SEAD (Scottish Education and Action for Development)

The Climate Challenge Fund has £27.4 million to help communities across Scotland to tackle climate change. Here, Becky Smith from the fund explains a little more about what it’s about, and talks about some projects that have already benefited.

The Climate Challenge Fund was launched on 3 June 2008 by the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Environment Richard Lochhead. The fund of £27.4 million over 3 years (2008-2011), is designed to enable communities to come forward with their own solutions to make a significant reduction in carbon emissions.

The fund was announced in the November 2007 Budget and sits alongside Scottish Government’s action on climate change to deliver an 80% reduction in Scottish emissions by 2050.

The Climate Challenge Fund is aimed at the community sector including community groups, schools, and not-for-profit organisations, and these groups may also be supported by NGOs, voluntary sector or local government partners.

Projects can involve a range of actions from helping communities to use less energy, walk and cycle more, to local sustainable food production. They can also have an environmental, social and economic dimension to the projects, that give people new skills, improve health, help them to work together or provide better community facilities, but carbon reduction must be at the heart of every proposal and the community at the centre of the decision making.

Climate Challenge Fund grants are primarily designed to help communities reduce their carbon emissions. That might mean planning and organising in the first instance, however will always mean taking direct action to reduce carbon emissions.

The projects funded will be expected to be ambitious in their work to reduce emissions, for example aiming for 30% reductions or more in carbon emissions over three years. However, priority will also be given to ideas that also help strengthen local economies, improve community cohesion, and other social objectives alongside making significant carbon emissions reductions.

The fund does not aim to target any specific or particular carbon reducing activities but the extent and sustainability of carbon reduction should be an important factor in which initiatives gain support.

The fund is supported by the ‘Climate Challenge Fund supporting alliance’ which is made up of a network of interested organisations that are able to provide a working network where communities and stakeholders can exchange good practice and learning. The alliance also aims to develop a shared sense of purpose amongst national stakeholder bodies in supporting the purpose and delivery of the Climate Challenge Fund, as well as to support Government’s work on evaluation of actions by Climate Challenge Fund communities in tackling climate change.

Perth and Kinross Carbon Reduction project

Comrie Development Trust to date has been awarded £299,650 over three years (2008-11) to launch a groundbreaking project to reduce the carbon footprint of the whole village, in partnership with Perth & Kinross Council and Scottish and Southern Energy Company. Part of this will be rolled out through Alyth and Letham in a street-by-street insulation and energy efficiency project. If successful, this model could have the potential to be adopted and rolled out across many communities in Scotland.

Wider village action will be complimented by the sustainable development of the community owned 90 acres of land at Cultybraggan Army Camp. The land gives the opportunity to create green buildings for local workspace and manufacturing, allotments for local food production and leisure and recreation opportunities.

For further information on the Climate Challenge Fund, please visit: www.infoscotland.com/climatechallengefund

This entry was posted on 12 January 2009 at 10:01 pm and is filed under Opportunities for community groups, SOCC News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.