Work out your church’s carbon footprint to help care for God’s creation

13/01/2025

The Church of England’s Energy Footprint Tool is now open for churches to enter energy use from 2024.

Man looks at laptop filling in energy footprint tool

The Church of England’s Energy Footprint Tool (EFT) is now open for churches to enter energy use from 2024. The data collected from the tool will help your church understand its carbon footprint and will mean you may be eligible for grants to help kickstart your net zero projects.

This work is an essential part of caring for God’s Creation, by helping to combat global heating and climate change.

The easy-to-use online tool will reveal your carbon footprint, based on the energy you use to heat and light your buildings. You can find the Energy Footprint Tool on the Online Parish Returns System.

Simply gather together your energy bills from 2024 and enter your church’s energy use figures into the online survey. This includes your actual energy consumption, as well as costs – you can find all this information on your bills.

Once you have entered all the data, you will immediately receive a report and results on your computer or smartphone. This includes the church’s carbon footprint in CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) and how this has changed in recent years.

The deadline for entries to be included in national statistics is the end of June 2025.

What's new this year?

The EFT has been updated to reflect feedback from users last year and to help the Church of England better understand all the buildings we own or use.

Key updates:

New questions have been added to find out about all the buildings in your parish. A new online Building Scope Checker Tool can help you determine which of these buildings you need to report on and what information you need to provide for each.
When you have finished your survey, you will now see a report which shows the total carbon emissions for your Parish and then the carbon emissions for each building you have reported energy use data for.
The list of approved green tariffs is changing. This has impacted whether the EFT will automatically offset some of your carbon emissions when you select a particular supplier. Look out for an extensive list of approved green energy suppliers later in the year - the Church of England has appointed specialist consultants to work on this.
You don’t need to enter work-related travel expenses information this year. (But please do keep a record of your travel expenses and mileage in 2025 as we will be collecting this information next year.)

The EFT is closing earlier this year - 30 June 2025, to give more time to analyse the data and share the results back in time for diocesan synods in the autumn.

Why did we develop the EFT?

As a Church, we have a target to meet net carbon zero by 2030. We are therefore developing a number of tools to monitor how we are progressing towards this target.

In 2020, we introduced the first of these tools – the Energy Footprint Tool, which measures the energy carbon use of churches. Since then, other tools have been created for schools, housing, cathedrals, offices, TEIs, and transport.

What is the EFT for, and where do I find it?

The easy-to-use Energy Footprint Tool will tell your church what your carbon footprint is, based on the energy you use to heat and light your buildings.

You can find it on the Online Parish Returns System.

Nationally, it helps us know our carbon baseline - where we are starting from - and how much progress we are making.

What have we learnt from the EFT so far?

The EFT helps us know our carbon baseline - where we are starting from - and how much progress we are making. Over 6000 churches entered their information in 2024. Full findings from the EFT are published within the annual Energy Toolkit Report. The most recent publication relates to the year 2021.

The 2023 and 2024 reports, reporting on energy use and emissions data in 2022 and 2023, are currently being finalised and will be published in early 2025. For earlier iterations of the Energy Toolkit and Energy Footprint Tool reports, please see our Resources, publications, and data webpage.

Opening and closing dates

The EFT opened for all churches for 2024 in January 2025, to enter your 2024 utility bills and will close 30 June 2025.

The EFT is available to all Church of England churches using the Online Parish Returns System. (St Albans churches can use an equivalent system that connects, contact your DAC.)

How does the EFT work?

The Energy Footprint Tool will tell your church the amount of carbon produced annually by heating and lighting your church buildings, based on the energy data you provide. It can take account of separate buildings such as church halls, as long as you have the utility bills for them.

Who created the EFT?

The Energy Footprint Tool was created by the Church of England Data Team in response to the call from General Synod in Feb 2019 to be able to measure the carbon footprint of the Church. It is a key step towards meeting our goal to cut our emissions and play our role in responding to the climate crisis.

How to fill out the Energy Footprint Tool - a detailed screen by screen walk through to help you fill out the tool.

Frequently Asked Questions:

What information do you need to hand to complete the EFT?

You will need your utility bills for the year before; electricity, gas, oil, or whichever other fuel you use. For example, if you are completing it in 2025, you need your 2024 bills.  If you have solar panels, information on their generation over the preceding year. 

If you want to include a separate church hall or other building, then you need the bills for this too.  If you want to exclude an area which is permanently rented out to tenants and sub-metered, you will want this information to hand. 

If your Parish owns housing then you may need to report this building (check the Building Scope Checker Tool). If you do need to report your Parish-owned housing, then you only need to provide the building’s postcode and street address: you do not need to tell us about the housing’s energy use.

How long will it take me to fill out the EFT?

Completing the EFT might take you an hour the first time you complete it, but if you have all your information to hand and have completed it before it take you as little as 20 to 30 minutes.

If you find you don’t have everything you need, you can save your progress and return to complete and submit the EFT at a later point.

Our parish is a multi-church benefice, how do I enter this in the EFT?

Each Church building in your parish should be entered separately. You can enter the EFT survey through any church in your Parish. On the first page of the EFT survey, you will see a list of all the churches in your Parish as well as any other church buildings (for example Church Halls) that have been reported by members of your Parish. From this page, you can select which buildings you want to enter data for. If surveys have already been submitted for buildings in your Parish, you will be able to view the data submitted from this page too.

How do we enter information for our church hall if it is separate from our Church?

1. Enter the EFT survey from the Church in your parish for which you would like to enter information about a separate Church Hall. To do this: Select the Church in your parish for which you would like to enter information about the Church Hall.
2. Under the Energy Footprint Tool 2023 Section, click on <View Report/Submit Data>.
3. On the first page of the survey you will see two buildings tables. The first is a table contains details Church buildings that are part of your Parish (if you are a one-church Parish, then you will only see one building in this first list). The second table contains the details of any other buildings that belong to your Parish, such as Church Halls or Parish-owned housing. If your Church Hall has previously been reported on, you can select the building in the Other Buildings table and enter its EFT data.
5. If the Church Hall hasn’t previously been reported on, you can add the Church Hall to the Other Buildings table, by selecting ‘Add a building’ at the bottom of the survey page. You will be asked to name the Church Hall and also select a Building Type from the following options:
- Church Hall/Parish Hall
- Parish-owned housing
- Other
4. Next, you select that you want to fill out a survey for this building, press Save and Start return(s) and you will be asked the EFT survey questions.

How do we enter information for our church hall, if it is in the same building as our Church, with only one meter?

Select the Church in your parish for which you would like to enter information about a combined Church-Church Hall.
Under the Energy Footprint Tool 2023 Section, click on <View Report/Submit Data>.
On the first page of the survey you will see two buildings tables. The first is a table contains details Church buildings that are part of your Parish (if you are a one-church Parish, then you will only see one building in this first list). The second table contains the details of any other buildings that belong to your Parish, such as Church Halls or Parish-owned housing.
You record information about the Combined Church-Church Hall in the first table. Go to the Church building which is combined with its Church Hall on a shared meter. Under the Building Type section of the table, in the drop down menu select ‘Church and Church Hall/Parish Hall combined (shared meter).
From here you enter EFT survey data as normal, by selecting this building from your Buildings table and then selecting ‘Save and Start return(s)’.

We don’t own or pay energy bills for any buildings. Should I still complete the EFT?

No, not currently.

In previous years we have asked churches to provide information about any work-related travel. This year, we have paused data collection on this element of our carbon emissions in order to refine our data collection methods. In future years, you may have to fill out a survey on work-related travel.

How can I tell if my electricity supply is single or 3 phase in order to answer this question in the EFT?

The best way to tell if a property has a three phase supply is by looking at the electrical fuse.

Check your electrical meter, meters are sometimes labelled “Single-Phase,” “Mono-Phase,” or “1-Phase” and 3-phase supplies sometimes say “3-Phase,” “Tri-Phase,” or “Polyphase.

Count 3 fuses for 3-phase or 1 fuse for single-phase.

Or your utility bill may say what type of power you have.

If you do not know the answer to this question, please do not guess, but select the option “I don’t know”.

Which green energy providers 'count' for EFT purposes?

The Energy Footprint Tool calculate the carbon footprint of your energy use (oil, gas, electricity). It shows both the ‘gross’ and ‘net’ carbon footprint. The gross figure represents all the energy your church has used, whilst the net figure deducts any electricity or gas which is either generated on-site or purchased from a 100% renewable tariff meeting certain criteria.

The list of companies meeting these criteria is reviewed each year.

You can find here the list of providers who meet the criteria in 2024.

This list is backward looking, applying to 2024 utility data entered into the EFT in 2025.

How do I exclude an area which is permanently rented out to tenants and sub-metered?

To exclude an area of a building which is permanently rented out to tenants and sub-metered, you will need both your main energy bills and the sub-metering bills.

To complete the EFT you will need to subtract the sub-metered energy from your total energy use for the year and record this value in the EFT.

Can I generate a report to print out and take to our APCC meeting?

Yes, on the Energy Footprint Results or Summary Screen, select the option <Print/Download Report>.

Clicking this button will produce a pdf of your energy footprint results which can be taken to your APCC meeting for discussion.

To save this report, follow the instructions in the pop-up window.

Is the EFT linked to the Climate Steward's Carbon 360 tool?

The link from the EFT to Climate Stewards Carbon 360 tool is currently not working, but work is in progress to resolve this.

When fixed the Carbon 360 tool will pull through data from your Church’s EFT record for this year and pre-populate this information, as long as you have completed and submitted an EFT for your Church.

Can I enter energy data for previous years if this wasn’t entered before, or correct data which I know now is incorrect?

If you notice that EFT information for previous years are incorrect or missing for your church, please feel free to provide this information either directly to your diocesan office contact, or directly to the Data Services team, by emailing [email protected].

The easiest way to share the necessary information, is by completing a paper return - available above or on the parish returns login page.

Can I see our previous EFT entries?

Select the Church in your parish for which you would like to see previous information.
Use the menu <View Data> at the top of the EFT screen, from this dropdown menu, select <Archived Returns>.
You can view EFT return data if it was previously submitted by clicking on ‘View’ under the relevant year in the Energy Footprint Tool column.
The EFT Results Page for the data submitted in that year is displayed.
To see individual fields entered and calculated for that year, click ‘Show/Hide’ under the “Submit Data” section.

I have realised that a mistake was made in completing the EFT after it was submitted, what should I do?

If the EFT is still open, you can edit the data and re-submit it as follows.

Select the Church in your parish for which you would like to see previous information.
Under the Energy Footprint Tool 2023 Section, click on <View Report/Submit Data>.
Click on the <Unsubmit> option.
Confirm that you would like to unsubmit this entry by clicking <OK> in the pop-up dialogue box.
Click on the <Enter Data> option, you can then walk through the entry form and correct your mistake.
Please remember to click <Submit> again when you have completed your corrections.

I need help completing the EFT, where can I find help?

If you get stuck you can find help in the following ways:

If it relates to how to fill in the forms click on the “?” help symbols you will find throughout the forms.
If it relates to getting access to the system or if you want to let someone know about problems with historic data contact your diocesan office.
If you think the system is not doing what it should be then use the Report Problem / Give Feedback facility at the bottom of each page.

Once we know our carbon footprint, what next?

The tool also offers some helpful tips to reduce your carbon emissions. Using the tool each year will help you to track the impact of the different steps you are taking to reduce your carbon footprint.

You can use the Practical Path to Net Zero Carbon to plan your action, and our Net Zero Carbon church webpage to get informed. Refer to our net-zero carbon webinar programme and see how Parish Buying can support you.