We run practical projects to mitigate the effects of climate change and bring about a more sustainable way of life in Cumbria.
Our projects tackle climate change in all sorts of ways – from helping people to make their homes more energy efficient through to supporting new community energy installations.
We work with a wide range of local and national partners and funders to deliver our projects.
Browse our current projects below to find out more.
Homes & buildings
Our new Retrofit Made Easy project can help you refurbish your home with a free thermal imaging survey, peer support and CAfS expert in-house retrofit services.
Our Cold to Cosy Homes Cumbria service is helping hundreds of households to cut their energy bills, with free draughtproofing and advice.
We’re providing advice and resources to people in Cumbria who want to adapt their homes to lessen the impact it has on the planet.
Our Cumbria Green Build & Sustainability events take place throughout the year and welcome thousands of people to both online and physical spaces to discuss ways of reducing our impact on the planet.
New events are constantly being added with many of them being absolutely free to attend, though we appreciate any donations. Check out our events page and see if there’s anything that could help you green up your lifestyle.
Community energy
We’re supporting homeowners and small businesses to install solar PV, by providing independent advice and improving access to good installers.
We’re supporting local councils and action groups to bring renewable energy to their community with advice, consultancy and grant funding.
Business support
For a couple of years, CAfS has been supporting businesses in the South Lakeland area to reduce their carbon footprint and encouraging them to share their methods and results in order to help others. Along the way we’re building a bank of resources to signpost similar businesses to so that they can find people like them who making big changes to how they conduct business.
On behalf of Barrow Borough Council we’re offering free support to SMEs in the Barrow area to help them reduce their carbon emissions. Benefiting from fully funded, one-to-one support, ten businesses will get a carbon footprint calculation and a building energy audit. They’ll also benefit from an environmental impact audit and get recommendations for reducing energy use, renewable energy generation and other top tips to reduce the business’s carbon footprint.
Going Green Together supports voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations and communities in Cumbria and the North East to take action on the climate emergency, support nature and biodiversity and ensure a just transition to a low carbon future for our communities.
Youth
Schools on the west coast of Cumbria are endeavouring to reduce their carbon footprint while empowering the students and pupils to learn more about sustainability.
Schools on the west coast of Cumbria are endeavouring to reduce their carbon footprint while empowering the students and pupils to learn more about sustainability.
Whole place
Eighty influential Cumbrian organisations have come together to form the Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership, working together to reduce Cumbria’s carbon emissions to net zero by 2037. One exciting part of this work is a five-year programme of events and activities funded by the National Lottery Community Fund.
We are working alongside Ambleside Action for a Future to plan a sustainable future for this South Lakeland community, with support from the district council and through a ‘Space to Connect’ grant to boost community space, provided by the Co-op Foundation and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
We’re a partner in this exciting programme to conserve, enhance and celebrate the natural and cultural heritage of a special part of the North West of England. One of our roles is to put sustainability at the heart of this four-year project, led by the North Pennines AONB Partnership and funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. We’re also sharing our expertise to help the custodians of community buildings in the area.
Farms are assessing the environmental impact of their business and working alongside CAfS to implement ways to reduce their carbon footprint.
We’re helping to develop a toolkit that farmers can use to assess their farm and farmhouses’ potential for renewable energy. We’ll learn what challenges typically face farmers in making their business more sustainable and how we could best overcome them.
The Community Climate Champions project started in 2021 to generate new grassroots voluntary action on the climate crisis, and empower and increase self agency in the people stepping up to become volunteer champions.
The project is one of CAfS ‘broad and light’ awareness raising projects within the wider programme of activity under the Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership – which aims for Cumbria to reach net zero emissions by 2037.
In this third year of the project, CAfS has focused efforts in the former district of Copeland. People living in Copeland from all backgrounds and level of experience are trained to become influencers in the local area, generating climate positive action through valuable conversation and events.