God bless,  

Rosalind 

Rosalind Cooper

Net Zero Carbon Programme Manager 

All churches are invited to apply to the Church Buildings Grant Scheme, which remains open until Friday, October 31. It’s a simple process – you submit one application to the Diocese, who will assess its eligibility against three funds, including the Net Zero Carbon Quick Wins fund. You can find out more and download the form and supporting materials here. This piece from the National Church also provides some useful inspiration for Quick Wins projects in churches of varying sizes.

The next cohort on the Saving Creation Course began their Gold training in September, and we send our prayers and well wishes to those taking the next step on their environmental mission, and to those leading the courses. A reminder that the 2-hour Saving Creation Bronze course is online, self-paced, and open to all. Find out more and enrol on the course here on our new Moodle learning platform. If you have any queries, please contact Anne Payne, Lay Training Administrator.  

Alasdair Hicks has joined the Diocese as Net Zero Carbon Church Buildings Support Officer. Alasdair will focus on guiding churches through decarbonization works and sustainability improvements and he can be contacted at alasdair.hicks@leeds.anglican.org. We will give him a full introduction in the next issue of God’s Green Fingers, but until then, welcome to the Diocese of Leeds, Alasdair! 

Church and Voluntary Aided schools are key players in the Diocesan decarbonization journey, both in terms of reducing Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, and, just as importantly, educating the next generation of environmental stewards. We were therefore delighted to welcome 19 schools recently for a ‘Let’s Go Zero’ Workshop, where they wrote their education-setting-specific Climate Action Plans, and look forward to the next time we run these workshops. If you work with schools in the Diocese and would like to get them involved in Net Zero plans, please direct them to these Saving Creation resources or contact info.ed@leeds.anglican.org.  

The Great British Energy Community Fund is inviting faith groups to apply to funding for clean power projects that benefit their local areas. These community energy projects can receive up to £140,000 towards feasibility and development grants. More information, guidance and application documents can be found here. The closing date for applications is Wednesday, November 12. 

There are currently around 270 grants filed under “environment and sustainability” and 250 grants under “net-zero” on Cornerstone, the Church of England’s grant database platform. This free resource is constantly updated, so remember to keep checking it for new grants that churches are invited to apply for. You can find out more and watch a platform walkthrough here.

The cross-denominational Christian climate charity, Operation Noah, is seeking new Trustees to help lead their “mission to inspire and equip the Church to take action on climate change”. The closing date is Friday, November 28, and more information can be found here.

The North East and Yorkshire Net Zero Hub holds frequent online and in-person events designed to support organisations and individuals across the region strive towards sustainability. The free ‘Energy Climate Ambassadors’ might be particularly of interest for those of you supporting your church to decarbonise, increase energy efficiency and cut costs. Find out more and sign up here.

Ever found yourself wishing there was a map showing renewable energy installation across the Church of England? There is! You can access the map here. If you have a renewable energy installation at your church and you’re not currently on the map, request an update here.

A reminder that the National Church has recorded some helpful webinars covering everything from net zero fundraising, to the ‘basics of heat pumps’, to ‘successfully navigating the faculty system’. The webinars are designed to help churches and schools work towards the Church’s ambitious net zero carbon emissions target set in 2020 by General Synod, and are available here. If you have questions that the webinars don’t answer, please do feel free to contact Rosalind (NZC Programme Manager).

Is your church considering installing LED lighting and/or solar panels on its path to net zero? Written by the Church Buildings Council, these ‘Brief Guides To’ are an essential resource for anyone wanting to understand the various factors to consider before implementing these net zero solutions. The guide for LED lighting can be found here, and for solar panels here.

During the recent season of Creationtide, the Church of England announced the ‘Great Switch for Creation’, an encouragement to churches to switch to green energy tariffs. More information about the campaign, including which tariffs the National Church has approved as ‘Basic/Better/Best’ green tariffs, can be found here. The Diocese of Leeds continues to work closely with Green Journey to ensure that our churches have access to as many green energy tariffs as possible, including those on the National Church’s approved list. A reminder that we advise churches against buying long-term energy contracts with cold callers or door-to-door salespeople. It is instead advisable to purchase energy contracts from appropriate agents that will represent your church’s best interests. We would encourage churches to contact us with any questions they may have about these issues.  

Green Christian is holding prayer meetings throughout the UN Climate Summit ‘Conference of the Parties 30’, more commonly known as COP30. Join them on Zoom at 8am from Monday, November 10 to Saturday, November 22 to ask for God’s blessing on these meetings that come at such a crucial time for our human and non-human neighbours across creation. Register here and find out more about COP30 in this wonderful infographic from the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit. Green Christian has also recently released a new section of their website entitled ‘Why Care for Creation’, which can be found here.

Congratulations to the Parish Church of St Wilfrid in Harrogate, which was featured in the national Environment Newsletter for the Church of England. Read their story here and subscribe to the newsletter here.

Send us your sustainability success stories for the next edition of God’s Green Fingers. The deadline is Wednesday, January 6 2026.  

Black to Green Festival - Saturday, October 25 to Sunday, November 2

10am-5pm at National Coal Mining Museum. There’s something for all ages – recycled crafts, meet the minibeasts, nature storytelling, theatre performances, guided tree walks, and a chance to discover how our amazing reed beds naturally clean the orange mine water. See the new youth-curated exhibition ‘Roots & Renewal’ exploring the journey of mining landscapes from black to green. Details here.

Share Skipton Repair Cafés - Saturday, October 25

10am-1pm at St Andrew’s Church, Skipton. Repairs are free. A voluntary donation for your repair is welcome! Details here.

Delivering Energy Advice in the Community - Tuesday, November 4

10.30am-12pm online. This Energy Learning Network session will introduce why community-led energy advice and support is needed to tackle barriers to engagement, and support underserved and fuel poor communities as well as able-to-pay households. Details here.

Eco Energy Fair - Saturday, November 8

10am-2pm at St James' Church, Wetherby. Free entry. Displays, presentations, refreshments, craft thrift sale and more. Details here.

Creation Groans: Christ Calls - Tuesday, November 18

7pm-9pm at Leeds Trinity University. Grieve with creation, listen for the Spirit, and commit together to walk in Christlike ways. Details here.

Insuring for Climate Change - Wednesday, November 26

1pm-2pm online. Hosted by Diocese of Portsmouth. Joseph Davies, Church Support Manager with Ecclesiastical, will take us through some quick wins alongside the wider considerations for risk management and insurance when undertaking larger net zero projects. Details here.

Saving our Heritage from Climate Change - Wednesday, November 26

7.30pm at Friends Meeting House, Harrogate. The Skell Valley Project bears witness to the benefits of working with nature, controlling extreme river floods and empowering the local community, to make the valley landscape resilient to future weather extremes. Details here.

Congratulations to those churches who have achieved Eco Church awards since the last issue of God’s Green Fingers. You can find out more about the Eco Church scheme here or by speaking with our Eco Mission Enablers.

Eco Church Bronze Awards:

Burnsall St Wilfrid; Calverley St Wilfrid; King Cross St Paul; Mirfield St Mary;

Silsden St James; Slaithwaite St James.  

Eco Church Silver Awards:

Bishop Thornton St John the Evangelist; Harrogate St Peter; Thornes St James; Wakefield St John; West Bowling St Stephen.  

June 2025 has been reported as the first month in history where solar power was the main source of electricity in the EU.

French Polynesia has declared the creation of the largest marine park in the world. It’s planned to be the size of the EU!

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