UCA Net Zero Emissions
The Uniting Church in Australia has resolved to continue the work of the Net Zero Emissions Steering Group to resource and encourage the whole church to move towards zero emissions by 2040.
Over the next triennium, the Steering Group, led by Rev Deacon Richard Arnold, will develop standardised guidelines for all parts of the church to calculate and report on Greenhouse Gas Emissions. They will conduct a feasibility study into the Uniting Church becoming a provider of carbon offsets and will further explore opportunities to work with First Nations people in achieving the targets.
The new body of work includes a mandate to network and promote resources and to facilitate an annual national Net Zero roundtable.
The Steering Group has a commitment to listen to First Nations perspectives and insights in responding to the climate crisis. Richard referenced a video interview shared by the Steering Group with Panninher man Rev Tim Matton-Johnson who said that responding to the threat upon the earth will require us to rethink “the ways we do civilisation”. In the video Tim encourages Uniting Church people to see country as our first teacher.
“Everything is connected, everything belongs, we’re all neighbours. Each part of creation is important to the whole and the whole journey of creation is God’s project. It doesn’t just belong to all humans but to all creatures”.
The proposal was presented by Assembly General Secretary (Interim) Rev Lindsay Cullen and seconded by Alison Overeem,
The Uniting Church will maintain its advocacy in the public and political space in response the climate crisis but the focus for this particular group’s work was on doing the work to make the church and its practices more sustainable.
While it was difficult to tell if the church was on track for its net zero target, Richard said many agencies were measuring and reporting their emissions as part of their annual report and urged all parts of the church to adopt similar reporting structures.
A large part of the Steering Group’s work has been to highlight the many good news stories from across the church and its agencies of those finding innovative and creative ways to reduce their impact on the environment including the Towards Zero Good News Stories hub which includes seven different examples of efforts across the church to move toward a more sustainable future.
Read the report and the proposals.
SERF (Synod Emissions Reduction Fund)
The UCA Victoria/Tasmania Synod resolved to establish a Synod Emissions Reduction Fund (SERF) “to be accessible to Congregations and Presbyteries for any spending that will reduce emissions in their operations and activities”. The Synod has set aside $100,000 as the initial funding for the SERF to enable Congregations and Presbyteries to decarbonise.
The three main considerations when applying to the fund are:
- The SERF is focusing on assisting the Synod’s target of Zero Emissions by 2040. This means that priority will be given to buildings and activities that are likely to still be part of the Synod by 2040.
- The funds will be directed to applications that make the most significant contributions to reducing emissions. This means the amount of emissions being reduced will be considered, and not any subsequent cost saving measures that may be gained.
- Due diligence. Ethical issues eg a supplier of a product who may be implicated in criminal activity, human rights abuses, or excessive environmental destructions.