Colonsay joined the Carbon Neutral Islands Project in 2024, and in the first year undertook a review of local life and business activities identifying possible measures that could be taken by the local community to contibute to “Colonsay net zero”
This culminated in a weekend-long event and “climate cafe” where the primary school, experts with local connections and and several residents were invited to share their experiences and views of how climate change is impacting our community, and some ideas of what we could all do to adapt to and help reverse these changes.
Everyone was invited to contribute their ideas for what actions and projects should be be considered through a series of small discussion groups. These issues were then marshalled together to form the first Colonsay Community Climate Action Plan which was published in March 2025
A copy of the plan can be downloaded from the Document Library page on this site
Projects are currently either in development or underway with the aims of mitigating or reducing the emissions that cause climate change and to tackle the negative effects of climate change. Current projects include:
Trees
With the support of The Woodland Trust and a group of volunteers we have planted over 1000 trees and shrubs around the housing development at An Faire Mor. The species selected are native to the West Coast of Scotland and have been chosen for their resilience to our environment and for their ability to contribute to the biodiversity of the island.
Community engagement
We will be holding a second screening of The People’s Emergency Briefing Film on July 23rd at 7.30pm in Scalasaig Village Hall with a question and answer session from Professor Mike berners-Lee.
Following on from our Climate Café in 2025, a Repair Café is planned for the Autumn.
Village Hall Solar PV and resilience project
This project is to move our village hall away from fossil fuels to renewable energy. The Village Hall is also Colonsay’s resilience hub. Work is underway to obtain grant funding
Electric Bikes project.
This was successfully launched in April 2026 with funding from HiTrans. More on this project soon!
The CNI project has at its heart collaboration with the local community to improve resilience and to adapt to the climate crisis. We welcome ideas and engagement . Please contact Maggie Fay , Carbon Neutral project Officer maggiefay.ccdc@gmail.com
With thanks to our sponsors & funders:
