Faiths For a Fair low carbon Future (4F)
Getting Started with Project 4F
People of faith, like many others in our country, want to get started on the journey to a low carbon future. However, there are obstacles to be overcome. Faith and community buildings may be out of date. Members may be struggling to reduce their fuel costs. They would like to reduce, reuse or recycle their possessions but don’t know where to go for help. This is particularly true of those who are poorest and most isolated.
Footsteps received funding and data from the 3D Data Hub to support faith communities to take action on climate change. We worked alongside Ecobirmingham, Act on Energy and The Active Wellbeing Society on Project 4F: Faiths For a Fair, low carbon Future. Now that the initial funding has come to an end, we review how Project 4F worked, it’s challenges and successes.
This project has laid the foundations for developing relationships with key faith leaders and places of worship. The team are exploring an energy champion network and will continue to work on the faith mapping, under the ‘Project 4F’ title.
Photo: Cobbler Repair Shop by Rocco Lucia licenced under Creative Commons BY 2.0
Faith Building Energy Reduction
Faith buildings with heavy use and high fuel costs are looking for ways to reduce their energy use. As part of Footsteps’ Project 4F, Ecobirmingham has been carrying out whole building faith building energy assessments and identifying ways of reducing energy use. These often involve significant expenditure for the faith communities involved and funding challenges.
Check out our guide to understanding retrofit and how to obtain funding, learning from our ‘overcoming funding barriers’ workshop. This brought together experts and people from Birmingham’s faith communities and included presentations, discussion, visits to three faith buildings and a networking lunch sponsored by CSE – an independent national charity that helps people change the way they think and act on energy.
Household fuel bill advice & support
Our friends at Warmer Homes continue to offer:
- Practical support for people facing difficulties paying fuel bills and keeping warm.
- Free, impartial advice not aligned to a particular energy company.
- Help for people to become more confident and take control of their own energy bills.
Birmingham Faith Community Map
The map has been developed as part of Project 4F to help direct support on faith communities in localities of greatest need. The 4F Birmingham Faith Community Map draws together information about Birmingham’s places of worship from a range of current and historic sources, including the faith map that was on the Birmingham City Council website until 2013.
The map is linked to information about levels of disadvantage and fuel impoverishment in Birmingham and also contains details of how places of worship are working with and supporting their local communities.
Read more about the Birmingham Faith Community map, explore the online map and download Birmingham Faith Community Map booklets for different areas of the city.
Radio Shows
Over Winter and Spring 2021/22 a series of one-hour community radio shows were broadcast on Unity FM with speakers discussing different aspects of Project 4F with co-hosts Dr Peter Rookes and Mahmooda Qureshi.
You can listen here to the shows using the links below.
| Monday 15th Nov 2021 | Project launch |
| Monday 6th Dec 2021 | Fuel poverty |
| Monday 10th Jan 2022 | Swishing and Repair Café events |
| Monday 24th Jan 2022 | Faith Building Energy Assessments |
| Monday 7th Feb 2022 | Getting the Message Out |
| Monday 21st Mar 2022 | Fuel Poverty |
| Monday 1st August 2022 | Connecting Small Heath EcoPark with faith communities |
Project 4F 2021.