LONDON, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- More than 5,500 British churches, including some famous cathedrals like York Minster and Salisbury, have switched to clean energy to protect the environment, charity organization Christian Aid reported on Friday.
"It's fantastic to see churches doing their bit to ensure they reduce their impact on the environment," said Nicholas Holtam, the bishop of Salisbury and the Church of England's lead bishop on the environment.
"Climate change is an enormous injustice and is hurting the poor first and worst. Switching to responsible sources of electricity may seem like a small thing on its own, but when joined together it can make a real difference," he said.
According to figures from national church buying group 2buy2, the average annual electricity bill of a church was 1,000 British pounds (about 1,300 U.S. dollars). By switching to clean energy, British churches have diverted over 5 million pounds (about 6.5 million dollars) from fossil fuels to renewable energy providers, quoted the charity.
Some churches joined a program in which the buying group pooled the combined buying power to negotiate the cheapest possible tariff while some other religious buildings have been generating their own clean energy. For example, the Gloucester Cathedral installed 150 solar panels on its roof in 2016.
"Churches are part of a global network and so are often very aware of the plight of our brothers and sisters suffering from droughts, floods and extreme weather around the world," said Dr. Rowan Williams, the former archbishop of Canterbury and the chair of Christian Aid.
