Launched in December 2020, Guardians of Creation is a collaborative project that aims to help the Catholic community in England and Wales work towards a carbon-neutral and more sustainable future, inspired by the teachings of Laudato Si’.
During 2020 there was a great deal of discussion nationally about ‘net-zero’ targets and ‘carbon neutrality’. It became clear that a conversation was needed as to what this meant to the Catholic Church and how to go about addressing the issues raised. In response, the Guardians of Creation project was developed over the course by representatives from the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, CAFOD, the Laudato Si’ Movement, St Mary’s University and the Diocese of Salford.
Launched in December 2020, Guardians of Creation is a collaborative project that aims to help the Catholic community in England and Wales work towards a carbon-neutral and more sustainable future, inspired by the teachings of Laudato Si’.
In 2019, the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales set out their commitment to respond to the ecological crisis in their statement Guardians of God’s Creation. In this document, they pledged to avoid the worst consequences of ecological crisis by immediately engaging on what they described as the ‘long path to renewal’.
Now, the Guardians of Creation project is helping to turn the Bishops’ objectives into concrete action, developing a body of guidance that can be implemented by dioceses in the UK to help them make decisions about their decarbonisation journey. The team regularly consult with dioceses to ensure that the work they produce is as relevant as possible to everyone – listening to as wide a group as possible.
Diocesan staff, environmental leads and groups, priests, religious, parishioners and school groups have all had something to say, and there has been wider involvement from team members in interfaith projects. Already there has been a huge amount of activity from the grassroots to the Vatican, and the support the team has received has been phenomenal, for which they are grateful.
The first report produced, ‘Guidance on developing strategy for decarbonising Catholic diocesan building stocks’, was issued in June 2021 to help diocesan teams think through the challenges of decarbonisation for their buildings. The writing and discussion of this report has raised several questions that the team are working on. In some cases, they have been able to make suggestions quickly, but for more fundamental questions it is still a work-in-progress. This is, of course, precisely what the project is for. The process of decarbonising a diocese is not simple, and finding ways to integrate new ways of doing things will never be quick and easy, but by drawing on a wealth of experience the project is making a lot of progress.
Most of the resources produced are at a management level, but the consultation and implementation of this work extends to the whole diocesan family, and Guardians of Creation have worked with the Ecological Conversion Group on their parish facing work.
The research project itself is a collaborative effort by the Diocese of Salford, St Mary’s University and the Laudato Si’ Research Institute. The project team also works with the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at The University of Manchester, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, Diocesan Environmental Leads, Interdiocesan Fuel Management, the Ecological Conversion Group, CAFOD, the Jesuits in Britain, the Laudato Si’ Movement and Churchmarketplace amongst others.
During the lifetime of this project, guidance will continue being issued on practical elements of sustainable change, like carbon accounting and environmental management within a diocese, social and theological aspects of sustainability in the Catholic Church and practical environmental action within schools.
You can download parish-facing resources produced by the Ecological Conversion Group.
If you are interested in reading guidance on developing strategy for decarbonising Catholic diocesan building stocks, you can download a PDF provided by St Mary’s.
Guardians of Creation – Decarbonising Guidance
The Salford team are always interested in receiving offers of help or ideas. You can contact them by emailing: decarbonisation@dioceseofsalford.org.uk
Guidelines to help Catholic dioceses measure a baseline carbon footprint
How the Bishops' Conference is responding to the ecological crisis we are facing.
