We need to work together to create a low-carbon future

Community run renewable energy projects could help to cut Scotland’s carbon footprint, Benny Talbot explains how

FOR the last six years, I’ve worked with community owned renewable energy projects, where people and engineering collide. Community energy is about building our new green electricity system, but it’s also about the people who build it, and making it work for them. Sure, the business case needs to add up, but the cheapest way isn’t always the best.

The best way normally does much more than just generate renewable electricity: it might also insulate people’s houses, like community wind turbines on Gigha; educate local school kids, like the solar co-op in Edinburgh; or support jobs on the local fish farm, like the bio-digester on Lewis.

When designing a project, of course we need engineers and accountants. But on their own, it’s not enough. There’s normally more than one option to choose between. And the most important people are those who live next door to what is built. After all, they will be around long after the engineer and the accountant have gone home.

I won’t lie – the last five years haven’t been easy for community energy. Looking back, things seem so simple in the early days. Put up a wind turbine. Sell the energy. Invest in your community.

Now each year the business case is harder for small scale renewables. The subsidies are gone. The grid is full up. We are still waiting for regulations and infrastructure to catch up with the reality of a renewable grid.

Meanwhile, us small players are struggling in a system built for big companies.

So we’ve had to innovate. Some groups have collaborated to go big. Others have trialled smart grids, electric cars, or even renewable hydrogen. If you want to see the future of our energy system go to Eigg, Eday, or another a Scottish island with an active community energy group.

This year, it finally feels like things are changing. Day to day, getting a project done is as hard as ever. But extinction rebellion and the climate strikers have pushed the environment to the top of the political agenda.

In April, Scotland was the first country in the world to declare a climate emergency. Canada, Bangladesh, and the whole of Europe have followed. Then Holyrood and Westminster adopted the Committee on Climate Change’s net zero proposals, meaning more ambitious targets and a new plan to meet them.

But the easy times haven’t arrived yet. The transition to renewable energy is as much about people as it is about engineering. In light of the government’s new net zero policy, I was eager to see what plans the government now had for working with communities like the ones I know. But there weren’t any.

The government has detailed plans, timescales and targets for rolling out low carbon technologies even when those technologies are experimental. It has a ‘behaviour change’ report but the details are much woollier. No clear targets or timelines, and policy recommendations only for consumer pricing.

The report says ‘consumer’ 223 times, but only mentions ‘community’ once. The irony is, that it was community mobilisation which drove climate policy to the top of the political agenda, but climate policy hardly seems to recognise that communities exist.

In every town and every city, groups of people are meeting to talk about our environment and to try to take action, whether by building a solar farm or supporting their kids on climate strikes.

These people want change and to be part of it. That means changing behaviour but also speaking to neighbours, building low carbon infrastructure, setting up support groups, and a say in local decisions.

Talk of ‘consumers’ isn’t enough. We can’t protect the environment if we produce and consume more every year. We need to fundamentally change our economy and our lifestyles. That sort of change should start and end with communities.

Recently, I took a break from my routine to talk to people working with community groups. I found that lots of my colleagues had been thinking along the same lines. In November, we gathered a network of community groups and held a conference.

We had three aims: to discuss how best we can contribute to combating the climate emergency; to work out what support we need from government; and to issue a call to action. Hopefully, this is only the start of the conversation.

Last month we elected a prime minister who didn’t even turn up to the climate leaders’ debate. So I fear it may be a while before we have these conversations in Westminster.

But from Holyrood there have been signs that politicians might listen. We now have a Just Transition Commission, and a government prepared to discuss the importance of wellbeing alongside economic growth.

World leaders will converge on Glasgow next year for COP26, the summit where global climate policy is made. All eyes will be on Scotland, and we will have the chance to show how to get this right.

We need to change our economy and our lifestyles.

Benny Talbot is Innovation Development Manager at Communities Call For Climate Action