By Bob Downs
In our 2024 General Conference, The United Methodist Church adopted two resolutions calling for the church to achieve net zero emissions of greenhouse gases. The first resolution, Recognizing United Methodist Support for Global Green New Deal Initiatives and Legislative Efforts, was originally drafted for the General Conference scheduled for 2020, and it addresses a variety of efforts to care for God’s creation. The second resolution, Commitment to Net-Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions, focuses on the denomination and individual churches meeting the net-zero emission standard by 2050.
Both resolutions were adopted in 2024 by an overwhelmingly positive vote of 686 to 36; this update will focus on the second resolution.
The Commitment to Net-Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions reflects language used in model resolutions submitted to and adopted by some annual conferences, including West Ohio, in 2023. The resolution acknowledges our failure to properly steward creation, asks God’s help in rectifying the situation, and calls for every level of our denominational polity (read the resolution) to reach net-zero emissions or better on or before 2050.
This resolution recognizes the 2021 commitment of our 12 boards, agencies, and commissions to reach net-zero emissions in their respective business areas and the endorsement of this commitment by the Council of Bishops in the same year. The resolutions extend this commitment to jurisdictions, annual conferences, and individual churches throughout the UMC. They are now in the newly published 2024 Book of Resolutions.
Since the action of the 12 boards, agencies, and commissions provided incentive for the resolutions, it makes sense to follow their progress and use their “best practices” in implementing net-zero efforts throughout the church.
The group collectively is known as United Methodist Interagency Just and Equitable Net-Zero Coalition. As reported in their progress report dated April 2022, the participating agencies created a core team co-chaired by the Rev. Jenny Phillips, Global Ministries’ senior technical advisor for environmental sustainability, and Jake Barnett, Wespath’s Director of Sustainable Investment Stewardship. “The team includes staff from Global Ministries, Church and Society, Higher Education and Ministry, United Women in Faith, United Methodist Communications and Wespath with an open invitation to other agency representatives who wish to participate. This team meets bimonthly to organize the overall effort and to coordinate training and education opportunities to equip agencies in planning and implementing the work.” Three foci of the effort are greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting, equity and justice, and communications.
Essential to reducing emissions to net zero is knowing one’s baseline emission levels, measuring changes, and reporting results. Each agency is in the process of determining its GHG footprint using principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change GHG Protocol to measure and track emission sources and the EPA Energy Star Portfolio Manager to track emissions from individual buildings. To help in identifying knowledgeability of actions needed, agencies responded to a questionnaire (Final Questions – Interagency Net Zero GHG Report 2022, page 6) and determined direct and indirect emission sources. Using this information, they will calculate current emission levels and set plans and targets for interim reductions.
Early results of the various agency efforts are reported in the April 2022 progress report cited above. Specific sources are grouped into four general categories: Ministries (or Programs), Facilities, Operations, and Investments. Sources may be direct or indirect but should include all activities that generate GHGs (such as furnaces, lawn mowers, autos, aircraft, paints and solvents), equipment that utilizes energy generated elsewhere by GHG producing processes (all electrical appliances), items created and distributed using GHG energy sources, and investments that benefit from GHG energy sources.
In all cases, timing must be considered. Using existing dishes for a church dinner need only account for dishwashing energy, while use of Styrofoam requires consideration of creation, transportation, and recycling energy costs. Similarly, an old gas furnace need not account for creation and installation costs, but it does incur costs of operations (GHGs burned) throughout its lifetime.
Creating these lists is only the beginning of the net-zero process. Each source must be analyzed for method and difficulty and timing of replacement/substitution. This process need not be cost prohibitive if good planning is employed.
Good planning includes
- Identify low cost initiatives and implement them immediately.
- Focus on high-payback sources for midterm action and budget accordingly.
- Finally, replace high-cost equipment when it fails, but research efficient solutions in advance and be ready to execute when needed (such as if the furnace dies on Christmas Eve).
This effort may seem daunting, and it would be if tackled alone. However, church, community, and governmental agencies can provide help and guidance, and maybe even some financial assistance, if properly pursued.
Ultimately, we must remember this is a church action. As noted in the Progress Report,
“Simply attaining net-zero emissions could perpetuate the burden on communities that are suffering from our systems of extraction, production and waste. That is why equity and justice are at the core of the net-zero commitment. As the commitment states, in reducing emissions, agencies, and commissions will support a just and equitable transition that “dismantles structural barriers to racial and gender equity and builds resilient, flourishing communities.”
We need to communicate our intentions and celebrate our successes as God grants them.
Robert Downs, a United Methodist Earthkeeper active in the UM Creation Justice Movement and in West Ohio Conference Creation Care, is the writer of the Commitment to Net-Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions resolution, which passed at General Conference in 2024.