2.2 Working with community groups to deliver carbon reduction

Concern about climate change amongst the British public has risen to record levels. 75% of British adults worry about climate change and there has been a surge in community-led activity. Around the country there are numerous groups which are working to do their bit to cut carbon emissions. By supporting community initiatives, local authorities can build trust, deliver wider benefits and potentially increase the capacity of stretched council staff.  Types of community groups councils could engage with are listed below.

Climate campaigners 

Local climate change/environmental groups, including Extinction Rebellion and Friends of the Earth groups, operate in many areas. These groups can be highly critical of councils that they feel are not taking enough action on climate change, but they can also be powerful allies in terms of delivering climate action. ‘School strikers’, inspired to protest by figures like Greta Thunberg and Vanessa Nakate, are also taking action in their own schools by setting up pupil-led climate change clubs. Councils can tap into these passionate groups, encouraging them and working alongside them to deliver carbon savings both within schools and in the wider community.  

Community energy and resource groups

There are over 424 community energy organisations active across the UK. Some of these focus on local renewable energy generation, though this has been made more challenging since the government’s feed-in-tariff support scheme (which offered long-term contracts to small scale energy producers) ended in 2019. Local groups are working to improve energy efficiency, offer grassroots education, and develop low-carbon heating and transport options.

Community groups are also prioritising the fight to alleviate fuel poverty. Nationally, the health impact of fuel poverty and cold housing is estimated to cost the NHS £857 million per year. Studies show that those living in homes with bedroom temperatures below 15°C are 50% more likely to suffer from mental health problems and children living in inadequately heated households are more than twice as likely to suffer from asthma and bronchitis.

Poor energy efficiency is a key factor in fuel poverty. Community-led cafes that offer free advice on energy usage and bills are just one type of initiative that can help address this. Improving the energy efficiency of the UK housing stock provides an opportunity to reduce costs to the NHS, tackle inequality and create many jobs. 

Campaigners for clean and safe roads

As awareness of the health impacts of air pollution has grown, groups campaigning to make streets greener and safer have flourished. These may be local branches of long running national organisations such as Living Streets, whose mission is to inspire people to walk more, or Playing Out, a movement to restore children’s freedom to play outside in the streets and local spaces. Alternatively, they may be new organisations such as parent-led Mums for Lungs or one of numerous cycling campaign groups pushing for safer roads, especially in cities. Increasingly these groups view cutting carbon emissions as one of their key objectives.

Arts and culture

Local artists, musicians and playwrights tell powerful stories which can transform conversations about climate change. As part of their 10-year strategy for 2020-2030, Arts Council England has set out the case for the creative community to ensure environmental responsibility and to lead on the climate emergency. The arts educate, motivate, inspire innovation and create joy – they are a powerful tool for engaging citizens in climate action at both large and small scales.

Practically, art can promote awareness about lowering carbon emissions and demonstrate positive behaviours like recycling and reducing plastic and water use. Through support of their creative communities, councils can reach people who have not had much involvement in climate action before.

Community-led repair cafes and ‘libraries of things’

The UK is estimated to use 1.2 billion tonnes of materials a year. With household recycling rates at 46.2%, the majority of our material waste is destined for domestic and overseas landfill sites. As costs of waste removal increase and landfill space quickly runs out, changing our behaviour to move away from a ‘throwaway culture’ will be necessary to reduce this unsustainable environmental burden.  

Repair cafes are great initiatives for embedding behavioural change in communities by increasing reuse, repair and recycling. Repairing items instead of disposing of them reduces strain on landfill and can cut carbon emissions by reducing the need to manufacture new products. Repair cafes can deliver a host of co-benefits, too: skills development in repair, maintenance and upcycling, cost savings for consumers, and social interaction. Repair cafes counter throwaway culture and establish new shared values of care and repair.

Repaircafe.org has a network of over 2,200 repair cafes worldwide with a searchable database through which you can find a local cafe.

A similar concept which aims to reduce the demand for new items is the Library of Things; a place where people can borrow items like drills, gazebos and carpet cleaners at affordable prices. This saves people buying an expensive new product which they would only use once or twice. First pioneered in the UK in South London, borrowers said that using the Library of Things made them 60% more likely to repair or recycle items and 75% said they felt better connected to the community after using the library. The movement is growing, with Libraries of Things popping up around the country and internationally.

Nature and conservation groups

Access to green space is associated with health and wellbeing at a community level, including satisfaction with ‘place’, increased social cohesion and interaction. Local conservation groups have been protecting, enhancing and restoring natural habitats and green spaces for many years, as have national organisations like the Wildlife Trust. Traditional gardening and horticulture clubs have become aware of the impacts of climate change and, more recently, local community rewilding projects have sprung up.  

All these groups can be powerful advocates for local climate action and can operate as delivery partners on nature and biodiversity projects. Community groups are mobilisers and leaders – for instance, they are often instrumental in planting and taking care of trees.