Project Description
Church Buildings and Facilities
Note: The following lists are by no mean exhaustive. They are instead the starting points to stimulate thinking for possibility and feasibility in your church settings. Any link external to A Rocha Canada and its sister organizations does not represent our endorsement to the particular organizations, their agendas, programs or materials.
General Ideas
What does “Zero Emission” means?
To be βzero emissionsβ is to not produce any greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; to be βnet zeroβ is to produce some, but to offset them by absorbing them in some fashion. Either one is certainly MUCH better than the pollution caused by most churches and homes.
What is Zero Emission Churches (ZEC)?
ZEC is a new, growing and rapidly evolving organization that began with the Canadian Anglican dioceses of MontrΓ©al and Niagara. ZEC was begun by people who realized that their fellow church members are convinced by the science; they accept that the planet God gave us needs us to change our behaviour (literally, to βrepentβ). But many leaders donβt know what to do or where to start. ZEC is committed to helping congregations identify what they could do to be part of the solution to this human problem.
What does Zero Emission Church offer?
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- Advising leaders of congregations and dioceses/regional groupings
- Stop buildings from producing GHGs
- Reduce Energy Use (and Costs!)
- Creating safe, feasible and simple plans for becoming Net Zero
- Educating leaders and members with reliable options for every churchβs situation.
- Advising leaders of congregations and dioceses/regional groupings
Climate Witness Project, a project under World Renew, Christian Reformed Church of North America, has some regional resources on sustainable energy projects for churches:
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- Hamilton and region (Southwestern Ontario)
- Alberta
Green Churches Network Canada – Action – Energy
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- Five key areas that can improve the energy efficiency of religious buildings
- The page also include:
- A list of grants for energy efficiency, offered by provinces
- A list of providers for energy audit in Canada
- Tips and links on exploring alternative energy sources
360Β°carbon (for US and Canada) is a project by Climate Steward, an A Rocha Organization.
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- The easy-to-use carbon footprint calculator for churches or non-profit.
- There are also other sister sites in UK, the Netherlands, and New Zealand
Creation Justice Ministries
Faithful Resilience is a collection which helps your congregation to anticipate, prepare for, and bounce forward into a just, sustainable, and resilient community.
Over the last decade, hurricanes have intensified, wildfires have burnt stronger, and heat waves have baked our cities. These events can only be expected to get worse in the next decades. Most of our faith communities are not ready for these climate-driven disasters. Yet, the communities who will be most threatened by climate change also have an opportunity to play a pivotal role in building resilience in their towns and cities. Whether a church community has a large facility, land, social capital, or something else, those assets can be channeled into building climate resilience in preparation for the coming physical and spiritual storms of the climate crisis. Faith communities must take a proactive stance towards resilience.
Provided by A Rocha Aotearoa New Zealand
Lifecycle asset management is the discipline of optimally owning and managing an asset through all stages of its lifecycle (design, specification, purchase, installation/construction, operation, maintenance, disposal) at least cost. When done well this saves both money, resources and the planet! The lifecycle cost view ensures that you make the appropriate decisions at the design, specification and purchase stage. This resource on Lifecycle Asset Management will be useful for churches when they are thinking about replacing assets with an eye to financial responsibility and sustainability. Although the resource is provided in the context of New Zealand, the framework of asset management and the principles behind is applicable to Canada.
International Resource and useful references
A Rocha UKβs Eco Church Resource – Buildings
A Rocha Aotearoa New Zealand – Eco Church NZ – Sustainable Buildings
Prepared for the Methodist Church of New Zealand
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- Low Carbon Building Guide – A Guide to Renovating and Building Churches and Parsonages
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- The practical path to net zero carbon for churchesΒ
- Sustainable buildingsΒ
- The first steps toward a sustainable building
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- Church of England: Net Zero Church and The practical path to net zero carbon for churches and some case studies here. Plus a webinar on Becoming a Net Zero Carbon Church.
- The Methodist Church UK: Get Your Building Down to Zero.
- The Salvation Army church in the UK and Ireland: Declaration of Climate Emergency and agreeing to a net zero carbon emissions target across all its direct and indirect emissions.
- Catholic Church in England and Wales: Guidelines released to help Catholic dioceses measure a baseline carbon footprint and Guidance on
- Catholic Diocesan Carbon Accounting.
- Catholic Diocese of Salford, UK: Environmental Stewardship in Places of Worship: A Guide to Reducing our Carbon Footprint
- Uniting Church in Australia: National Climate Action Plan and its target to reduce emissions by 5% per annum and aim to become a net zero emissions church by 2040.
- The Anglican Church of Australia urges its members to pursue net zero carbon emissions by 2040 in operations across the country.
- St Michael Church aka Mahim Church in Mumbai: Carbon neutrality: A Mumbai church shows the green way in individual responsibility
- The Episcopal Church of St Martin, California: Howβd we do it? Becoming a Zero Carbon Church!