The York Green Neighbourhood Challenge was a community engagement initiative conducted in the City of York in the period May 2009 to September 2010. The project was funded by the Without Walls Partnership Local Area Agreement (LAA) Delivery Fund on behalf of the York Environment Partnership (an environmentally focused partnership within the Without Walls Partnership). The aim of the Challenge was to achieve a measurable reduction in household carbon emissions, raise public awareness of low carbon lifestyles and foster community cohesion. Specific objectives of the initiative were to:

undertake a detailed understanding of carbon emissions of York residents by socio-economic...

Approximately 42 per cent of UK CO₂ emissions result directly from actions taken by individuals. The lifestyles we lead are made up of the different personal practices that allow us to differentiate ourselves from others in society. The largest environmental impacts of day-to-day personal actions are associated with housing, food, energy and personal travel. These activities generate waste and polluting emissions that are a major cause of environmental degradation and contribute to global climate change. Table 1 presents the different actions individuals can take to lead a greener lifestyle.

Community engagement on climate adaptation and mitigation has been used to...

The carbon footprint is the total amount of CO₂e emissions¹ resulting directly and indirectly from an individual’s use of goods and services (see Box 1). The carbon footprint covers both an individual’s immediate emissions (e.g. energy used for home heating and lighting) as well as emissions arising during the production process of the goods they buy which have been manufactured at home and abroad (e.g. DVD player from China and clothing from India). It is measured in tonnes of CO₂e per person per year with the average UK resident having a carbon footprint of 16.24 tonnes of CO₂e .

The...

The sample population was based on those residents who lived on streets in the two selected neighbourhoods. Questionnaire surveys on household consumption over a 12 month period were used before the intervention to measure the household carbon footprint in the areas of home energy, travel, consumables etc. A copy of the pre- and post-intervention questionnaire is presented in Annex I. Participants were recruited on the doorstep from the selected neighbourhoods in November-December 2009. Approximately 500 households were targeted in the two areas and residents were then invited to a neighbourhood workshop where their carbon footprint was calculated based on their...

Table 5 compares the estimated carbon footprint of York neighbourhoods from the Phase I of the project with the measured footprint of those participants who completed the pre-intervention questionnaire. It shows that the estimated footprints and those calculated from the pre-intervention survey of participant’s footprints are very similar for four out of the six areas whilst for the remaining two neighbourhoods, the survey results are somewhat higher than the estimated footprint....

The 49 participants who completed the challenge achieved an estimated average carbon footprint reduction of 2.0 tonnes of CO₂e/year. This is a total reduction of 11.3 per cent. The largest reductions were seen in the areas of shopping and housing (heating and powering the home) with an average reduction of over 20 per cent in both cases. The area of food showed the smallest reduction (4.6 per cent).

The change in the impact of housing could be due to the fact that the initial survey was undertaken in summer. In order to minimise affect of seasonal variations in heating, participants...

Each group was encouraged to meet on a monthly basis throughout the six month intervention period. In addition, all six teams were invited to three milestone events which were held at the beginning; middle and end of the intervention period (see Table 8). Each team had access to a pool of experts who, on request, could attend local meetings and provide further advice on reducing their carbon footprint (see Table 9).

Some teams embraced the spirit of the initiative and organised local awareness raising events in addition to their monthly meetings which further fostered a sense of community (see Table...

When the participants were asked about working as a team a total of 36 per cent of participants felt it was “much better” working in a team in reducing their carbon footprint than alone while 22 per cent felt it was a “little better”. However, 34 per cent of participants felt working in a team made no difference at all. When asked how likely they were to continue working as a group after the initiative ended opinion was split. A total of 46 per cent of participants felt it was “fairly” or “very likely” they would continue to work in...

At the end of the intervention period, teams were awarded cash prizes for their effort. The York Green Neighbourhood Awards recognised the effort and achievement teams made in reducing the carbon footprint of their neighbourhood. The level of activity of each team varied with some teams holding a number of local awareness raising events while others rarely met. An analysis of the data from the questionnaires was undertaken to determine the reduction in the carbon footprint of different teams. The results of the analysis give an indication the level of the carbon reduction achieved due to the intervention. In addition...

At the final meeting the project participants discussed how to maintain momentum and get other neighbourhoods involved. Two of the neighbourhood teams decided to join forces and have now become a larger team called “Planet Southbank”. The church team is interested in exploring the possibility of reaching out to neighbourhoods in their local area and hosting a public event such as an Eco Family day. Based on the discussion, the participants made the following recommendations to continue the initiative and encourage other neighbourhoods to join existing teams or set up their own team:

recruit from existing groups with a shared...

The project used a targeted approach to engage community groups on green issues and to encourage them to take action to reduce their CO₂e emissions by 10 per cent. The total projected reduction in CO₂e emissions achieved as a result of the project is 98 tonnes/year. This is a cost of £472.57 per tonne of CO₂e. However, this figure does not include non-monetary benefits such as community spirit and the impact the project had in raising awareness of the issue more generally to local residents who were not participating in the project.

From the experience gained from implementing the approach...

Since 2007, there has been increased public awareness about climate change, its potential impacts and what actions individuals can take to reduce their carbon footprint. While more people are aware of climate change, this awareness has not always been translated into action. The challenge for behavioural change initiatives is now even greater given recent public scepticism of the science behind climate change.

While some members of the public will always be receptive to green issues, others have switched off due to “issue fatigue”. As a consequence many actions required to implement community climate change strategies and achieve more sustainable communities...