Robin Harper: Changing the Capital one project at a time

Published on Tuesday 26 May 2009 09:17

The £27.4 million Climate Challenge Fund was created last year to support those community projects that focus on cutting carbon emissions.

Over the last eight months, more than 1m has been granted to projects in Edinburgh, allowing some of the city's most imaginative community groups to get the money they need to run bold projects tacking energy use, food production and community education.

The Shandon local food initiative is trying to find city-based solutions to reduce the carbon impact of the food we eat. It's been said that modern agriculture is a system that uses land to convert oil to food, and cheap oil is running out.

Food is also a subject for the Edinburgh Community Backgreens Association, which is helping tenement areas make the best use of oft-neglected back green spaces. They also have a "carbon weight-watchers" project so residents can support each other as they go greener.

The ambitious Greener Leith project aims to cut the emissions of more than 50,000 Leithers with a huge range of local transport initiatives.

Across north Edinburgh, dedicated organisations are combining the issues of fuel poverty and carbon emissions to help cut bills for some of our more vulnerable residents.

The PEDAL group in Portobello continues to lead the way in community action. The Transition Town model pioneered here has blossomed across the city, with a number of Edinburgh groups now working to make the transition to a low-carbon community.

Both Leith's Drill Hall and Lauriston Hall in West Port are going to be transformed into green hubs where groups will take action on a whole range of environmental issues.

We're in both a tough economic and environmental situation at the moment, but it's initiatives like these that bring people together.

They tackle some of the core challenges we face and I'm proud to see the fund we argued for fuelling their enthusiasm.

Robin Harper is the Green MSP for the Lothians