Edinburgh Community Climate Forum

Supporting community leadership in Edinburgh’s Net Zero journey.

Edinburgh Community Climate Forum

Draft Strategy 2023

The Role of Community and Voluntary Organisations in Net Zero

Giving communities a voice in the City’s journey to Net Zero mainstream the challenge and give them a sense of agency to fix the problem.

Communities are hugely motivated and want to be involved in practical Net Zero activities. They could support the skills deficit by tackling low-risk easy to implement solutions which could freeing up specialists.

Involving communities in a citywide Net Zero Learning process could help Edinburgh advance quicker to net zero and build a culture of collaboration.

The Role of Community and Voluntary Organisations in Net Zero

Community engagement, involvement and ownership of assets and processes is key to synergizing top down with bottom up approaches.

Community groups and local residents are already developing exciting and innovative projects, as well as valuable skills and knowledge in this space.

Encouraging, Engaging and involving communities in this space will lead to a sense of responsibility and mitigate harmful backlashes

Overall Aim:

Fair, resilient, and climate regenerative communities in Edinburgh by 2030.

Key Support Objectives

1. Collective voice

2. Capacity support

3. Community leadership

Our Objectives:

We want to ensure that through the Community Climate Forum, Edinburgh’s community, voluntary and social sector organisations have:

1. Collective Voice: improved strategic voice at both local and national levels through increased channels for community leadership and through greater participation and inclusion in climate planning & action

2. Capacity & Resources: increased capacity and resources for communities to deliver transformational change.

3. Connect & Accelerate: Increased opportunities for collaboration and exchange between communities and organisations.

4. Learning: Increased opportunities for community learning & community led research.

5. Fairness by Design: ensuring a fair transition to Net Zero through initiatives which prioritise community ownership of local assets, processes and support Community Wealth Building