Greenlight Funding 2025-26

Greenlight is ECCAN's seedgrant fund for climate action projects delivered by community groups within the City of Edinburgh. This year we have £115,000 to distribute across the city.

Applications closed on 1st August and voting is open from now until 15th August (5pm). Please read the following notes in order to cast your votes. If you have any questions or issues with the process please contact us via greenlight@eccan.scot.

How To Vote

Applications are categorised by the amount of funds each project requested. There are 5 categories: £10k-£20k; £5k-£10k; £1k-£5k; £500-£1k; and £350-£500. For your vote to be counted, you are required to cast votes in all 5 categories. We will use a transferable vote system, seen by many as a more democratic, progressive system compared to the more traditional First Past The Post (https://electoral-reform.org.uk/voting-systems/types-of-voting-system/). For your vote to be counted, you are required to cast votes for your 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices, in each of the 5 size categories.

The applicants are listed below - for fairness, each one has been given the same word count limit to describe their project. Please read all project descriptions before casting your votes. Please note that only ECCAN members (both organisations and individuals) are eligible to vote. When voting we will ask you to enter your name and email address (the one associated with your ECCAN membership). The ballot is secret - we just use your name/email address to validate that you are an ECCAN member. When you are ready to vote, please use this link. If you have any questions or issues with the process please contact us via greenlight@eccan.scot.

Projects to choose from: Category A: £10,001 - £20,000

  • Greening Leith Walk – Living Walls for a Healthier Urban Environment

    This project will install living walls along Leith Walk to improve air quality, support biodiversity, and create a greener urban environment. Living walls—vertical gardens made with plants that absorb emissions, trap dust, and attract pollinators—have shown proven success globally. Inspired by ecological design studies, I self-funded a pilot wall on a local yoga studio using ivy (air-purifying), coral bell (dust-trapping), jasmine star (temperature-regulating), and lavender (pollinator-attracting). The project received strong community interest and positive results. With funding, I aim to expand these installations across Leith Walk, partnering with local businesses and residents. This initiative will enhance wellbeing, environmental quality, and community pride, serving as a scalable model for other areas of Edinburgh.

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Projects to choose from: Category B: £5,001 - £10,000

  • Amount requested: £10,000

    Hello! We are ELoT- the Edinburgh Library of Things! We are here to offer a seamless, gorgeous, smooth as butter transition out of the endless destructive cycle of consumer capitalism (ew) and into circular sharing economy. If you’ve ever wanted to make ice cream while admiring the paddle board you’re going to take out for a spin later, we’ve got you. If you’re just plain sick of wondering where to buy something that doesn’t require Simone Biles level mental gymnastics to get around the guilt of participating in extractive production practices, we’ve got you! If you simply lack the closet space for a carpet cleaner and camping gear, but desperately desire clean carpets and the occasional outdoor living experience, (say it with me), we’ve got you!

    We hope each and every one of us can benefit from sharing not only our things, but also our knowledge. We will be hosting workshops, repair events, creative upcycle events, swaps and more! As a CIC, we aim to invest any profits above our costs back into the business and the community- hoping to engage in clean, decentralized energy, rewilding, green space development and care supporting initiatives among other things. As much as the success of ELoT means to us personally, we hope it means more to the city and all its inhabitants. We truly believe people are ready for a shift away from capitalism and barreling towards a dead earth future, and we want to be the ones to give them the options they need to opt out of endless extraction, overproduction, and pollution cycles. The end is not inevitable and we want to be right there on the front line of this crucial fight, keeping waste out of landfills and increasing everyone’s access to cool, fun and practical items at the same time.

  • 2050 Climate Group is a youth- and volunteer-led charity empowering young people (ages 18–35) from diverse communities across Scotland to take action on climate change.

    Young people are at the forefront of the climate emergency but often lack the tools, spaces and support to turn concern into action. A Lancet survey found 59 % of 16–25 year-olds feel very or extremely worried about climate change, with over 45 % reporting negative impacts on their daily lives. Many experience eco-anxiety yet have few opportunities to develop leadership skills, find community support and take action, especially those facing poverty, discrimination or geographic isolation. We believe empowering youth voices is essential to driving Scotland’s climate response

    Through our work, we aim to equip young people with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to become climate leaders, and we work to foster new connections, career opportunities, and improved mental health. Our programmes are designed to be fully accessible, with an aim of engaging diverse audiences, supported by our Participation Fund to cover access costs. Over the last 10 years, are work has engaged thousands of young people across Scotland, including over 800 who have completed our climate leadership programmes. Many of our alumni have progressed into sustainability careers, led community-based projects, and influenced policy at local and national level.

    We are fundraising for our 2025/26 Climate Action Leadership Programme, which empowers up to 110 young people (aged 18–35) from all backgrounds across Scotland to build community, develop leadership skills, and fight the climate emergency for a fairer future. The urgency of the climate crisis requires diverse leadership and informed action to create meaningful change. Young people in Scotland are eager to contribute but often lack the space & support to do so, especially in rural and marginalised communities where financial and geographical barriers, limited access to opportunities, and a lack of community can make climate leadership feel out of reach. We are dedicated to breaking down these barriers, through our free annual leadership programme, CALP. We believe the solution lies in empowering the next generation of leaders to play a key role in addressing the climate emergency in Scotland and beyond.

    Every year, 2050 Climate Group invites over 110 young people from diverse backgrounds to take part in a free & accessible six-month programme of online and in-person activities, field trips, and action projects, providing them with the community support, skills, and confidence needed to drive change.

    We aim to:

    • Empower, enable and raise aspirations: We help participants deliver climate action projects, run campaigns and launch community initiatives that advance climate goals.

    • Protect the Environment: We foster  new solutions to the climate crisis, supporting participants in researching challenges and co-creating action groups. delivering conservation projects in their own communities.

    • Increase Diversity:  CALP is entirely free, ensuring people who face financial or geographic barriers can join. In our 2024 pilot, 82 % of participants came from under-represented groups.

    • Build Community & Wellbeing: We embed safer spaces throughout the programme, offering eco-anxiety workshops, support circles and ongoing network events, to help participants process emotions and forge lasting connections.


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Projects to choose from: Category C: £1,001 - £5,000

  • We wish to create a food growing allotment area in the grounds of the Jewel Miners welfare charitable society, having 10 raised beds in area unused area, tended by members of the community who have no growing space themselves.

  • "Waste to Wonder" are creative upcycling workshops where lonely and isolated migrant and minority ethnic women from low income households will learn how to turn rubbish to items of practical use and learn how to take leadership in conserving the environment and reduce waste, while feeling creative and mentally positive.

  • Sustainable Creative Activities in Greenspaces

    20 young people from our Edinburgh employability programme, Impactful Starts, will work with Rangers from Heritage Environment Scotland to learn about geological and wildlife conservation, biodiversity and sustainability. Using this learning, Impact Arts’ young people will create and pilot creative arts activities using sustainable materials. These creative activities will be documented in a colourful information pack bursting with sustainable creative activities and key learning about thinking sustainably. The information packs will be shared with schools, youth groups, and nurseries in Edinburgh, and will be made available to download from a number of websites. There will be creative activity examples for use both indoors and outdoors, that use climate action and nature for inspiration and materials.

    The information pack will share key learning about thinking sustainably. This will include information on, and practical examples of:

    Material Selection:

    Choosing materials with low environmental impact, like recycled paper, reclaimed wood, natural pigments, and organic fibers. Advising on best types of bought materials e.g. Water-based paints, such as watercolors and gouache, have a lower impact than oil or acrylic paints.

    Reduce New Material Usage:

    Minimizing the amount of new materials used in a creative activity/art work will help reduce overall waste and resource consumption. This project will show how to create amazing art for low cost and with low impact on the environment.

    Recyclability and Biodegradability:

    Opting for materials that can be recycled or biodegraded at the end of their life cycle reduces landfill waste.

    Circular Economy Principles:

    The circular economy model focuses on reducing waste and maximizing the use of resources which is vital for sustainable material design.

    Outcomes:

    20 young people, not in education, employment or training will gain confidence and have improved mental health by using their skills to pilot and create a guide to sustainable creativity activities that can be used by others.  

    90 primary schools, 23 secondary schools, 102 early years centres and 15 youth groups will receive this information on thinking sustainably when being creative. Edinburgh children and young people are the next generation of artists and designers. Understanding how to create and design sustainably from a young age will foster long-lasting change. Some 80% of the environmental impacts of a product are locked in at the design phase. Additionally, we are all consumers, and the learning from the information packs can also be used to make more informed consumer choices.

    An even wider reach of the information will be made possible by promoting and sharing ‘Sustainable Creative Activities in Greenspaces’ through the Impact Arts website, as well as through the Rangers at Holyrood Park. It can also be shared through ECCAN.

Projects to choose from: Category D: £501 - £1,000

  • The Friends of Granton Castle Walled Garden is a charity which started up in 2013 with the aim of rescuing the historic Walled Garden from private housing development.

    The Walled Garden lies by Edinburgh's northern shore and is all that remains of the old castle and its associated land. It is now a community garden, B-listed by HES, owned by CEC and looked after by the Friends group. The 500 yr-old walls still enclose a beautiful area of almost 3 acres, with the remains of an old orchard, kitchen garden, flower gardens and greenhouses. Since April 2017 volunteers have been coming in regularly to re-establish these areas, to keep some wilder sections as a haven for wildlife and to create places to sit in peace and tranquillity. 

    There is no mains water supply in the garden so we decided to maximise the collection of rainwater to keep our plants happy. Our current system is inadequate for the increased cultivation of fruit, flowers and vegetables that is now possible as more of the previously overgrown garden is cleared. We have reroofed some dilapidated potting sheds to create more surfaces for rainwater collection however we don't have the storage to make best use of the increased volume of water. We would love to triple the storage capacity with 2 new 1000L tanks and also to replace some old water butts.

    Storing more water would enable us to grow more of the wonderful produce which is currently shared between community organisations, visitors and volunteers.

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Projects to choose from: Category E: £350 - £500

  • My name is Joana Avi-Lorie, and I am an artist and community creative practicioner, and a Story Weaver with the Scottish Communities Climate Action Network (SCCAN). My work focuses on using creative storytelling and participatory arts to engage families and children with the challenges and opportunities of climate action, particularly around adaptation. I believe that by connecting emotionally with our environment, its creatures and each other, we can nurture resilience and inspire meaningful change.

    In April 2025, I piloted a storytelling and arts-based workshop called 'The Most Beautiful Place in the World' at Stockbridge Library in Edinburgh, with funding from ECCAN’s GreenLight programme. The project was designed to spark meaningful conversations about climate adaptation among families, using creativity as a tool for reflection and expression. Adults and children were invited to take part in mapping activities that asked them to think about the places in Edinburgh they love and wish to preserve in the face of climate change, as well as those they feel need greater care and protection. In addition, participants identified local bird species and placed them into their maps to anchor their vision in the natural world around them.

    This project proved to be a gentle yet powerful way to open up discussion about climate impacts, connecting generations and fostering a sense of agency within the community. The participatory format allowed families to explore personal and collective values, rooted in the local landscape, while engaging with broader environmental themes in a way that felt accessible and hopeful.

    Building on the experience and learnings of the pilot, I now aim to take 'The Most Beautiful Place in the World' to another area of Edinburgh, specifically one more vulnerable to climate change impacts. I want to deepen the focus on climate adaptation by aligning the workshop content with the Climate Ready Edinburgh plan and other relevant resources. This next phase of the project will incorporate more targeted questions about community resilience, local risks, and practical adaptation strategies, while still centering storytelling and creativity as essential methods of engagement.

    I hope to support residents, particularly families and young people, in developing a stronger sense of connection to their local environment and a clearer understanding of the climate risks facing their area. I want to facilitate conversations that surface local knowledge and ideas about how communities can prepare for and adapt to change. In the future, I also seek to produce a collection of creative outputs, the maps, drawings, and shared stories that will come from these workshops, that reflect the hopes, concerns, and visions of participants. These 'artefacts' will not only serve as tools for further engagement but as a form of community-based climate storytelling that can be shared with local decision-makers, schools, and other groups.

    'The Most Beautiful Place in the World' is about imagining a future where beauty, care, and resilience go hand in hand—and giving communities the creative space to shape that future together.

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