Grants / Projects we are funding

Green Alliance – Making climate emergency plans a reality

Grant details

Amount:£123,000

Awarded on:01/10/2019

Duration:18 months

Status:Closed

Area of interest

Local economic resilience

Themes covered

Environment

Local authorities are often the most local level of the state to communities and they have shown a much greater desire to make a contribution to reducing our carbon footprint than national government. But how do they achieve it, and what are the barriers to them acting? Green Alliance will work to show what is possible and what support they need to get there.

What is the issue?

The impact of recent climate activism has been profound in emphasising the urgency of the climate crisis, but we are yet to see this translate into policy that will deliver the changes required. This challenge is clearly visible at the Local Authority (LA) level where none have detailed plans on delivering on their climate emergency declarations. Gaps in technical knowledge, inadequate scaling up of solutions, a lack of fiscal resources, uncoordinated local action and a nascent understanding of a ‘Just transition’; are some of the prominent challenges at the local authority level that need to be addressed.

What will the project try to achieve?

Green Alliance will help 2-3 Local Authorities (LAs) gain clarity and confidence in the policy priorities and pathways needed to make real their climate emergency declarations. Green Alliance will work towards building an ‘ambition coalition’ of LA’s and their local area stakeholders that can co-own and implement locally agreed policy decisions.

The project will offer LAs new approaches to engage their citizens on the opportunities and challenges of achieving net zero locally. Green Alliance will strive to complement other organisations and their work at the local area level to ultimately engender a stronger coalition working towards the common goal of bottom up climate action.

Who might be interested in this project?

  • Local authorities that have declared a climate emergency
  • Policy Makers at the central government level
  • Parliamentarians
  • Climate activists and engaged citizens who are lobbying their local political leaders to implement bold climate policy
  • Wider civil society that is working on raising ambition in their lead up to the UN climate conference in 2020.