THE diocese of Guildford has reported a milestone in its carbon-neutral journey with more than half of its parishes having received an Eco Church award for their progress.

The bronze, silver, and gold awards have been given to 105 churches across 92 of the diocese’s 156 parishes by the environmental charity A Rocha UK. The advancement means that Guildford diocese is aligned with the national Church of England strategy to reach net zero by 2030 and affirms it as among “the top dioceses for the highest number of Gold Eco Church awards”.

A recent celebration for silver- and gold-accredited churches in the diocese was hosted by the Bishop of Dorking, the Rt Revd Paul Davies. “We used the occasion to gather some of our silver Eco-Church award holders to hear about what ‘going for gold’ looks like. It was a day of encouragement, inspiration, and sharing stories, which was a great blessing to all present.” He said that the diocese now has six parishes with the Gold Eco Church award.

St John’s, Egham, which has achieved gold status, was represented by the parish’s Eco team leader, Chris Gray. “We are encouraged to receive the award, as it is a tangible recognition of the work of a large range of individuals focused on the differing elements of creation care,” he said.

“We have followed a very varied route and believe the focus on community engagement through our annual Eco Fayre and weekly Community Fridge have been particularly important to our church life. We have also made some great improvements in our churchyard and are currently in the process of installing a heat pump; so St John’s seems a very different place to when we started out.”

Parishes can apply for an Eco Church survey pathway in the Buildings and Energy and Land and Nature categories. A Rocha is currently working on its Eco Diocese Gold Award criteria. To attain silver, a diocese must have “10 per cent of local churches awarded silver or higher”.

Speaking in the House of Lords in April, the Bishop of Southwark, the Rt Revd Christopher Chessun, spoke of “an exceptionally challenging target set by General Synod of achieving net zero by 2030” (News, 10 April).

ecochurch.arocha.org.uk