Sharing climate smart community benefit fund practice at the CARES Conference

Foundation Scotland recently presented some examples of community benefit fund approaches that are making a real difference to people and planet.

This year's CARES Conference took place online during Scotland's Climate Week, looking at how communities can take climate action. In recognition of our experience working alongside hundreds of Scottish communities to manage and distribute community benefit funds emerging from renewable energy schemes (particularly wind farms), Foundation Scotland's Bea Jefferson and Malcolm Jack were invited to share experiences of how such funds can catalyse and support climate innovative community activities.  

Our session (available on video) highlighted the underlying importance of our general good practice principles for setting up and managing community benefit funds; things like ensuring residents are heavily involved in fund design and decision-making; tailoring fund arrangements to suit the local context; building on the strengths of existing community skills, groups and networks; and transparent roles, responsibilities and decision-making.  

Participants were able to hear more about ways in which community benefit funds can be harnessed to support activities benefiting people and the planet. Our experience alongside communities in establishing the Vattenfall Unlock our Future Fund highlighted how a fund can be set up with a specific focus on addressing the climate challenge locally. Successful groups and projects like Low carbon transport initiatives, community building improvements and feasibility studies for environmental improvements showed the range of projects already funded in this way.  

A repayable grant to Tomintoul & Glenlivet Development Trust towards the construction of energy-efficient, affordable housing showcased how community benefit funds don't always need to be distributed through conventional grant-making. It can, for example, be invested innovatively instead.  

The session also highlighted that new ideas are emerging all the time within and amongst communities. Partnership and making connections were shown to be vital in unlocking new ideas and enhancing existing ones. Foundation Scotland's partnership with Business Energy Scotland, for example, has already helped numerous groups consider climate-smart building improvements that might never have been considered previously.  

Local Energy Scotland administers and manages the Scottish Government's Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES). CARES supports communities to engage with, participate in, and benefit from the transition to net zero emissions and has long worked in partnership with Foundation Scotland to promote good community benefit fund practice, given our extensive experience in this area.