Climate Towns show one path towards community-led climate action
/This article was featured in the SCDC Weekly - 17th April 2024.
The climate crisis is arguably the biggest issue facing humanity right now, but climate action, and the scale of the response required, can sometimes not live up to that urgency.
That’s why community-led approaches are so vital as way to identify priorities and bring people together to take climate action, as we’ve seen from the network of regional community climate hubs across Scotland.
Another such effort has been centred around Climate Action Towns, a three-year project which explored how communities can respond to these pressing issues by using a place-based approach in nine towns across Scotland.
A learning report has outlined the key ingredients for community-led climate action, starting with focusing on what matters to the community, and the importance of building upon local knowledge, skills, and confidence. There’s also a Climate Action Towns Toolkit which provides practical steps communities can take towards their own climate action.
We know that communities already facing inequalities and disadvantage are more vulnerable to the impact of climate change. That’s why empowering communities (of place, identity and interest) who already best understand the issues which affect them is key if we’re to see a just transition to a carbon free future – and at the pace we need.
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