Climate Challenge Fund
1. About the Fund
On this page:
Background
Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing us today. Scotland is being affected as other parts of the world are. However, Scotland can be part of the solution as well as part of the problem.
Overwhelmingly, scientists, economists and politicians agree that climate change is caused by our everyday activities. People are emitting large amounts of carbon dioxide and other gases that contribute to climate change and as a result we are trapping more of the sun's heat and the planet is getting hotter.
There are lots of things we can do as individuals to reduce our carbon emissions but if we act together by working as communities we can do even more.
The Climate Challenge Fund is here to help communities make a real difference by significantly reducing their carbon emissions.
What the Climate Challenge Fund is and aims to do
The Scottish Government has ambitions to deliver an 80% reduction in Scottish emissions by 2050. The Climate Challenge Fund, £18.8m over three years (2008-11), is designed to enable communities to come forward with their own solutions to make a significant reduction in carbon emissions.
The Climate Challenge Fund offers grants to a range of community organisations to help with the planning, learning, communication and most importantly, action to reduce carbon emissions. The projects can involve a range of actions, from helping us to use less energy, or walk and cycle more, to local sustainable food. The projects should be delivered in the context of the wider environmental, social and economic dimensions, 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.
The guiding principles of the fund are:
- Make significant carbon emissions reduction as the central focus, but also bring wider environmental, social and economic benefits;
- Be community based, and have the community at the centre of decision making;
- Seek to improve quality of life now and for future generations.
There is no set grant, no minimum amount, but there is a £1m maximum. Larger projects may apply if they can demonstrate a particularly high potential carbon saving and clear alignment with the other fund criteria. You are not required to find funding from other sources but jointly funded projects are welcome.
We will not be targeting any specific or particular carbon reducing activities but the extent and sustainability of carbon reduction will be an important factor in which initiatives gain support.
Support
The Scottish Government are working in partnership with the Scottish Greens on the design and promotion of the Climate Challenge Fund, and with a Climate Challenge Fund supporting alliance of partners who comprise key organisations and networks with good knowledge and experience of community-level interventions. These organisations will provide guidance and support to communities who have an idea on how to reduce their carbon emissions, but may need some help and direction towards being able to put their plans into action.
Climate Challenge Fund supporting alliance
There is an emphasis on capacity building within communities to facilitate climate change action, and this is supported through a network of NGOs and voluntary sector organisations in a supporting alliance to ensure that community involvement is at the heart of this work.
The alliance has three roles:
- To develop a shared sense of purpose amongst national stakeholder bodies in supporting the purpose and delivery of the Climate Challenge Fund;
- To provide a network where communities (active CCF communities and prospective communities) and stakeholders (including national stakeholder bodies and local authorities and businesses) can exchange good practice and learning;
- To support Government work on evaluation of actions by CCF communities in tackling climate change.
Find further information on the alliance at www.ccfalliance.org.uk [opens new window]
The administrator of the Fund (Keep Scotland Beautiful) will act as the single point of contact for community groups, and will guide community groups in developing their application for support and direct groups to appropriate members of the supporting alliance for further advice, or if appropriate, to form delivery partnerships.
For further information on the Climate Challenge Fund contact Keep Scotland Beautiful 01786 471333 or email ccf@ksbscotland.org.uk www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/ccf [opens new window]
