Scottish Communities and Climate Action Network

Scottish Communities Climate Action Network (SCCAN) is the national network of Scottish community organisations and groups working towards a post-carbon future.

Its purpose is to inspire, promote and support community-led climate action across Scotland, by:

• Enabling communications across the network e.g. through newsletters, opportunities for members to be part of participatory media projects, events, social media etc.
• Developing and sharing ideas and building capacity in the movement by organising events, gatherings, and trainings related to climate action across the country.
• Being involved with European and worldwide climate action networks and sharing best of practice with its membership
• Inspiring communities by providing online tools for networking, sharing of best practice, and showcasing projects between community groups and beyond.
• Communicating and developing the discourse of community climate action wherever possible including in Scottish Government (through meetings, consultations etc), across social media, through partnering with a wide range of organisations etc.
• Building understanding of the role and potential of communities in climate action within civil society by partnering and collaborating with other Scottish community networks (e.g. through Scottish Community Alliance), public sector, and business.

SCCAN's work is also directed by its values:

• Respect for resource limits
• Promotion of inclusivity and social justice
• Attention to individual wellbeing
• Openly sharing our learning and responding to feedback
• Collaborating and looking for synergies
• Being positive and creative

SCCAN's vision for Scotland is an outcome from the 2014 members' conference.

Full Membership is open to all constituted community groups across Scotland that are taking action on climate change, including groups funded by the Scottish Government’s Climate Challenge Fund. Associate membership is open to any partner organisations that are involved with or support community-led climate action. Since 2018, individuals that align with the values of SCCAN can also become members. SCCAN's volunteer ‘working groups’ and short-life task groups take forward specific work plans with support from a part-time administrator, currently funded by a small grant from Scottish Government

As a community-run network, SCCAN is an active member of the Scottish Community Alliance and, through this, has the opportunity to engage with and learn from over 1200 community organisations across Scotland. SCCAN is also actively engaged with newly-developing, community-led networks across the UK and Europe. This has the potential to provide further support, inspiration and learning among members as well as for gaining valuable insights into how best to create the conditions in which community action on climate change can thrive -and enable the rapid decarbonisation required by the Paris Agreement whilst creating the sort of future the organisation is working towards.