Guardians of Creation Project

Helping the Catholic Church implement transformative responses to the ecological crisis.

The Guardians of Creation Project is an interdisciplinary, multi-institutional research programme investigating the technical, sociological, organisational, and theological paths to sustainable and ecologically sensitive change in the Catholic Church. The project offers guidance on many aspects of how faith-based organisations can respond to the ecological crisis and has a special focus on Catholic diocesan decarbonisation.

The project was first developed to support the ecological objectives of Catholic bishops in the UK and across the Global North. In 2015, Pope Francis published his landmark encyclical Laudato si’, calling on all people of goodwill worldwide to respond to the ‘cry of the earth’. In 2019, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales set out its commitment to avoiding the worst consequences of the ecological crisis in their statement , from which this project took its name.

In 2022, the Bishops’ Conference reviewed and updated its 2002 statement, , which emphasised the responsibility of England and Wales, and all rich countries, to contribute to limiting the effects of climate breakdown by participating in the energy transition. Then, in the same year, the Bishops’ Conference passed a , asking that all Catholic dioceses in England and Wales establish a methodology for carbon accounting, and declare their targets for decarbonisation. In that resolution, the bishops invited all dioceses to draw on the work of the Guardians of Creation Project as they set out on the road to decarbonisation.

Resources

We have produced a systematic framework for decarbonising the Catholic Church in the UK. Despite its development in the UK, the framework has applicability to faith-based organisations anywhere in the world, especially organisations looking to translate Laudato si’ into practical action. We present the framework as a suite of seven reports and some supplementary materials, each dealing with a separate aspect of diocesan decarbonisation.

Guidance on developing strategy for decarbonising Catholic diocesan building stocks

Guidance on Catholic diocesan carbon accounting

Understanding Catholic parishioners' responses to the ecological crisis

Resources from our partners

Partners

The project is a partnership between the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salford, St Mary’s University, and the Laudato Si’ Research Institute at Campion Hall, Oxford University. The partnership is also supported by the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of Manchester, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, the Global Catholic Climate Movement, CAFOD, the Jesuits in Britain, the European Climate Foundation, and others. The project has received funding from several partners, including the Community Lottery Fund, Electricity North West, and the Assumption Legacy Fund. Since the beginning of 2020, more than 100 experts on sustainability and faith-based organisations have contributed to or participated in the project.

Events

Raising Hope: Conference in Castel Gandolfo with Pope Leo XIV

Laudato Si' Action Platform: Practical tools implement Laudate Deum

CAFOD Pioneering Parishes: How local church communities can become guardians of creation

Delegation to the Holy See

Introducing the Guardians of Creation Project to decision makers across the globe

Contact us

For more information please contact Dr Roland Daw: .

Media enquiries

For media enquiries, please contact our Press Office Team by emailling .