Funding Opportunity - Carbon CLEVER Community Grant Fund Now Open For Applications

9th March 2015

Closing dates
Deadlines for applications in the following areas are as follows:

Skye, Ross & Cromarty - 24 June, 2015.

Caithness & Sutherland - 5 August, 2015.

Lochaber - 14 July, 2015

City of Inverness - 30 July, 2015

Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey - 12 August 2015

Purpose
The Carbon CLEVER Community Grant Fund has been established to help Highland communities reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions, take leadership on carbon reduction, engage with others, raise awareness of climate change issues and promote low carbon behaviour. Local projects will help achieve our Carbon CLEVER target of a carbon neutral Inverness in a low carbon Highlands by 2025.

The fund will assist communities with the implementation of Carbon CLEVER projects which are relevant and important to them. By working closely with communities, to understand their circumstances and aspirations, it will be possible to reduce carbon emissions and to identify future opportunities.

Funding available
A total of £200,000 is available in the 2015/16 financial period to fund community Carbon CLEVER projects. As a capital grant fund, projects will only be eligible for funding if they concern the acquisition or creation of a new asset, or the enhancement of existing assets.

Each Area Committee will be provided with a portion of the total fund to allocate, and this is broken down below:

Caithness & Sutherland - Annual Allocation £40,000

City of Inverness - Annual Allocation £65,000

Lochaber - Annual Allocation £17,500

Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey - Annual Allocation £20,000

Skye, Ross & Cromarty - Annual Allocation £57,500

Eligibility
We welcome interest from all community groups, community councils and established social enterprises looking for capital funds to part finance projects which display:

Carbon reduction
Leadership
Engagement
Value for money
Economic benefit
Raise awareness and promote behaviour change

For full details and application process see -
www.highland.gov.uk/carboncleverfund