Collaborative solutions for climate action in Scotland’s third sector — guest blog
This guest blog was written by Beth Mukushi of SCVO about their Growing Climate Confidence project, which drew elements of inspiration from Going Green Together.
In Scotland, a couple of years ago, through hard research and soft conversation, we found similar challenges to those VONNE had identified in the north of England. Third Sector organisations with a social mission were struggling to find the time, resources, and headspace to meaningfully address climate change. There was a lack of data about what action was happening, and a need for wider funding and support to drive effective change. We were also aware of the national Net Zero targets, and that evidence of climate action is increasingly expected of all organisations.
In response, a collaborative effort was launched, aiming to piggy-back on existing solutions and create a unique Scottish platform.
We’re thrilled that the resources and practises we’re creating through the Going Green Together project are already informing other projects supporting the sector. We need to act fast to avert the worst impacts of the climate crisis, and so collaboratively building upon the work of others is key for getting systems of support in place quickly. The Growing Climate Confidence website is a fantastic example of this. Nathaniel Spain, Going Green Together Project Coordinator.
Introducing ClimateConfident.Scot
Inspired by the success and clarity of the Going Green Together website, we have developed a Scottish version called Growing Climate Confidence. We built on the successful features of the existing website, and incorporated Scotland-specific functionality, such as a funding search. We are really grateful to the team at VONNE for making their work available under a creative commons license, and sharing the user research findings and wider insights with us.
One key addition to our Scottish flavoured tool is the Net-Zero Scorecard, developed in collaboration with Small99. This scorecard draws on Small99’s tool for small businesses, which has also already demonstrated its effectiveness. The scorecard offers organisations quick insights into the most impactful (and proportionate) actions they can take to reduce carbon emissions. It also generates valuable data on where the biggest gaps in current action sit, highlighting areas that require wider funding and support.
A Collaborative Network
As with Going Greener Together, the success of our initiative relies on engaging various stakeholders, including Scottish funders and intermediaries from different fields. Climate specialists, circular economy experts, and voluntary sector support organisations have all come together. Growing Climate Confidence is part of a much wider ecosystem that that can provide targeted assistance. For example if an organisation wants to develop a tool library we can link them up with Circular Communities Scotland. Or a community transport project can help with decarbonising their vehicles from Community Transport Scotland.
Data and Impact
Although we only launched in mid-June, we have had good interest and engagement. Over 150 organisations have completed the Net-Zero Scorecard, and the website has received thousands of visits. While more data is needed to draw comprehensive conclusions, we are already seeing some trends. Organisations are generally scoring higher for their engagement and approach to buying and selling, than for buildings, energy and waste.
Next steps in Scotland
As we gather more insights and about the challenges organisations are facing we will feed this into wider policy and support work. We’re in listening and improving mode, and keen to keep building on the solution as we reach out beyond the early adopters.
If you’d like to know more, or to link up with SCVO’s work, get in touch at
growingclimateconfidence@scvo.scot.
