Burnside Blairbeth Church have compiled a report on Creation Care & Environmental Stewardship which makes very interesting reading and might provide a model for other churches wishing to report on their own environmental work.

This pattern is reflected in our carbon footprint which amounted to a total of 122 tonnes for 2011-12: circa 84% of this came from Burnside and circa 78% of the Burnside contribution came from gas.

This energy use comes with a cost, both to us as a church financially and to the environment in terms of carbon footprint and the depletion of natural resources.

So, are we achieving the 5% year-on-year reduction in carbon footprint expected from us? The data in the appended tables and graph certainly show that 2011-12 was better than recent years before that. However, given that 2010-11 was such a poor year for energy conservation, it may not be prudent to compare future energy use against that year. Rather, we should perhaps compare the 2011-12 data with the average (mean) values for the last eight years. If we do this, the total carbon emission for Burnside and RM for 2011-12 represents a reduction of 6.2% on the 8-y average value and the corresponding values for Burnside only and RM only represent a reduction of 9.3% for Burnside and an increase of 14.5% for RM.

You can get a copy of the full report here: PDF | Web Viewable