Community-led climate action
Reducing our emissions and mitigating the impacts of climate change. Encouraging transformational change across all of our communities and supporting them to be climate ready is vital in our just transition to net zero.
Community climate action hubs
To provide a strategic regional approach to climate change action, we are supporting a network of regional community climate action hubs with up to £6 million in 2026 to 2027. These hubs are run by local experts connected to community organisations and cross-sector partners, such as councils, health boards, and education providers. They vary in size and scale, and employ different models of working, including partnership models.
The hubs work to:
- build awareness of the climate emergency and actions local groups can take
- support groups to develop climate action projects
- embed climate solutions into local plans
- support groups to influence and shape local and national policies
- ensure a joined-up approach to tackling climate change at a regional level
What the Climate Action Hubs do
The Climate Action Hubs network has 24 hubs across Scotland. The hubs provide place-based support for communities to take forward climate action initiatives. They offer training, seed funding and opportunities to collaborate and share knowledge.
The hubs focus on innovation, resilience, and inclusivity in addressing climate challenges, supporting communities in making meaningful contributions to Scotland’s goals. You can find contact information for climate action hubs and more information about your local hub on the Climate Hubs Scotland website.
A breakdown of funding for hubs is also available.
The programme’s Theory of Change sets out the shared activities, outputs and outcomes the hubs are working towards.
In 2025, we asked The Lines Between to evaluate the hubs programme. The Climate Action Hubs programme evaluation drew on:
- a review of over 300 monitoring and reporting documents
- qualitative interviews and focus groups
- an online survey with 175 respondents
The evaluation found that the programme is highly valued and effective. Its strengths include a flexible, place-based model, strong community engagement, and the ability to build partnerships and support inclusion. To maximise future impact, the programme needs more stable funding, a clearer structure, and better coordination across the network.
In 2023, we also asked Changeworks to research similar models in the UK and internationally. See: Scottish climate action hubs: models research..
Climate action towns
Climate Action Towns was a three-year initiative led by Architecture and Design Scotland (2021-2024) aiming to cultivate community-led climate action across nine Scottish towns, providing them with support to develop climate-focused local plans and inclusive engagement for a just transition to net zero.
This project highlighted several key themes that were crucial to ensuring the effective implementation of climate initiatives across all locations, including:
- establishing trust and building strong relationships within communities
- taking a place-based approach, making climate risks tangible and actionable helps integrate climate action into daily life and planning processes
- leadership and collaboration across sectors enable a strong network that is resilient to change
- community capacity and cohesion are key to delivering impactful action
- embedding climate actions in local plans addresses immediate climate risks and supports broader community needs
- dedicated resources enable consistent and impactful action, which can include funding specific roles within development trusts or local authorities
For more information and resources, visit Architecture & Design Scotland’s website:
- climate Action Towns overview
- climate Action Towns toolkit
- how to embed climate actions in your place
Climate Challenge Fund
The Climate Challenge Fund (CCF) was delivered by Keep Scotland Beautiful and ran from 2008 until 2022, providing over £110 million to 1150 projects.
The projects covered a range of climate action including helping communities to reduce reliance on car travel, cut waste, grow local food, and lower energy use in homes and community buildings. You can find out more information in the programme overview.
It was replaced by the climate action hub programme.
Contact
For more information on our policy supporting community-led climate action, email climatechangeengagement@gov.scot.