The purpose of this practise based Bachelor’s Thesis was to update an environmental review and environmental programme for the congregation of Heinola since it was decided the congregation to apply for the environmental diploma of the church for the third time and the previous term of the diploma ended in 2018. The environmental diploma is part of the environmental management system of The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland.

Based on the review, the current state of the environmental procedures at the congregation of Heinola was surveyed. Concrete goals, people in responsible and schedules for the goals were determined in the programme for the upcoming years. The research method used was qualitative and the data was gathered from the theme interviews of the congregation workers and different documents concerning merely water and electricity comsumption. There were altogether 12 subject matters to be processed.

In conclusion, better results were achieved in comparison with the previous diploma period. For example, the emissions produced by the congregation and the amount of waste were reduced. However, some areas for improvement were still found for the future. The approval of the diploma will be discussed by the end of the year 2020.