The Connexional Team of the Methodist Church becomes the first Carbon Literate Church Group

The process started in 2024 and the Methodist Church has set a target of becoming net zero by 2030. The goal to protect God’s world and enable the flourishing of creation is something which sits across all the work of the Church, and the Connexional Team which supports it, and thus helping staff to grow in knowledge and understanding of these issues is crucial in fulfilling our role supporting this priority of the Methodist Church in Britain.

Carbon Literacy is the awareness of the carbon costs and impacts of everyday activities, and the ability and motivation to reduce emissions, on an individual, community and organisational basis.

To become a Bronze Carbon Literate Organisation, the Connexional Team:

• Registered the training programme ‘Carbon Literacy for Congregations’, developed together with the Church of England.
• Have an organisational leader certified as Carbon Literate – Doug Godfrey-Swanney, the Connexional Secretary, was in the first group to be trained.
• Put in place a plan for future training – as of July 2025, 37 members of the Connexional Team have become Carbon Literate, and no less than 74 pledges were made to reduce carbon emissions within the Connexional Team.
• Put in place a plan to measure impacts and outcomes of the training – this will primarily be through measurements, including building energy use and travel emissions, but we also have a page on MS Teams where registered colleagues can talk about their pledges and the progress they’ve made.

The Methodist Church in Britain is committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2030 through various initiatives. One of these initiatives is promoting Carbon Literacy among its members. Additionally, 897 churches are registered with A Rocha UK, including 14 that have received Gold Awards. The Connexional Team has also recently relocated to sustainable offices in London.