News

Climate Challenge Fund Supporting Alliance

23 January 2009

Welcome to the Climate Challenge Fund supporting alliance information pages. The advice here is designed to help and encourage communities across Scotland take action to combat climate change.  

The alliance of key organisations and networks is supported by the Scottish Government and co-ordinated by the Sustainable Development Commission Scotland (SDC). It exists to help communities develop and deliver projects which result in significant cuts in carbon emissions.

SDC is working with a number of organisations in the alliance including the Energy Saving Trust, Sustrans and the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) to make sure that communities with ideas about how to reduce their carbon emissions get the help they need to put their plans into action.

You can download a factsheet about the alliance which contains contact details of all the supporting organisations here.

How are CCF communities making a difference?

Every community bidding to the Climate Challenge Fund is being asked to achieve significant carbon reductions.  As well as setting ambitious carbon cutting goals communities are being encouraged to make a positive difference by tackling wider social goals.  For example, projects that also look set to strengthen the local economy or improve community cohesion will be prioritised for funding.

Not every project has to be innovative. Some communities are borrowing good ideas from others and applying them in their own area.

Projects do not have to be big right from the start. Small bids for work that engages local people in making minor lifestyle changes to reduce their carbon emissions or which prepare the ground for larger scale projects in the future are very welcome.

Here are some examples of what communities are achieving with their Climate Challenge funding:

Perth & Kinross Community carbon reduction project

Over the next three years the Comrie Development Trust, based in the Perthshire village of Comrie, will develop a range of carbon cutting activities. These include a street-by-street insulation and energy advice programme, boosting community composting, increasing local food production and consumption, establishing renewable energy sources for community buildings and developing a local transport plan.  These activities will be complimented by the sustainable development of 90 acres of land at Cultybraggan Army Camp purchased under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act last year.  The land at the camp gives the opportunity to create green buildings for local workspace and manufacturing, allotments for local food production and leisure and recreation opportunities.

The street-by-street insulation and energy advice programme and work on developing the local transport plan are already under way.  One important aspect of the project is the intention to help address the needs of people experiencing fuel poverty by making sure that people know about any entitlement they may have to financial assistance for installing energy saving measures such as insulation. As Chris Palmer, volunteer member of the Trust's Carbon Challenge working group said:

"Rising fuel prices and energy costs have all been in the headlines recently and are an obvious target for our work. Scottish and Southern Electricity have already approached us to carry out the home insulation programme. Looking at ways of reducing our dependency on individual cars for work and food journeys is the other main source of our carbon emissions."

Community Power Down

The latest round of successful applicants to the Climate Challenge Fund includes an exciting new partnership project between alliance member Community Energy Scotland and 27 Highland communities.

The Community Power Down project is designed to allow each of the mainly rural and remote communities to manage their carbon cutting activities while benefiting from the support of an experienced organisation. Community activities range from raising awareness of basic domestic energy saving measures such as encouraging the use of energy saving light bulbs to the development of plans to install micro-renewables. Developing the bid was a challenging process because the Climate Challenge Fund rules require that communities take the lead role in their projects. They cannot simply hand over responsibility for designing and running their projects to others but they can gain valuable support by bidding for the resources required to enable experienced organisations to work alongside them.

It is hoped that this innovative partnership model will encourage other communities and organisations to join forces to tackle climate change together.

Pitreavie Carbon Reduction project

Pitreavie Amateur Athletics Club was awarded funding to explore ways of persuading its members to leave their cars at home and cut their carbon emissions by travelling to athletics events using shared transport. The club would also like to encourage more members to cycle or walk to training sessions. The club estimates that its members could also save energy by using the clubhouse's lighting and heating systems more responsibly and by improving insulation. It is currently using the funding to consult with members and to carry out an energy audit on its building.

Club Treasurer Jayne Clarke said:

"We need to consult with our members to find out what stops them from using public transport or walking, cycling or car sharing more. We also aim to find out how to encourage them to travel together in a hired team bus. We are sending out a questionnaire and holding meetings to hear people's views. When we better understand  what would motivate people to leave their cars at home we can design a successful project aimed at achieving that."

The Pitreavie team also plans to encourage other sports clubs to follow its lead.

Further Information

More guidance for communities developing Climate Challenge Fund projects will soon be available on these web pages. Please come back soon to see what advice and links to other sources of information are on offer.

In the meantime if you want any further information or advice please contact the grants team at Keep Scotland Beautiful.

You can email them at: ccfenquiries@ksbscotland.org.uk or call on 01786 471333

Want to get better at cutting carbon emissions in your community? Share ideas with Climate Challenge Fund communities in Scotland.

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