Churches are being encouraged by the Provincial Environment Group to sign up for HeatHack workshops as part of the Scottish Episcopal Church journey towards Net Zero emissions by 2030.

The SEC is working in partnership with HeatHack, an organisation which arranges facilitated group sessions for community groups – such as churches – to help them understand what a net zero future holds for their own buildings.

A number of SEC churches have already signed up for workshops, and any churches unsure about what to do next to address Net Zero targets can get help by engaging with this helpful resource.

The workshops are based on the HeatHack programme funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Ingenious programme and already running across the UK. HeatHack have adapted a programme specifically for the SEC, and workshops are available which will address two of the ten ‘petals’ of the SEC Net Zero plan – energy efficient improvements, and clean energy – to help with the practical use of energy on the premises.

The workshops are for a group of six to ten people from within a congregation. They should take around six hours to complete in total, split over a few sessions. They have three key objectives:

Help groups to reason about what is right for their building;
Help groups to document their reasoning, to assist when approaches are made to professional bodies and grant funding organisations;
Create a structure to find ways that those involved in achieving Net Zero at local level can talk to each other and listen to each other, to allow them to reach a consensus about what to do at their church.

An introductory webinar explaining the process was held in October, led by Jean Carletta of HeatHack. You can watch Jean’s introduction here: Net Zero Workshops – Introductory Webinar – YouTube

If your congregation wants to sign up to participate in HeatHack workshops, you can start the process using the link below – just say “yes” when it asks about the Scottish Episcopal Church:

Sign Up Form for Churches and Community Groups

For further details of HeatHack’s work, including the HeatHack Guide Book and full programme details, click here.

For those churches looking to access the Net Zero Toolkit and associated Net Zero Cards, click here.

This updated version of the toolkit aims to:

Provide an overview of Net Zero, how the Scottish Episcopal Church has defined this, and the values that have guided the approach.
Help churches identify specific tasks that they can take in order to work towards Net Zero 2030.
Demonstrate where help and support are available, including third party tools and resources
Provide a simple guide to the process – recognising that no one size fits all.