At Locality we’re committed to net zero, including helping our members take action on climate.
When we spoke to our members, we found that around three quarters are already taking some sort of action on climate. But often what they can do is limited by funding or expertise, and all would like to do more.
So we've set out to explore the opportunities and barriers facing community organisations who want to take action on climate. We're doing research into different types of community climate projects, we're having dozens of individual conversations and we're also working with a select group of members to help them progress.
Getting your own building in order
Our research found that most community organisations start by focusing on their own buildings and services - implementing energy efficiency measures such as LED lighting, solar panels, and energy audits; recycling and reducing their own waste. The age of buildings often causes issues, and the costs for refurbishment can be high. Some have secured funding for upgrades, including improvements to heating and lighting systems, and have emphasised the cost savings that come with addressing the climate crisis.
It's even more difficult for those running high energy services. For example we’re working with a community-owned swimming pool to help them develop a strategy for climate action. Rising energy costs have put enormous pressure on organisations like this that are reliant on high energy use, so achieving sustainability and energy efficiency is essential for their financial viability. But they're tackling the challenge head on. We’re helping them measure their carbon footprint, and launching a behaviour change project to engage staff and members in how to reduce the carbon emissions.
Community climate projects
Like many of our members, the community-owned swimming pool are also thinking more widely than their own buildings and services, and about how they can practically help their community improve. For example, we’re helping them run energy advice workshops for local people facing fuel poverty, something that has become very common across the country since the cost of living crisis. Other organisations are running food projects like community gardens and surplus food distribution, transport projects like encouraging walking or bicycle repair, circular economy projects like repair cafes and children’s clothing swap schemes, and even community-owned renewable energy schemes to help their communities thrive. We're also helping others with over-arching strategies that develop and monitor various climate projects across their communities.
One member in the Midlands approached Locality for support in launching a furniture reuse project to help address furniture poverty while reducing waste. Only 17% of furniture is currently recycled, and producing new furniture generates 1,000 times more CO2 than refurbishing existing items, so this could have a significant impact. The organisation already runs a community shop providing low-cost food and household essentials, but they wanted to do more and were interested in adding furniture reuse to their activities. We’re helping them analyse the market, get peer support and funding, and work out an action plan.
A clear lesson here is how climate action can have other benefits. By identifying and tackling furniture poverty, this organisation is also taking a significant step in reducing local carbon emissions. Others are saving their organisation money, which they can then spend on helping people. Different projects will also be promoting fitness and healthier food. By bringing people together to solve their problems and build a stronger society, community climate projects are addressing community needs as well as making progress towards net zero.
What will you do?
There are many more ideas of how you can take action on climate and help your community in our ‘community businesses and climate action’ report: https://locality.org.uk/reports/community-organisations-climate-action
If you need help with your project please get in touch.