Churches can play an important role in the transition to Net Zero, not only because of their building stock but also because of their value as community hubs. This guide explores the barriers churches face when pursuing decarbonisation and highlights how local authorities can support faith organisations through technical assistance, funding, partnership working, and project development support to achieve both climate and community outcomes:

• Recognise churches as valuable Net Zero partners, with over 42,800 places of worship in England and Wales, many occupying large, energy-intensive buildings with significant retrofit potential.
• Address common barriers, including limited technical expertise, constrained budgets, difficulty funding feasibility work, and challenges navigating planning, permissions, and grant processes.
• Support robust project development, ensuring churches undertake appropriate feasibility studies and avoid investing in technologies that may not suit historic or listed buildings.
• Encourage knowledge sharing and capacity building by connecting churches with Net Zero Hubs, community energy organisations, VCSE networks, and trusted technical advisers.
• Provide practical support measures, such as small feasibility grants, demonstration projects, and access to decarbonisation programmes that might otherwise be focused on households.
• Highlight the wider social benefits of decarbonisation, as demonstrated by a North Yorkshire church project that reduced energy costs while supporting services including a school uniform bank, breakfast club, and community support activities.
• Consider aggregated delivery models, which can bundle multiple church projects into a single programme, reducing costs, attracting suppliers, and improving access to funding.
• Learn from the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority programme, where funding supported decarbonisation measures across 20 community-use churches, including solar PV, battery storage, heat pumps, insulation, and LED lighting.
• Treat churches as community infrastructure, where investment in decarbonisation can simultaneously reduce emissions, improve building resilience, and sustain valued local services.