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Community Energy for Everyone

CSE engages with local communities in accessible and interactive ways

Working towards an energy system that leaves no one behind as we transition to net zero.

Project duration: September 2021 – March 2022

With funding from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, we worked to disseminate lessons learned and resources for inspiring community energy activity in other lower-income communities, building on the successes of Powering Up, our project that developed more inclusive community led action in the energy sector.

Mapping out communities in need of community resilience

First, our research team mapped out communities that could most benefit from an increase in community resilience.

Project Manager, Harriet Sansom, said: “Community energy can have a strong role in building local energy resilience. With households and local businesses remaining vulnerable to fluctuating energy prices and many homes failing to meet people’s basic needs for warmth, there has never been a more pertinent time to act.

“This project is a fantastic opportunity to spread the learnings, resources and tools that we’ve developed through our community energy work to date, focusing this in more vulnerable communities”.

Leaving a legacy of agency 

We reached out to these identified communities to upskill community members to be able to spot the signs of fuel poverty, offer energy saving information, increase energy literacy and understand climate change.

Acting to address these issues in communities, which are already dealing with other social issues, is complex. People may not have the time, resources or headspace to proactively engage with the energy system, or to start up a community energy project.

With this in mind, we offered our time and resources to make it easier for these communities to take action and help to embed long-lasting resilience.

We worked with 21 community-based organisations, and through this engaged with over 1,000 people through training, workshops, webinars and resource provision.

We continue to work with a handful of these community-based organisations, and have also continued to share our resources and apply our learnings through our role as the Big Local climate support partner.

Want more information, free toolkits or resources?

Contact Tess Rushton for further help with community engagement.

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