Boost for local community projects helping to reduce carbon

A £100,000 package of grants is being awarded to community-led projects to help tackle climate change in the city.

We’re supporting projects contributing to the city becoming carbon neutral by 2030 and our status as a UNESCO world biosphere reserve that promote active and sustainable travel, create natural habitats and improve open spaces, or support a ‘reduce, repair, reuse and recycle’ approach.

The application process was held last October, with a maximum of £10,000 available for community projects from the £100,000 fund.

Following the award process, we can announce that a total of 21 local groups and organisations are benefiting from the grants from the council’s Communities Fund for their carbon cutting projects. 

Food projects planting seeds for change

A number of the community projects that have been awarded funding attempt to address the current view of how we look at food, at different stages of the food, production, distribution, use and waste cycle.

From preventing food waste through repurposing food, like the Brighton & Hove Food Partnership’s Trash to Treasure project, to the establishment of a ‘Grow Your Own’ facility for the Hangleton & Knoll Project and a community garden for the Old Boat Corner Community Association to grow sustainable food for the community in Hollingbury, the city has a wide variety of community initiatives that are reducing the carbon footprint from food.

It is no surprise that there is a strong collective effort behind the work to reduce food waste in the city, as Brighton & Hove became the first city in the UK to be awarded the Gold Sustainable Food Places Award in December, but community groups are determined to do even better.

Whitehawk Football Club getting the ball rolling

Among the selection of community projects supported through the scheme, Whitehawk FC have been encouraging fans of the club to do their bit to combat the climate emergency by making pledges that will limit their carbon consumption. 

The Football Club has partnered with Bristol based organisation Pledgeball to encourage Hawks fans within the Brighton community to make small, easy changes to their lifestyle and collectively make a big impact on carbon emissions.

Simple changes that have been suggested by Pledgeball to reduce carbon emissions include: 

  • using a shampoo bar instead of a bottle
  • use recycled toilet paper
  • reduce meat consumption by 50% 
  • wash clothes and textiles at 30˚C 
  • turn phone chargers, TVs and computers off at the wall 
  • buy only second-hand items where possible 
  • switch to a green energy supplier
  • walk or cycle if the journey is under 2 miles

Pledgeball claim that Whitehawk fans are already making a great difference in the attempt to reduce carbon, with the team top of Pledgeball’s table for carbon reduction on their website, with Whitehawk fans’ pledges saving 174,990kg CO2 through their pledges at the time of writing.

Residents are up to the challenge

Councillor Steph Powell, joint chair of the Tourism, Equalities, Communities & Culture committee, said: “We’re delighted to be able to support our valued community projects make their contributions towards a carbon-neutral Brighton & Hove.

“There is much work ahead for the city to reach this goal, but we know that the residents are up to the challenge.

"There is such a broad range of community projects in the city and we have tried to show that in the projects that have been awarded funding.

“It’s clear that with funding in place the creativity and innovation of our city’s community groups will be key in helping us to achieve carbon-neutrality by 2030, so I’m excited to see what’s next.”

Find out more

We have declared a biodiversity and climate emergency and have set an aim for the city of Brighton & Hove to become carbon neutral by 2030.

The full list of projects is below and the amount the projects received has also been published.

  • Albion Community Association
  • Big Nature
  • Brighton & Hove Food Partnership
  • Brighton Community Workshop Project
  • Brighton Peace and Environment Centre
  • Brighton Permaculture Trust
  • Brighton Repair Café
  • Citygate Community Projects (Fareshare)
  • Dorset Mews Residents Association
  • Hangleton & Knoll Project
  • Hanover Action For Sustainable Living
  • Lewes Road For Clean Air/Brighton Bike Hub
  • Low Carbon Trust
  • Old Boat Corner Community Association
  • Sew Fabulous
  • Smarter Uniforms
  • The Green Community Interest Company
  • The Once Trust - One Network for Conversation and the Arts
  • Whitehawk Football Club
  • Woodingdean Community Association
  • Woodingdean Wilderness Group

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