Who Cares? Environmentalism among Clergy and Lay People in the Church of England

This paper examines environmentalism among 3229 clergy and lay people from the Church of England who took part in the online Church 2024 survey. Three scales of pro-environmentalism were developed: a six-item scale of concern for the environment, a seven-item scale of willingness to make sacrifices for the environment and a seven-item scale of pro-environmental behaviour. Concern was highest for pollution or the loss of natural habitats and lowest for over-population. Participants were most willing to see more onshore windfarms and least willing to see restriction in economic growth. Pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours were more evident among women than men, among older than younger people, among those with preference for intuition over sensing and preference for feeling over thinking and among those with higher levels of education. Clergy were more willing to make sacrifices and showed more activism than laity but had similar levels of concern. Evangelicals had lower scores than other traditions, which reflected their more conservative doctrinal and moral stance. Implications of the findings for promoting the Church’s Green agenda are discussed.