|PIC1|The Methodist Church’s New Year resolution is to cut its carbon emissions by 10 per cent within one year.

The Church signed up this week to the 10:10 campaign that aims to unite individuals, businesses and other organisations in reducing their carbon emissions to help the UK reach an overall 10 per cent cut in its carbon emissions by the end of the year.

Staff at Methodist Church House in London have committed to reducing their energy use by 10 per cent this year by turning off lights and computers when they are not in use and considering different methods of travel within the UK and internationally.

General Secretary of the Methodist Church, the Rev Dr Martyn Atkins, said: “We begin to change the world when we change our lives and lifestyles.

“It is absolutely right, then, that as Christian disciples heeding God’s command to be good stewards of the planet, and increasingly ‘earth keepers’ rather than ‘earth eaters’, we commit ourselves to joining the 10:10 campaign.

“Together we can make a small but significant change and express hope in God’s future.”

The Methodist Church has already taken several steps towards being more energy efficient, by replacing desk printers with shared printers and introducing recycling bins.

It plans to invest in a new building management system and is exploring the possibility of PIR (passive infrared sensor) lighting.

The decision to join 10:10 has been welcomed by the campaign’s faith coordinator, Tamsin Omond.

“It is great to have the Methodist Church joining the initiative. Faith groups have recently had a strong voice on this issue and turning words into action is essential to tackle the global problem of climate change,” she said.

“All our personal actions reinforce the message to our governments regarding the scale of ambition that we expect from international agreements.”

The Methodist Church is encouraging the wider Church to join 10:10.

On the web: www.1010uk.org