Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland - Church Council approves Church climate strategy: Carbon neutrality by 2030

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. The Church Council approved the Church’s energy and climate strategy, titled Carbon Neutral Church by 2030, in its meeting on Tuesday, 26 February 2019.

“Climate change is a global crisis, but it can still be contained. Through the concrete objectives set in the climate strategy, the Church will help curb climate change and promote a sustainable way of life for the good of our planet”, says Laura Riuttanen, chair of the strategy working group and a climate researcher at the University of Helsinki.

According to the working group’s estimate, most of the Church’s climate emissions are caused by the use of heating and electricity in buildings, but also come from travel and procurement. The objective is to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 80%, both in buildings and other operations. The remaining 20% are climate emissions whose mitigation is not possible either technically or financially, but which the Church seeks to compensate for anyway, for example through the carbon stock stored in parish-owned forests.

You can read more: evl.fi.