Community Groups based in Dublin City Council, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Fingal County Council and South Dublin County Council administrative areas have been invited to make applications to the Community Climate Action Programme (CCAP). The four Dublin local authorities combined have been allocated just over €5 million by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications to fund projects with a direct climate action impact.
Dublin City Council has been allocated €1,938,000, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has been allocated €883,000, Fingal County Council has been allocated €1,127,000 and South Dublin County Council has been allocated €1,073,000 and under the CCAP. The CCAP is allocating €24million nationally from the Climate Action Fund (CAF) to build low carbon communities across the country. A further €3 million has been allocated from the Shared Island Programme to enable groups to carry out cross-border and all-island climate action projects in partnership with communities/organisations in Northern Ireland.
Projects selected for funding under the programmes will have to contribute to national climate and energy targets across the following five themes: community energy; travel; food and waste; shopping and recycling; and local climate and environmental action. Applications are now open for community and voluntary groups who want to do more in their communities to step up climate action in partnership with their local authorities. The programme will enable these groups to take direct climate action through varied levels of funding to support a variety of projects, from small to larger projects, worth up to €100,000 over an 18-month period.
Each Local Authority has appointed a dedicated Community Climate Action Officer (CCAO) to assist interested groups with their applications and to provide guidance on the programme and suitable projects. Groups who are interested in applying should contact their local authority and request to speak to the Community Climate Action Officer about the programme.
Mayor of South Dublin County, Councillor Alan Edge added “I am delighted to see the opening of the Community Climate Action Programme in South Dublin County. This programme emanates from real citizen feedback, through the national Climate Conversations, where it was clear that citizens and communities want to do more to fight the climate crisis. This programme affords them an opportunity to do just that, whether communities are new to climate action or more established in this space. I look forward to working with my Council colleagues and local groups in implementing the programme.”
Speaking about the Community Climate Action Programme, Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communication Eamon Ryan said “I have been visiting local authorities and local climate action groups across the country for the past 18 months and in these visits it is clear that local communities are the real drivers of creative and inclusive climate action across Ireland. With climate action, place is everything. What works and what’s needed for a coastal community will be different to what works and what’s needed for a midlands community, for example. The beauty of this fund is that the projects funded will come from the ground up, from the people and organisations that know what’s best for their own area.”
