Unlocking community climate action in the Northeast

From community cinemas, Men’s Sheds and rugby clubs to village halls and community parks, the fund has supported 86 community groups that deliver projects focussed on environmental sustainability, with more than £815,000 having been awarded to date.

Community groups can apply for up to £20,000 to support practical climate action projects which will reduce the carbon emissions of their services and activities. This can include things like energy efficiency measures and renewable energy generation for community buildings, purchase of electric vehicles to deliver valued community services, and projects which support local food growing and waste reduction.

The fund, which is provided by Vattenfall, invests over £150,000 each year to a community benefit scheme, and will continue to do so for the lifetime of the wind farm. A local panel of community champions has been established to make decisions about the fund, with Foundation Scotland support as fund administrator.

Steven Wares, Project Manager at Vattenfall said: 

"The Unlock our Future fund has shown how communities can get stronger by investing for the long term of their local projects and facilities in the face of climate change. As the fund has grown, so have the hopes of people and local groups to help each other use the fund to make their home a better place to live. We are really excited to see the next projects and organisations we will be funding."

Guy Haslam, Chair of the decision making panel, said: 

"We are delighted to be announcing the start of the 7th year of The Vattenfall Unlock the Future programme in which the panel will awarding around £190,000 of grants to support organisations in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire in order to improve the quality of life for local people, reduce their carbon footprint and improve their sustainability.

"The fund continues to be very impressed by quality and range of the applications which have received and are looking forward to seeing more examples of the brilliant work that people are doing to improve their communities in this new round of applications."

For further information, contact Marion McDonald, Community Fund Adviser, at Foundation Scotland: [email protected] Tel: 07912 759524.

Or you can visit the fund page here