Ambleside Action for a Future (AAFAF) is gearing up for their public launch of ‘Ambleside to Zero’ on 23rd September 2021 in Ambleside Parish Centre, and we’re proud to be supporting them. AAFAF aims to get the town to zero carbon by 2030 and is working with local residents, business and multiple partners to get there.

This will be an all-day drop-in session, with periodic welcome talks to explain the group’s aims and introduce the projects. There will be information-packed displays, AAFAF members and project partners there to talk to, and hopefully some fun gadgets to play with! Everyone is welcome, either from the local area or further afield. Detailed information will follow on the AAFAF website.

The morning will be dedicated to supporting local businesses to decarbonise. As well as demonstrating our own CAfS business carbon footprint calculator, we’ll be joined by a host of specialists, (including Green Small Business), who can help businesses think about energy and resource efficiency, environmental certification, and innovation. Businesses will also be able to meet the Lake District Foundation, who can offer grants of up to £20k to small to medium sized businesses wishing to reduce their carbon footprint.

From lunchtime we’ll be focussing on our community projects and will be encouraging local residents to get involved. Opportunities include: our solar PV project, which will identify a trusted partner to install solar PV on multiple homes in the area; the warmer homes project, which will help you understand where your home might be leaking heat; getting advice and draft-proofing work from the CAfS Cold to Cosy Home service (eligibility criteria apply); and finding out about the CAfS Retrofit for Cumbria project, which will support homeowners to carry out extensive home energy improvement works. We’ll also be introducing the CAfS household carbon footprint calculator and AAFAF’s other projects around tree planting and sustainable transport.

We’re delighted to have been successful in supporting AAFAF to secure a grant from the MCS Foundation to fund this event and further community engagement. We’re also grateful for the on-going support from South Lakeland District Council, who fund us to work with AAFAF and bring in other project specialists.

The launch event is timed to take place during the Great Big Green Week, a national week of events celebrating action on climate change, organised by the Climate Coalition. See our earlier news article for more information about this exciting week.