This resource page provides access to An Taisce’s Legacy4LIFE Green Communities Low Carbon Planning resource documentation. These community low carbon planning documents provide extensive guidance for initiating and implementing a community low carbon climate action plan, to be achieved in conjunction with local authorities and other stakeholders. Documents include the following, which are available for download:

• An Taisce Legacy4LIFE Green Communities Handbook: Utilising Maynooth Electoral Division as a test site, this document provides a detailed account of the Green Communities Low Carbon Plan approach, structure, and methodology for baseline emission estimates and emission intervention forecasts.
• An Taisce Legacy4LIFE Green Communities Accreditation Framework: A proposed framework and stakeholder structure, providing a schedule by which a national Green Communities Low Carbon Planning programme could be implemented.
• Appendices: A compilation of primary data resources compiled during the Legacy4LIFE Green Communities project.
• Investigating Low Carbon Planning in a Small Rural Community Setting: Utilising Drumcreehy Electoral Division as a test site, this document provides an overview of rural considerations when engaging in Green Communities Low Carbon Planning in rural areas.
• Green Flag for Low Carbon Communities Draft Methodology for Consultation: Consultation guidance for rural communities.

Where possible, the Green Communities emissions methodology follows Codema’s “DEVELOPING CO2 BASELINES A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE FOR YOUR LOCAL AUTHORITY” 2017 guidance document. However, the Green Communities Handbook expands on this guidance document by providing methodologies for Land Use emissions, Water Consumption emissions, and additional Agricultural emissions (enteric fermentation, soil emissions, and manure management).

The methodology also provides options for calculating emissions at the higher resolution of Electoral Division level, rather than the County level previously available. This is aimed at assisting community level baseline emission calculations and low carbon planning.

It is to be hoped that this handbook will become a useful addition to the widely consulted Codema guide for Local Authorities, for Local Authorities, environmental consultants, and community climate action projects.

The Green Communities Handbook provides a structure to engage citizens in the planning of their low carbon future, rather than being passive recipients. This new Green Communities Low Carbon Plan process allows for much more dynamic community engagement with decarbonisation. It allows individuals to look into the future at estimates of what can be delivered by their own community. It also allows the public from different sectors of the community to vote for their preferred decarbonisation activity, and for these preferences to then guide and inform the future direction of local authority climate action planning. This is a much more joined-up way of exploring what the community wants for its low carbon future.

This means that climate actions the community want to do, and can be proven to be doable, can now be more rapidly incorporated into and update the Local Authorities Climate Action Plan. The Green Communities Low Carbon Plan will allow communities to explore their low carbon future options and preferences within a framework that fits in with the local authority and other national planning initiatives for climate action.

An increased level of community engagement with the local authority Climate Action Plan, should be anticipated when the community has had an active role in defining its preference via its own complementary Low Carbon Plan.

The Green Communities Low Carbon Plan works with 7 emission themes … including renewable energy. These are based on the 6 emission sectors of the National Climate Action Plans, plus the additional theme of Just Transition. Surveys and Sectoral Meetings have engaged with the following 4 societal sectors:

• Agricultural
• Large Business
• SMEs
• Community

The project has worked in collaboration and alignment with the Kildare County Council Decarbonisation Strategy for Maynooth. It has also been strongly assisted by Maynooth University staff and students.

Looking to the future there is great potential for this model of community climate action planning to align with Local Authority Climate Action Planning, both supporting and influencing it.

It is An Taisce’s hope to establish Green Communities Low Carbon Planning as a national programme.

This will deliver mentorship and accreditation supporting Green Communities Plans for Low Carbon Communities across the country.

This delivers strongly on the UN Sustainability Goals, specifically:

●       7: Affordable and Clean Energy

●       11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

●       12: Responsible Consumption and Production

●       13: Climate Action

●       17: Partnerships for the Goals.

To view An Taisce’s Green Communities promotional video, please click here. 

For further information please contact: [email protected]