Church vows to go 'green' in nine years
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A virtual church gathering has vowed to have net zero emissions by 2030.
The Scottish Episcopal Church has committed to challenge itself to reduce its carbon footprint after a vote at its annual meeting.
The annual synod meeting of the Scottish Episcopal Church (SEC) was opened by the Most Rev Bishop Mark Strange, Bishop of Moray, Ross and Caithness and Primus of the SEC.
In his opening remarks, Bishop Strange said: "We cannot challenge others if we do not challenge ourselves."
Alongside raising the difficult issues of bullying, bias and racism awareness in his opening address, he pointed to the issues that the church should speak out about, such as international aid, gender violence, modern slavery and climate change.
Bishop Mark told the first-ever online General Synod: “We have questions of what sort of investments we place our money into but also questions about how we heat our churches, how often and how far we travel, about the resources we use to run this institution.
“We need to get our own house in order if we are to keep putting pressure on the governments and industries of the world. You can’t challenge others if we don’t challenge ourselves.”
His theme echoed throughout the day, most notably when synod members backed a motion which paves the way to a commitment to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2030.
The motion was carried by 98 votes for, zero against, and five abstentions. It calls on the SEC's church in society committee, working in conjunction with other appropriate bodies, to bring forward a programme of actions to General Synod 2021 to resource the SEC in working towards achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2030.
Speaking after the climate change debate, Bishop Strange said: “We are now set for a year of hard work as the committee and others across the church and in our partnership organisations seek to bring to Synod a programme of actions that we know will challenge many of us.
"Clearly there will be financial implications, implications on how we look after our buildings and how we use the resources of our planet.
“I am very aware of how important this work is going to be as we strive to reach a target that will enable us to move from users of creation towards being custodian of all that the Creator has given us.”
Read more news about the Episcopal Church here.
