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Churches Make the Switch to Renewables

  • Publish Date: Posted over 5 years ago
  • Author: Steve Walia

Over 5,500 churches in the UK, including some of the most well-known cathedrals, have made the switch to renewable energy in a bid to show their support for climate change avoidance.

Cross-denominational churches, including Catholic, Church of England, Methodist, Baptist, Quaker and Salvation Army, all worked together to switch to using 100pc renewables, and Christian faith leaders are encouraging places of worship of all kinds to follow in their footsteps.

Amongst the religious buildings that signed up to the switch were 15 Anglican cathedrals, which have agreed to use the green energy tariffs. Church leaders have agreed that climate change is one of the biggest moral issues of today and that its impact affected poorer populations first - and more severely.

The average church has an annual energy bill of around £1k, and together the churches who participated in the mass switch will divert over £5 million to clean energy tariff providers away from fossil fuels.

The move was led by a procurement group from the Church of England called Parish Buying. Charities, Christian Aid, the C of E environment fund and Tearfund led a Big Church Switch drive to encourage other churches to join in.

New parishes and churches can come online too through the 2buy2 buying group, which aggregates buyers to negotiate the cheapest available green tariffs. Christian Aid confirmed too that by purchasing energy in this way the clean energy tariff tended to work out cheaper than the fossil fuels alternative.

A spokesman for the group said that it was excellent to see churches participating in the drive towards a greener future, adding that by working together to deliver a group switch their power could make a real difference in supporting the objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement.