How to embed climate actions in your place

Learning from the Climate Action Towns project

People sitting at a Climate Action Town workshop in Blackburn

Launching our report and reflections

Over three years we have worked with nine towns in Scotland to support the delivery of relevant, place appropriate climate actions in the Climate Action Towns project. We have done this by working within each town to co-design the priorities of each place, identify opportunities, build capacity and support, and enable collaborations.

We have collated our learnings from this project into a report, and a series of short videos which can be found on this webpage. Sitting alongside the report is a Toolkit which provides a range of ideas and activities to support community-led climate action. 

These resources are aimed at a range of audiences; some may be more relevant to you than others, but together they set out how we can identify the climate action initiatives relevant to your place.

Climate Action Towns Report

Download or view the report online.

Highlights video from Climate Action Towns

A short video sharing the story of Climate Action Towns project

Our report: summary of key ingredients for community climate action

Our report is a summary from the three-year Climate Action Towns project. It provides a reflection of what we have learned, and snapshots from each of the nine towns involved. We have pulled together the five key ingredients to taking place-based climate action. This sits alongside a Toolkit which provides a range of ideas and activities to support community-led climate action.

The five ingredients to take community climate action we have identified are:

  1. Start with what matters to your community: bring together different voices 
  2. Understand the climate risks in your place: use maps, workshops and data to identify climate risks
  3. Build capacity and collaboration: build community capacity to maintain momentum
  4. Develop ideas for action: invite the community to agree on the priorities to get greater buy-in
  5. Share plans and take the first step: co-design a plan and put it into action
Read the report

How we started

Communities have told us that climate change can feel overwhelming. This short video (3mins 35s) talks about how towns started the conversation, and how they began to take action.

How we worked together

We need to collaborate to take climate action. View this short video (3mins 12s) to find out how the Climate Action Towns project worked together with communities, and other stakeholders, to maximise opportunities to deliver change.

How we took action

Bringing people together, forming links within communities, and connecting ideas can help create a plan for action. 

This video (4mins 51s) tells the story of how getting people involved and building awareness generates momentum. Small actions can start to make a big difference.

Young people gathering around a table looking at a map

Toolkit: how to take action

If you want to get involved, you can find out more in our Toolkit which shares resources on how to take action. 

With this toolkit we take you through the process as followed by the Climate Action Towns team, and the tools used. This helps to break it down into manageable steps.

Find out more

Find out more about our Climate Action Towns project

Our work across nine towns in Scotland supported the delivery of relevant, place appropriate climate actions. Over a 3-year project we have worked within each town to co-design the priorities of each place, identify opportunities, build capacity and support, and enable collaborations.

To find out more about the overall project click on the link below.

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