Silver for Ely

Ely Cathedral has been awarded an Eco Church Silver Award, in recognition of the steps the Cathedral is taking in implementing a more environmentally friendly approach in its day to day operations and ministry.

Ely Cathedral Wins National Eco Church Award

The Silver award is part of the Eco Church scheme created by A Rocha UK, a charity committed to mobilising Christians to care for nature. The award, which is renewable every 3 years, provides a unique online survey enabling churches to gauge their contribution to the environment and society and grades their responses accordingly. In 2019, Ely Cathedral was aiming for a Bronze award but ongoing improvements and awareness meant we were able to go straight for the Silver award.

Awards are based on performance in the areas of worship and teaching, buildings, land, community and global engagement, and lifestyle. For example, the Cathedral was recently able to officially acknowledge that all the energy used to keep the building working and functional, comes from renewable resources.

The Revd Dr Jenny Gage, Minister for Social Justice at Ely Cathedral, is particularly delighted with the news

“We are all very happy that Ely Cathedral has been awarded the A Rocha silver eco church award, which recognises our commitment, as part of our mission, to safeguard the integrity of creation, and to sustain and renew the life of the earth. This reflects dedication from all areas of the Cathedral community – congregations, volunteers and staff. However this work is ongoing. Next step – Gold! “

The Very Revd Mark Bonney, Dean of Ely said

“We should all be immensely proud of the work that has been done, and continues to be so, by the Ely Cathedral Environment Group, Renew. The projects they are involved in are varied from organised monthly litter picks around the city to planning for sustainable wildflower meadows and orchards and other exciting plans to help us become carbon neutral within 10 years. “

For further information on the Cathedral Environment Group, Renew, please visit their website.

Photo by James Billings. Brilliant.