Our Paris Pledge

Interfaith Power and Light (IPL), a faith-based environmental organization with chapters in 40 states, took a scroll to the UN Paris Climate Talks in December 2015 that bears the names of congregations –including ours– that pledged to reduce their carbon footprint by 50% by 2030 and set a goal to reduce by 100% (to be carbon neutral) by 2050.

Thousands of congregations signed IPL’s Paris Pledge. In 2022 we signed an accelerated version, committing to be carbon neutral by 2040, not because we have a specific plan, but because it is what needs to be done to avert catastrophic climate change.

Why we took the pledge

Members of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Bloomington Green Sanctuary Task Force believe that fighting to slow –and preparing to deal with– global warming is our greatest generational challenge, and that our congregation should lead by example.

Becoming carbon neutral

Although there is more to do, we have met several major milestones:

In 2007 we became a Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) certified Green Sanctuary congregation;
In 2014, with the installation of 24 KW of solar panels, which offset almost 60% of our electricity, we became one of the first 20 IPL Certified Cool Congregations at the 50% level, having already reduced our carbon footprint by 50% due to energy conservation, efficiency upgrades and renewable energy;
In 2017, with an outpouring of support, we added another 16.2 KW of solar panels. Energy we don’t use on site goes to the nearby electric grid for our neighbors and shows as a credit on our electric bills;
To reduce our use of natural gas we had electric mini-split heat pumps installed in the oldest wing of our building in 2016, and in 2022 converted our two oldest systems to high efficiency air-source heat pumps;
In recognition of our efforts our building has earned Energy Star® certification for buildings of worship since 2015 in the mid- to high-90th percentile.