Kanzen is a registered charitys committed to not only building better lives but also to making a positive impact on the environment. With our new initiative to introduce an electric vehicle, we aim to significantly reduce our carbon footprint and contribute to a greener, more sustainable future. This will help us cut harmful emissions, reduce reliance on fossil fuels, and set a strong example for other organisations in the community. It will also support us to remove barriers by providing accesible transport to those who need it. 

As well as reducing our carbon emmissions, an electric vehicle would also help us save money which we can then repurpose back into our charitable activities. 

Kanzen is an award winning charity and we are the current Dundee Social Enterprise of the Year, Dundee Sports Club of the Year and winners of The Courier Business Awards for Community Impact. 

We organised the first carbon neutral martial arts event in Europe and are proud to be an organisation rooted in the community. 

Scottish Action for Mental Health (SAMH) will deliver a year-long programme of environmental projects and activities at Growing Chrysalis, the community garden in the heart of Dawson Park. Our goal is to give individuals and families from across the region the chance to step outside and reconnect with nature.

Our programme will blend environmental awareness with therapeutic gardening to create a space where people can thrive alongside nature. Families will learn how climate change impacts our greenspaces and local wildlife, gain practical skills to help create a more sustainable future, and improve their wellbeing from being outdoors surrounded by nature.

All our activities will be dynamic and inclusive, tailored to meet the diverse needs of everyone who joins. These will include:

• Green Minds Sessions: Weekly garden-based activities focused on gardening, wildlife, and creativity. Each session ends with time to connect socially, building stronger bonds within the community.
• Local Produce Festivals: Celebrate Tayside’s rich agricultural heritage with events highlighting local produce—potatoes, soft fruits, and berries.
• Recycle Fun Days: Family-friendly events promoting sustainability through fun, hands-on activities using recycled materials.
• Grow Your Own Food Workshops: Practical sessions on sourcing and growing local, seasonal food—from foraging to creating your own food forest.
• Saving Local Wildlife: Learn about the impact of climate change on local wildlife and how to protect our precious wildlife with sessions on growing wildflowers for pollinators, building bat boxes, and creating wormery composts.
• Reducing Food Waste: Sustainable cooking sessions using homegrown produce, held in our outdoor kitchen to strengthen healthy eating and social connections.

The grant will be used to fund a Support Worker and associated activities, to enable Carers of Dundee’s vision and action of what climate change means to them. This proposal will engage with unpaid Carers across Dundee and deliver a project that supports Carers and their families, friends & local community to take part in climate change action. The project will run from 1st May – 31st Oct 2025.

There will be a series of events, outings & workshops with local community organisations, using local green and blue spaces. The project will be delivered in 3 stages:

1. 3 clean-up events over different terrains and environments - Beach, Woodland & River.
2. Art creation - Reduce, Recycle, Reuse –using the waste products to create an art piece.
3. Celebration event - to showcase the full project. Increasing public awareness, engage the wider community.

The workshops will focus on use of renewables, encouraging active travel, reusing resources and thus reducing waste. The outings we propose will ensure the Carers benefit from green space in the city and encourage them to grow in their own home environment which will work towards building increased awareness in the climate change agenda.

In addition to the climate benefits, this 6 month project will alleviate isolation, increase social connectivity within Carers own locality as well as City wide and enhance health & wellbeing which is a detrimental factor for all Carers.

The basis of this project has come directly from Carers who were given the opportunity to explore this topic during research conducted by Dr Kate Miller. Carers felt they were currently not well involved with Climate change largely due to barriers in existing opportunities to get involved. Carers said they would like to take part in something that would benefit the wider community as well as improve their personal health and wellbeing.

“We can begin by doing small things at the local level, like planting community gardens or looking out for our neighbours. That is how change takes place in living systems, not from above but from within, from many local actions occurring simultaneously.” Grace Lee Boggs, American author and activist

Art has the power to help us to imagine and inspires action. We are launching a yearlong project to raise awareness of the climate emergency through the creation of a vibrant greenspace at DCA in partnership with community groups from across Dundee.

We will work with a Lead Artist to facilitate a series of workshops with community partners across the city to develop a welcoming greenspace onsite at DCA, which will be open to all and free to access.

We have established relationships Amina Muslim Women’s Resource Centre, Dundee International Women’s Centre (DIWC), Artangel, Maxwell Centre and Dundee Botanics. Through these partnerships, we will involve a diverse cross-section of people, including families and young people, in the co-design of our green space.

We will reach out to local experts to help shape this project, including Grow Dundee, an incredible network of existing food growing and community gardens, Bonnie Dundee, who maintain planters across the city, and Creative Dundee, who worked on various similar community-led projects.

Environmental benefits of this project include:

• Community Engagement: Local communities will lead the creation of a greenspace, ensuring the space is what their community needs. 
• Enhanced Urban Habitat: Promoting biodiversity and supporting ecosystems.
• Improved Air Quality: Through the planting of trees and plants.
• Emissions Offset: Contributing to carbon sequestration.

Further to this, there is robust evidence that integrating green spaces into urban environments enhances mental and physical health, improves wellbeing and aids relaxation.

The greenspace at DCA will provide a welcoming and safe social space in the centre of Dundee, benefiting DCA staff, visitors and local communities. The greenspace will be used for years to come, serving as the site of future workshops and events.

Join us in creating a welcoming, safe, and sustainable greenspace in the heart of Dundee! Thank you for your support.

Abertay University Students' Association has been operating Abertaysty since 2019, and in the last academic year we provided 1705.6kgs of food to 1023 users (1.6kg per user on average) .  We currently only offer ambient food, as we do not have space for refrigeration.  However, we are moving to a custom designed space in December of this year and will then be able to widen our offering to students.  We work with Fareshare as our supplier, ensurng that we employ the principles of circular economy.  We would like to use monies from the fund to increase the amount we have available to widen our provision to chilled and frozen foods, to both help the students, and to collaborate on the prevention of food wste. Moving forward we would like to expand the larder to include a not-for-profit refill station, both to widen the offering, but also to encourage students to engage in more sustainble shopping practices.  To this end we would request funding to purchase the equipment needed, and the first purchase of goods to stock the station.

We also use Abertaysty to highlight other sustainable initiatives being promoted by the Association, the university and the wider community, and to provide access to information and guidance on how to live more sustainably.

Forthill Community Sports Club is committed to sustainability and enhancing its facilities to better serve the community. Our proposed solar panel installation, (£22,505 cost), will significantly lower energy costs, allowing us to reinvest savings into sporting programs, outreach, and development. By reducing our carbon footprint, we create a more sustainable future for our members and inspire young athletes to take part in an environmentally conscious sports culture. This initiative strengthens our role as a community hub, promoting both physical well-being and environmental responsibility.

Forthill Community Sports Club is a local hub dedicated to promoting sports and physical activity in the community. Based in Broughty Ferry, Dundee, the club provides facilities for a variety of sports, including cricket, tennis, hockey, squash, rugby and table tennis. It serves a wide range of age groups and skill levels, from beginners to seasoned athletes, and is focused on fostering both sporting excellence and community engagement. In addition to hosting matches and events, Forthill also plays a key role in sports development and outreach, offering programs that encourage active participation, teamwork, and personal growth. The club's inclusive and welcoming environment makes it a vital part of the local sports culture. Our facilities are used by a variety of community groups who are not directly linked to Forthill, and we hope that the financial savings throught this solar project will allow us to open our doors to more groups.

For over 40 years, actors appearing at Dundee Rep have prepared for their stage roles in one of our eight dressing rooms and have chilled out pre and post-performance in our Green Room, whilst colleagues in our programming and planning department work tirelessly to schedule an exciting programme of events for you our audiences, whilst box office staff sell tickets to each show. For over 40 years, all these professionals have shivered in the winter, as the draughty, single-glazed windows in each area leach warmth out of the rooms and let the chills in!

As an A-Listed building, we are limited in changes and modifications we are allowed to make both externally and internally. Our windows are 42-year-old, single-gazed originals; some are very unique: triangular in shape reflecting the stylised motif based on our stage which occurs throughout the building. Some also feature a louvre-design of slatted glass opening for ventilation and due to the listing they can’t be replaced. However they are hugely draughty and it is very difficult to keep above 21oC, the ideal office temperature.  Our recent annual Energy Report by Creative Carbon Scotland estimated we have been losing around 60% of heat generated through our gas central heating system through these windows!

Having seen the positive impact installing secondary glazing in other parts of the building has made to reducing our heating bills, we now want to complete the rest of the building, installing recyclable, polycarbonate glazing to the remaining areas.  We estimate it will save around 25% of our gas usage, will stop staff use of portable, electric heaters- an inefficient, health and safety risk- and will help towards making the building air tight, so allowing the possibility installing an air source heat pump in future. This installation will contribute towards our target of a reduction of 109 tonnes of CO2 by 2028.

We were recently voted Dundee Chamber of Commerce Champions 2024, in part due to our work in climate adaptation and mitigation working towards Net Zero, some of which is highlighted in the video on this page.

Thank you for your support.

ScrapAntics would like to begin a new project by employing a Resilience Worker. Their role would be to connect with the most vulnerable in our community, providing them with essential resources and items, offering accessible advice and education on climate action and exploring tangible changes people can make to emphasise sustainability in day-to-day life.                                             

The Resilience Worker would get to know individuals and families on a one to one basis, initiating conversations around climate topics and encouraging them to enact change in their lives, with the aim of positively impacting wider community change.

The worker would identify what direct support or signposting to agencies addressing financial, food or fuel poverty is most needed.

ScrapAntics have access to corporate donations of household essentials and many in our community are in desperate need of these items - but do not currently have the capacity for targeted distribution. The Resilience Worker would ensure that they reach people who need them most. These include bedding, towels, toiletries and cleaning supplies, food packs and clothing.

This role would particularly benefit those we work with in our Wellgate space who are often unemployed, from an asylum seeker or refugee background, have mental or physical health issues or suffer from isolation.

The Dundee and Angus college project, EcoEats, aims to tackle food waste by delivering engaging and educational cookery classes that utilise ingredients commonly found at food banks and community fridges. By transforming surplus food into delicious and nutritious meals, we will not only reduce food waste but also empower participants with valuable cooking skills and knowledge, as well as utilising local ingredients.

Our primary objective is to rescue food that would otherwise go to waste. By sourcing ingredients from local food banks, community fridges, and community growing groups we will ensure that surplus food is put to good use. Our target audience will be those using food banks, D&A college learners and their families, Dundee residents and hospitality business owners.

We will offer hands-on cookery classes where participants learn to create a variety of meals using rescued ingredients. These classes will be accessible to all, fostering a sense of community and inclusivity.

Alongside the classes, we will develop and distribute recipe cards that highlight creative ways to use common surplus ingredients. These cards will serve as a lasting resource for participants, encouraging them to continue reducing food waste at home.

By rescuing and utilising surplus food, our project will significantly reduce the amount of food waste that ends up in landfills. This not only conserves resources but also reduces greenhouse gas emissions associated with food decomposition.

Utilising food that would otherwise be discarded helps conserve the resources used in food production, such as water, energy, and land. This contributes to a more sustainable food system.

Our project will also raise awareness about the environmental impact of food waste and promote sustainable practices within the community. Participants will learn the importance of reducing food waste and how they can make a positive impact on the environment through their daily choices.

By minimising food waste, we reduce the carbon footprint associated with food production, transportation, and disposal. This contributes to mitigating climate change and promoting environmental sustainability.

Through this project, we aim to create a ripple effect of positive change, inspiring individuals and communities to adopt more sustainable practices and make the most of the food resources available to them. Together, we can make a significant impact on reducing food waste and protecting our environment. The EcoEats project will contribute the Dundee Climate Fund priorities of waste, resilience and community engagement.

Campy Growers is the largest community growing space in Dundee. With passionate volunteers we grow and distribute hundreds of kilos of ethically grown food to various project across the city. We run workshops about gardening, biodiversity, cooking, harvest and wider events open to all, to raise awareness about climate change and food growing.  

What's missing is a location to run all our projects and activities: a living roof green gazebo. A place to gather, to share ideas and knowledge, to enjoy the sun whilst protected from the Scottish weather. A place with a positive climate impact. A place that will make the difference. 

Picture a L-shaped wooden gazebo, south facing and made from larch sourced from a local sawmill. Can you see it? It will have a guttering system to collect water so we can wash the produce and water our plants. But most of off all, it will have a sedum (green) roof which will capture CO2 emissions and support wildlife, improve air purification, increase biodiversity, and more.   

It will become a social space for the Collective and a central point for learning:  

•  We will run more workshops and events in relation to gardening, cooking, biodiversity and resilience. Although we ran several workshops last year, we were quite limited in terms of space, so we want to expand and make people feel welcome! Here is a wee taster of what we are planning for 2025: start your garden, botany, Harvest session, mushroom growing, cooking with seasonal veg, fermentation, learn about moths and bat, movie screening, open days and more.   
• Start a Climate Café style conversation: Every month we will run climate café style conversation giving the opportunity to everybody to share their thoughts about climate change. Campy Growers is an example of a proactive project which counter-act climate change. Being surrounded by food and green space changes the dynamic and impact of such conversations can have.    
• We will offer a space for our volunteers and visitors:  With our volunteers and visitors we talk about gardening for sure, but we also create connections, share aspirations and ideas. A dedicated area to relax, think, gather and enjoy homemade food together is the key of our Collective   
• We will use it as a packhouse for our weekly veg stalls and distribution, an open space visible to all visitors who want to get some vegetables or learn about community market gardening techniques. It is a self-sufficient space with its guttering system too. 

We need your vote to create to social space which will support the biodiversity and will allow us to run more events and workshop creating resilience and awareness about climate change and food growing.