Carbon Neutral Islands
The Carbon Neutral Islands Project
The Carbon Neutral Islands (CNI) project is directly supporting six islands, (Yell, Hoy, Barra, Raasay, Islay and Great Cumbrae) in their journey to becoming carbon neutral in a just and fair way. The project has built communities into its delivery to ensure that islanders have a say in how they wish to decarbonise. This will not only benefit the environment, but support local economies, facilities and general wellbeing through investment in communities.
The project is intended to benefit all Scottish islands, not only those included directly as part of the project. This will be through knowledge exchange and sharing of good practices stemming from implementation.
In November 2024 the CNI Progress Report 2023-2024 was published. Highlighting a number of the exciting projects which have been taking place across the six islands, this report captures the good progress made in the Project so far. You can find the full report at: Carbon-neutral islands project: progress report
In 2025-26, £1.4 million of capital funding will be distributed through a bidding process with Local Authorities acting as the lead applicant in partnership with the six island communities. A further £200,000 capital investment has been directly awarded to these islands to support continued implementation of Community Climate Change Action Plans.
A Financing Roadmap for the project has been developed which will allow each island to move forward with longer term planning and project development to support delivery of their Community Climate Change Action Plans.
The Community Action Handbook
Community Energy Scotland have developed a Community Action Handbook, based on the CNI project. It has been designed as an accessible and practical resource for use by communities wishing to take action on climate change.
Read or download the digital version of the CNI Project Community Action Handbook below.
