St John’s, Aberdeen is a city-centre church at the heart of Aberdeen, involved in important community work and actively pursuing their Net Zero 2030 goals. They were the 2025 Pioneer church in the Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney and are in the process of installing a range of solar panels as a result of this award.
They are continuing along their decarbonisation journey and are looking to install underpew heaters, complementing their new solar system. They are currently in the process of attempting to secure funding from the North East Scotland Climate Action Network Just Transition Participatory Budgeting Fund for these works – and if you live in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire or Moray, you can vote for them and help St John’s secure these funds!
From St John’s: ‘Our plan to install under-pew heaters powered by electricity generated by solar panels, thereby reducing our use of the gas boiler, is a key part of our Net Zero 2030 project to substantially reduce our carbon footprint and sustain our presence in the heart of the city.
Ours is a very diverse congregation, many of whom are vulnerable people living on the margins of society or suffering from mental ill-health for whom keeping warm in winter is often a particular challenge; many tell us they find our weekly Wednesday evening Taize service followed by refreshments comforting and therapeutic.’
You can vote for St John’s here, and please spread the word! Public voting closes at 5pm on Monday 9 November.
Jack Nevin, Innovation Coordinator
