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Community Climate Action Programme

The Community Climate Action Programme is a new programme to support small and large, rural and urban communities to take climate action at a local level.

The Community Climate Action Programme is a new programme to support small and large, rural and urban communities to take climate action at a local level. Waterford City and County Council, in conjunction with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications will support communities to promote and assist in the scale up of community climate action.

This Programme is an opportunity for groups to take a holistic approach in making their community less carbon intensive and more sustainable for the future. The Programme is open to a range of community groups – from those new to climate action to those with more experience.

There are two strands:

Strand 1- Action: Building Low Carbon Communities

Waterford City and County Council have been given an allocation of €564,000 for projects under strand 1. Under this scheme communities will partner with Waterford Council to carry out projects that have a direct climate action impact.

Strand 1a - Shared Island Community Climate Action

This strand enables communities and local authorities to carry out a cross-border project in partnership with a community in Northern Ireland. Unlike strand 1, Local Authorities have not been automatically allocated funding under strand 1a and is open for all communities to apply.

FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions
Below are some quick FAQs about the programme. Full details on the Programme are available in the Briefing Note and Guidelines for Applicants document below.

Eligible communities must be a not-for-profit; be located in the operational area of the Waterford City and County Council; and be registered with a PPN or connected with other collectives such as the Wheel, Tidy Towns and /or a community group with Articles of Association or a Constitution, which hold an AGM, and for which approved minutes are available.

Examples of eligible groups include local charities, sports clubs, community groups, local environmental groups, social enterprises, Resident's Associations etc.

Projects must demonstrate the delivery of national climate action at a local level for strand 1 and on a cross-border basis on the island of Ireland for strand 1a. There are five programme themes and communities should try to incorporate as many themes as possible. The themes are:

  • Community & Energy
  • Travel
  • Food and waste
  • Shopping and recycling
  • Local climate and environmental action

Projects could be anything from retrofitting community buildings, installing bicycle parking, starting a community fridge, initiatives to promote biodiversity – the sky is the limit!

Ultimately there must be some sort of tangible – even perhaps measurable - end result which reduces or lessen the impact of climate change.

Direct climate action projects do one or more of the following - reduce/ remove greenhouse gas emissions; increase the production/ use of renewable energy; improve energy efficiency; increase climate resilience; enhance biodiversity; or contribute with the Just Transition. Awareness and education projects would be examples of indirect climate action projects. Those types of projects have a lot of merit and are needed, but they are not the focus of this funding.

Funding is available for 100% of the project and there are three project sizes eligible:

  • Small scale projects < €20,000
  • Medium scale projects €20,000 to €50,000
  • Large scale projects €51,000 to €100,000

Interested community groups are strongly encouraged to contact the Community Climate Action Officer with their project ideas before completing their application form, see contact details below.

To apply groups must complete an application form and submit necessary documents by Friday 19th January (3:30pm).

 

There are two ways to submit an application form:

The direct links are:

  1. Small project under strand 1
  2. Medium/Large under Strand 1
  3. Small project under strand 1a (Shared Island/ Cross Border)
  4. Medium/large project under strand 1a (Shared Island/ Cross Border)

Or alternatively, you can download a Word version of the forms at the end of the page and submit your completed application and supporting documents via email or post.

  1. Application form for a small project under strand 1
  2. Application form for a medium/Large under Strand 1
  3. Application form for a small under strand 1a (Shared Island/ Cross Border)
  4. Application form for a small medium/large project under strand 1a (Shared Island/ Cross Border)

The Community Climate Action Officer is here to assist groups with their applications.

Application Forms

YouTube Recordings of our recent webinars

YouTube Recordings of our recent webinars

  1. Brief Overview of the Community Climate Action Programme
  2. Planning your project for the Community Climate Action Programme
  3. Completeing the Community Climate Action Programme application form
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