Updates from Going Green Together - Issue #5

Hello and welcome to the Going Green Together newsletter. Our campaign supports VCSE organisations in the North East on their journey towards net zero.

Since the last newsletter we’ve been plugging away getting the word out about the campaign.

We want to thank everyone who has helped us to promote and engaged with the campaign so far and look forward to working with you more in the future. Collaboration is a key part of Going Green Together and by continuing to do this we can help the sector to help our planet.

We hosted our January peer support session where organisations shared their Green New Year’s resolutions. You can find out what else we chatted about in the session on our Medium blog. We really want to try and encourage more organisations to come along to the sessions, so if you haven’t been yet or you know someone who is starting to think about how to take climate action within their organisation, send them our way.

We’re also hoping to have more news on our National Lottery Community Fund Stage 2 application in the coming months so stay tuned for some exciting updates!

If you have any climate action events or news you’d like us to share, email hello@goinggreentogether.org.

Throughout January we’ve been sharing information about Citizens Advice and Energy Saving Trust’s Big Energy Saving Campaign on our social media channels. With energy price inflation round the corner, visit our website to see what you can do within your organisation to save energy, money and the planet.

Groundwork have written an interesting report and useful social action toolkit for developing climate action projects. Whilst this is aimed at young people it could be used more broadly for organisations.

Join our peer support session to collaborate with other organisations and take your first steps towards Net Zero. We’re here to give you a helping hand so you can take climate action.

Discussion topics for this session will include:

We hope to see you there!

We’re partnering with NCVO to deliver their Member’s Assembly for the North East!

The Assembly offers the opportunity for NCVO members to discuss and explore our campaign on climate action and staff wellbeing at work.

Community support organisations can attend this event to discuss how Northern Powergrid can support their customers to be more resilient during a power cut.

Yorkshire Energy Doctor CIC are running an online energy training course which will equip you to be able to advise local residents on how to reduce their energy costs and provide useful information on schemes available to help keep people warm over winter.

You can expect to learn about fuel poverty, energy use, energy saving tips and much more. The course is free thanks to funding from the Northern Gas Networks.

February climate campaigns:

Follow us on Twitter to stay up to date and see what actions your organisation can take to get involved.

Following on from COP26, the North East and Yorkshire Energy Hub has funding available for organisations to support a range of carbon-cutting projects that reduce energy use and resource waste in buildings, organisations, or communities. They might include installing energy efficient lighting in a building, buying community assets such as hot-boxes for food waste, or installing a communal electric car-charging point.

Organisations can apply for grants between £2k-£10k. The grants cannot be used for ongoing running or core costs of an existing service. However, an appropriate contribution to project management costs and core management costs can be included.

In March the Cultivation Street campaign brings people together by encouraging them to cultivate their community gardens. There are a variety of different competition categories so if your organisation has a community garden, why not register? You’ll receive a digital starter pack with information on the campaign and monthly newsletter with gardening ideas.

Make sure you share your community garden pictures with us on Twitter!

Join the Going Green Together movement today – to learn, take your first steps in climate action, and share your successes with the community to help inspire others. Connect with us and others by joining our network.