to help measure their carbon footprint, and is linked to the Parish Returns System – log on here.
Every church is asked to complete an entry before July 31 each year to help keep track of its energy footprint, and help safeguard God’s planet by addressing the climate crisis.
You don’t need to wait to file as the form requires information from energy bills from the previous calendar year (2022). Read more about why and what you need to file here.
“It’s actually very easy to use, it should take about 20 minutes to complete once you have the information from your energy bills,” says Phil Leigh, also Programme Lead for the Diocese of Liverpool’s Net Zero Carbon 2030 Programme.
“We encourage every church if you’re struggling at all with any aspect of it or aren’t sure how to make a start, please come along to the session, ask anything you need and we’ll support you to completion, there’s no need for it to be a stressful process or to feel like you’re on your own.”
In the meantime, the Net Carbon Zero team are also happy to take direct enquiries from anyone tasked with filling in the form for their church – you can email phil.leigh@liverpool.anglican.org
The drop-in clinic is among three upcoming summer workshops being offered by Faiths4Change as part of our Net Carbon Zero 2030 programme, with dates to be announced soon for workshops focusing on Land, and Worship & Teaching (Youth).
The EFT provides a vital step in helping churches identify ways to make a bigger difference by reducing our impact on the environment, and potentially save funds by reducing energy bills.
It is also vital to achieving the Church of England’s commitment to be carbon ‘Net Zero’ by 2030. It helps build a national and local picture of the energy footprint and progress towards becoming Net Zero Carbon by 2030, supporting our diocese to allocate resources and respond strategically.
Following the drop-in clinic held in Spring, Diane from St Peter’s in Maghull emailed Diocesan Central Services to activate the Parish Returns login, which she’d been unable to do previously, and set about completing the return.
“I had a printed copy of the EFT from the web page to start with, as this was easier to collect the data,” said Diane. “I shared out the sections to complete with those who had the information such as: treasurer, warden etc. I counted all the services held in church for each Sunday of 2022, and averaged the total amount of attendees out for input onto the form. The floor area of the church & hall buildings was calculated by one of the Church wardens. Once all the boxes were completed on the paper copy of the EFT, I typed the answers onto the web page; quite an easy process.”
You can watch a video of the previous EFT drop-in clinic here – beginning with Phil Leigh’s visual presentation of the form (scroll to 7 mins into the recording), walking you through each of the sections of the form step by step.
This dispels some misconceptions about the information that is required and explains how to retrieve the data to make it a valuable tool to calculate the energy use church buildings.
At 42 minutes in you can watch a talk by guest speaker Peter Owen of Energy Project Plus about how their social enterprise is helping people reduce their energy bills to help reduce fuel poverty. This prompted a discussion about strategies and ideas for churches to use in their communities.
Faiths 4 Change Director Annie Merry is Prophetic and Engagement Lead for the Diocese of Liverpool’s Net Carbon Zero programme team. “The need to do something about the climate emergency is well known, understood and agreed by most people,” said Annie.
“But many feel lost and daunted when it comes to practical steps they can actually take. The Church of England route map sets out what you need do, and our workshops are here to help you succeed.”
Resources
Information about the Church of England’s Energy Footprint Tool: Energy Footprint Tool | The Church of England
Faiths4Change Knowledge Platform