Work out your church’s carbon footprint to help care for God’s creation
The Church of England’s Energy Footprint Tool allows churches to enter fuel and power use from the previous year. In 2025, 90% of churches in Ely Diocese completed the Energy Footprint Tool - we would love to get that number even higher!
Why the EFT Matters
Every footprint we leave behind shapes God’s creation. Recording your energy use is an unseen but essential act of caring for people and the planet. By measuring and reducing energy use, we take practical steps to combat the impact of climate change and live out our calling to love our neighbours.
Completing the EFT is a simple but powerful way to support the Church of England’s shared journey to net zero. Each year’s data builds a clearer picture of our carbon footprint and helps us act more strategically together.
How Completing the EFT Helps Your Church
Filling in the EFT gives your church:
- A clear understanding of your energy use
See where energy is used across the year and spot where reductions could be made. - Insights to reduce costs
The tool can highlight areas where energy may be wasted, helping you make wise, targeted decisions that could lower bills. - Access to national net zero funding
EFT completion is now an essential requirement for parishes wishing to apply for national funding. - A role in the national picture
Your data contributes to understanding how the Church of England is progressing towards our net zero 2030 commitment.
Together, every submission helps build a more accurate national picture of carbon use across our churches.
Key dates
The EFT closing date is 30 June 2026, to give time to analyse the data and share the results back in time for diocesan synods in the autumn
We’re asking parishes to fill in the EFT before 31 May 2026. After which we will be contacting parishes directly. The aim is for 90% of parishes to submit their EFT.
Who Can Complete the EFT?
Anyone with access to your church’s energy bills can complete the survey, including:
- Treasurer
- Churchwarden
- Administrator
- PCC member responsible for buildings or finance
It usually takes less than an hour.
What You’ll Need
To complete the EFT, you’ll need:
- Your Parish Returns login information - This is the same login as for your church’s Finance and Mission Returns. Alternatively, you can arrange a separate login for your church’s EFT Returns by emailing jackie.williamson@elydiocese.org, please allow 2 working days for this to be arranged.
- Gas, electricity and other fuel bills covering January–December 2025
- Readings or billing information for each supply - You will also want to know which tariff you have with your energy provider, i.e. is it a green (or renewable energy) tariff or a standard (fossil fuel) tariff – as this information is not always provided on the energy bills themselves.
- Basic details about your building(s) - 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.
- If you have solar panels, find information on their generation over the preceding year.
You can save your progress and return at any time during the open window.
Start your EFT
- Explore our step-by-step guide below, FAQs, and “how-to” resources designed to support you every step of the way.
- You can also find answers to EFT FAQs here (click through and scroll down to the bottom of the webpage).
- Please contact our Net Zero Carbon Officer, Sacha Watson on sacha.watson@elydiocese.org, if you need any further assistance.
Click Here to complete the EFT
