The Church in Wales officially declared a Climate Emergency on 14 April 2021, adding its voice to the growing number of organisations recognising the gravity of the situation we face and the need to do something about it.
As members of the body of Christ, we are called to be good stewards of the earth and of the resources we have been given. We, of all people, need to be leading by example rather than waiting to follow others. The Church in Wales as a whole has committed to aim for Net Zero carbon emissions by 2030, and to divest all funds from fossil fuels.
The Church in Wales has appointed a Climate Champion to help us navigate through the process. However, net zero is a huge commitment and one which will not be easy to achieve, so it is incumbent on all of us in every church to take action to make it happen.
For this reason, we have signed up to the A Rocha scheme. The scheme helps by getting us to measure our carbon footprint so that we can start reducing it – if we don’t know where we are then we can’t take effective action to move forward.
This report by the Church of England shows why all this is so important and what can be achieved.