Many local community groups and organisations are focusing on tackling climate change. Support including advice, training, grants and tools is available. It can also help other groups with different purposes that want to mitigate their impact.

Our climate change forum provides a space to collaborate and share best practice. Contact us if you would like to be considered to join. Current members include:

• Cambridge Carbon Foodprint
• Cambridge Sustainable Food
• Cambridgeshire Climate Emergency
• Carbon Neutral Cambridge
• Friends of the Earth Cambridge
• Transition Cambridge

Information, guides and toolkits

• Cambridge Carbon Footprint have some great resources, including information and guides on repair cafes, swishes (clothes swaps), and ‘open eco homes’. They can lend you a thermal camera.
• Transition Cambridge have some great resources, including pages on saving energy and water.
• The Great Collaboration host resources for local councils and community groups.
• The Community Works have various resources to help local councils and community groups to take action on climate change. They list some important starting points and provide numerous case studies.
• Hubbub is an environmental charity that aims to inspire action that’s good for the environment and for everyone. They bring businesses, organisations, local authorities and community groups together to create campaigns that make it easier for all of us to make choices that will benefit the environment.
• Community Energy England have resources to help you get started with community energy.

Understanding the local carbon footprints

• Carbon Place provide free tools to allow communities, planners, and policymakers to understand their local carbon footprint.
• The Impact community carbon calculator allows you to see a local area’s carbon footprint. You can view sector emissions like consumption or travel, and check specific areas.

Engagement and connections

• Climate Outreach is an excellent source of free advice and images for climate communication.
• Britain Talks Climate is a toolkit aimed at helping us better understand and engage with people’s priorities, questions and concerns. It helps us tell clearer, more compelling climate stories that will engage people of different values and backgrounds.
• The Place Standard tool can prompt discussion and help you gain insights about your local area, which you can then use as a basis to plan actions to make improvements.
• Resilience Web can help you discover other local groups and initiatives working on climate change and related topics.

Resources

What do you already consume, and do you really need it? Answering this can help you reduce how much you buy and lead to less waste.

For example, if you need a gazebo for an event, is there another group or organisation that you could borrow one from?

Depending on your group’s size and activities, you might have your own waste collection service, or you might pay to use a larger organisation’s service. Either way, reducing waste and recycling more could save money and reduce your carbon footprint.

If you have control over where your waste goes, ensure recyclable materials are recycled and food waste is composted.

Cambridge Sustainable Food can help you donate surplus food.

For further ideas and support, check the Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap) – it can help you to be more resource efficient and increase recycling.

Travel sustainably

Travelling more sustainably can help cut travel costs and emissions, while improving productivity and health.

When planning an event:

• think about how attendees will get to you
• promote the sustainable options including:
  • cycle routes and secure storage
  • bus routes and nearby stops
  • Park & Ride options

Save water

By improving water efficiency, you could save money and reduce your impact on the environment.

Waterwise offers advice on how to reduce your water consumption and retrofit your facilities.

Support

Sustainable City Grants help local groups to deliver activities or events that contribute to our Climate Change Strategy objectives.

Voluntary and community organisations can apply for up to £10,000, which can cover one or multiple projects. The application window opens every summer.