Church Launches Electric Vehicle Charging Scheme

Wednesday November 10 2021

THE Church of Scotland has begun work to explore the installation of electric vehicle charging points in church grounds across the country.

The project, codenamed EVe for Electric Vehicles, is part of the Kirk’s Net Zero by 2030 plans, and comes as delegates at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow focus on transport issues today (Wednesday).

The first step in the project will be surveys to check the feasibility of installing a charge point in each of the 16 churches across Fife, Edinburgh, Glasgow and the West which have signed up for the pilot. These are expected to start on November 15.

Once installed, the charging points would be available for local people to use, facilitating a move to electric cars and raising funds for congregations to address needs in their local communities.

The Moderator of the General Assembly yesterday visited Wellington Church in Glasgow, which is one of the churches that is looking at installing a charging point. Lord Wallace is in Glasgow attending COP26 as a member of the World Council of Churches delegation. He said: “This is a very welcome initiative. Sustainable transport is on the official agenda for COP this Wednesday, and Scotland has a long road to go, with transport accounting for 37% of our greenhouse gas emissions, with 69% of this coming from road transport. Electric vehicles, along with more active travel, will be part of the solution.”

Lord Wallace was joined by Wellington’s Assisting Minister (OLM), the Rev Dr Roger Sturrock, Robin Green, Wellington Church’s Eco-Congregations Co-ordinator, and Rebecca Gebauer, a member at Wellington. Rebecca, who also sits on the Kirk’s Faith Impact Forum,  said: “I am excited that Wellington have signed up to be part of this pilot. I think a charging point fits into Wellington’s commitment as an eco-congregation. A lot of our members have plans to switch to electric cars when their next car purchase is due and some have done so already. Having a charging point at the church would support these commitments.”

Also at the launch today was Nigel Williams, founder of Project EVe and director of a vehicle leasing company which supplies cars to ministers. Nigel said: “It’s my dream to see charging points installed at every church in the land. This is a real opportunity for the Church to be in the vanguard of environmental policy, when the eyes of the world are on Scotland for COP26. This is the most exciting thing I’ve done in my life. When I first started supplying cars to ministers 25 years ago, I never imagined I might have such a potentially significant role in the stewardship of creation.”

For more information contact Clare at Faith Action on cflenley@churchofscotland.org.uk 

Post Tags: cop26

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