Since 2015 Thrive’s Community Benefit Programme with CSE has been helping community buildings become warmer, cheaper to run and more sustainable. To date, we’ve awarded nearly £200,000 in energy efficiency grants to community buildings near our clean energy sites, saving an estimated 86 tonnes CO2 equivalent every year.
Now in its seventh year, the 2023 programme awarded a record £37,692 to ten community groups. The estimated carbon savings from this round alone amount to 7.5 tonnes CO2 equivalent every year. We also provided free online training on the topics of energy advice, community approaches to tackling fuel poverty, and community building energy efficiency. 50% of the people who came to these training sessions had not previously engaged with the programme but were eager to do so afterwards, with two-thirds saying they had been inspired to conduct a survey of their building. Plus, everyone who attended expressed motivation to support their communities in tackling fuel poverty, with all groups also keen to initiate their energy projects.
Hear from some of the grantees in CSE’s article.
