Funding from the Scottish Government
Climate Challenge Fund open for applications On June 3 the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment Richard Lochhead announced that the Scottish Government in partnership with the Green Party were delighted to open the Climate Challenge Fund for applications. Speaking at Shawlands Academy in Glasgow, the first secondary school in Glasgow to receive the Eco Schools Green Flag Award, in 2007, Mr Lochhead said: "There are many things we can do as individuals to reduce our carbon emissions, but by acting together locally as communities we can do much more. That's why the Climate Challenge Fund is so important. It will empower communities to bring forward actions to reduce their carbon footprint and make a real difference to the local and global environment." The Fund offers grants to community organisations to help with the planning, learning, communication, and most importantly action to reduce carbon emissions. 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. The Scottish Government announced a Climate Challenge Fund in its Scottish Budget and Spending Review 2007 - see below. At the end of March Mr Lochhead said the fund would give communities across Scotland an unprecedented opportunity to reduce their carbon footprint. Find out more about the Climate Challenge Fund, criteria for projects and how to apply. This is a grant scheme administered within the Sustainable Action Fund. |
The Sustainable Action Fund was set up under the Environment Act 1990 with the objective of funding research, demonstration projects and other relevant activities in support of sustainable development in Scotland. Money is given in the form of core funding or project funding. Past projects which have secured grant-funding have been innovative, easily replicable, promoted good ideas and practice and encouraged people to behave sustainably.
More information on past Sustainable Action Fund support and core funding.
More information on projects which have previously received Government funding. These are good case studies.
The Scottish Government's publication, "Scottish Budget Spending Review 2007," published in November 2007 included an allocation (table 24.07) for Sustainable Development and Climate Change of £8.7 million in 2008-09 (with £10.8 million planned in 2009-10 and £11 million in 2010-11). The publication stated that this "supports demonstration projects and delivery on Greener programmes including sustainable places, consumption and production, enjoyment and protection of our environment, communication and learning, capacity building and public sector as exemplars and a Climate Challenge Fund".
Prior to parliamentary approval of the Budget the Government introduced an amendment to the Sustainable Development and Climate Change budget which the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth stated in the Parliament on February 6 will "allow for an increased investment of almost £4.3 million in our climate challenge fund, to help to accelerate our work in that area". The total in 2008-09 is therefore £13 million.
Within the total the allocation for the Climate Challenge Fund is £8.8 million in 2008-09, £5 million in 2009-10 and £5 million in 2010-11, i.e. a total of £18.8 million.
The Climate Challenge Fund will give communities, through individual community groups and community planning partners, the ability to implement actions to reduce their carbon emissions.
Alongside the Climate Challenge Fund is a Greener Scotland programme comprising three cross cutting programmes designed to ensure greener progress in all that national and local government does (capacity building, public sector leadership and communications and learning) and five specific programmes:
- Sustainable Places - Smarter Choices, Smarter Places, sustainable health initiatives, regeneration and greenspace support, architecture and design support to develop demonstration projects.
- Climate Change - Low carbon initiatives.
- People and Nature - Biodiversity, landscapes, heritage projects, environmental volunteering.
- Consumption & Production - Waste, Energy Efficiency, Food.
- Cultural Identity - Promotion and support of a strong cultural identity across Scotland.
Alternative Sources of Funding
There are various other opportunities for projects concerned with sustainable development to attract government funding or funding from other sources. Opportunities to secure funding for environmental projects include Lottery funding and the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme. More information...