Climate Challenge Fund
The Climate Challenge Fund gives communities, through individual community groups and community planning partners, the ability to implement actions to reduce their carbon emissions.
The Climate Challenge Fund has a total available resource of £27.4 million over the three years 2008-11. Within the total the allocation for the fund is £8.8 million in 2008-09. The Scottish Government's draft budget for 2009-10 published on September 16, 2008 highlights additional money from that previously announced for the Climate Challenge Fund of £4.3 million for each of the next two years, subject to parliamentary approval. The expected allocation is therefore £9.3 million in 2009-10 and £9.3 million in 2010-11.
A community group must be the lead player in a project, and projects must include a measurable and significant reduction in carbon emissions, with a positive lasting legacy beyond the three years of the funding programme.
More about the fund, criteria for projects and how to apply
Information on four exemplar projects which illustrate what communities can do
First successful applications announced on September 17, 2008
Second round of successful applications announced on November 4, 2008
The Climate Challenge Fund Grants Panel is expected to meet three times annually to review applications for funding and to allocate funds to communities who meet the set criteria. Members of the Grants Panel have been selected for their knowledge and expertise in community action and carbon reduction.
Members of Climate Challenge Fund Grants Panel are:
(Chair) Simon Pepper - Environmental consultant
Roger Kelly - Convener of the Royal Town Planners Institute in Scotland
Karen Grant - voluntary sector (Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations)
Osbert Lancaster - Footprint Consulting Limited
David Spaven - Deltix Transport Consulting
Councillor Alison Hay - Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA)
Lloyd Austin - RSPB
Mike Robinson - Stop Climate Chaos
Pauline Gallacher - Board member, Architecture and Design Scotland
By the closing date for the first assessment of Climate Challenge Fund applications (July 25, 2008), Keep Scotland Beautiful (KSB) had received 71 expressions of interest and 19 full applications. The Grants Panel for the Fund met for the first time on August 13, 2008 in Stirling. Announcements of approved projects will follow from further Panel meetings considering applications continuing to be made.
The Climate Challenge Fund was highlighted in the coverage in "The Scotsman" newspaper on Saturday July 12 on the response and awareness in the six months since The Scotsman and the Scottish Government launched the "Let's Go Green Together" campaign.
Ministers and officials have been promoting the Climate Challenge Fund at events, making presentations to audiences from different sectors. Both National Parks are interested in working to promote the Fund and offer suitable venues for events. The Scottish Government organised road shows in the Parks in September 2008 to offer communities in these areas an opportunity to raise questions and learn more about the Fund in question and answer sessions and workshops.