Cumbria CVS Green Blog No 24 – February 2026
February 17, 2026
Welcome back to Cumbria CVS Green!
In our twenty-fourth blog post, Emily Wilson, South Lakes and Furness Development Officer, shares a round-up of her Ørsted funded environmental work over the last year, celebrating the real difference made by groups who embraced sustainability at their own pace, in their own way.
If you have any suggestions about what you’d like to see in our regular updates, let us know! Contact us by emailing info@cumbriacvs.org.uk
You can find our what we’re doing to minimise our environmental impact and find details of organisations supporting positive environmental action in Cumbria on our Climate Commitment page here
Catch up on our other blog posts here
Celebrating local groups embracing sustainability
This month, I’m sharing a roundup of the Ørsted funded environmental work year shaped by steady, practical support and community organisations taking meaningful steps to strengthen their environmental practice.
Rather than focusing on targets or outputs, this blog celebrates the real difference made by groups who embraced sustainability at their own pace, in their own way.
Throughout the year, I worked alongside a wide range of community organisations from small, volunteer led groups to larger community hubs. Each organisation came with its own questions, challenges and interests, but all shared a genuine desire to understand their environmental impact and make positive changes.
The support offered focused on helping groups feel confident, clear, and capable as it can sometimes feel very unachievable for those who do not have capacity.
What became clear is that when organisations feel supported and understood, environmental action becomes much more manageable.
Making Environmental Sustainability Feel Achievable
A core part of the work this year was breaking sustainability down into simple, realistic steps. Environmental action can feel overwhelming for many groups, especially those run by volunteers with limited capacity.
Through one to one support and group sessions, environmental sustainability became something organisations could approach with confidence. Many groups expressed relief at discovering that small, thoughtful changes could make a real difference, and that they didn’t need to “know everything” to begin.
Turning Ideas Into Practical Action
Across the year, many organisations began translating their environmental ideas into concrete plans. This looked different for every group:
- some strengthened internal processes through the environmental policy
- some explored new environmentally focused activities
- some developed clearer pathways for future projects
What mattered most was that organisations began moving forward with clarity and purpose, grounded in their own community context.
Woodland Wellbeing
The most powerful outcome has been seeing organisations realise that environmental action is within their reach, not a daunting extra responsibility, but something they can build naturally into their work. What began as questions and uncertainties has grown into practical action, clearer thinking, and a more confident environmental culture across our communities.
Conversation café and slow cycle
Saturday 21st February, Carlisle. A slow cycle ride through the streets of Carlisle (route tbc) hosted by Sustainable Carlisle with a chat at a local food and drink establishment.
The conversation is informal, but it is around a set theme / agenda to gather your thoughts and focus your attention.
Cockermouth Repair Café
Saturday 21st February, Cockermouth. Bring along your small items to repair every third Saturday of the month and have a cuppa and a natter at Lorton Street Methodist Church Hall.
Free repairs, but donations always welcome! – clothing and textile objects – wooden items – electrical items (may not be possible at every event) – toys Waste not, want not!
Online Talk | Pesticide Action Network UK Talk
Tuesday 24th February, Online. Join this online talk from Pesticide Action Network UK, the only UK charity focused solely on tackling the problems caused by pesticides and promoting safe and sustainable alternatives in agriculture, urban areas, homes and gardens.
More details and the booking link (to receive the Zoom link) will be announced soon on the PACT website.
The Home Heat Pump Advantage: Smarter, Warmer, Greener
Tuesday 24th February, St Bees. Join Futureproof Cumbria to find out more about heat pump technology. They’ll cut through the jargon, bust common myths, and show you how heat pumps can make your home warmer, greener, and more efficient.
Hear about Cumbrian households with real-life examples of homes like yours where heat pumps are already delivering results, and find out about their new Heat Pump Support Service — designed to help you check if your home is ‘heat pump ready’, access grants, and connect with trusted local installers.
This is your chance to:
- Learn when and how a heat pump works best
- Hear from local vetted installers – with no sales pitch!
- Explore how heat pumps combine with solar, batteries, EV chargers and smart tariffs for even greater savings
ZCC Webinar | Strengthening civil society decarbonisation action
Wednesday 25th February, Online. This webinar will explore the key findings and recommendations from the Strengthening civil society decarbonisation action briefing paper, developed by Futureproof Cumbria, the University of Cumbria and other ZCCP partners.
Understand how we can we deepen engagement and participation in decarbonisation action across Cumbria’s communities.
Energy Champions Information Session
Thursday 26th February, online. Join Futureproof Cumbria’s free, one-hour online session to find out how you can help people in Cumbria access their free home energy service. They’ll walk you through everything you need to know and do to be an Energy Champion – simply by sharing details of the service to the people you support.
ZCC Webinar | Funding & resourcing decarbonisation
Wednesday 4th March, Online. This webinar will explore the key findings and recommendations from the Funding and resourcing decarbonisation briefing paper developed by Futureproof Cumbria, the University of Cumbria and other ZCCP partners.
Cartmel Peninsula Repair Cafe
Friday 6th March, Grange-over-Sands. Our wonderful volunteer repairers will also offer textile repairs, zips, darning etc, electronics repairs, repairs of mechanical, wood and metal items, plus electrical repairs.
There will also be refreshments!
Retrofit Research
Futureproof Cumbria arepart of a group of organisations researching people’s experiences of retrofit advice, commissioned by Citizens Advice. They’re looking for homeowners across Cumbria who’ve made energy improvements in the last two years.
Complete the survey for a chance to win a prize – and please share!
Free Home Energy Support
This recent run of freezing weather has made staying warm at home a real challenge.
If rising energy costs, persistent draughts or confusing smart meters are causing headaches, support is available. All households in Cumbria can get a free energy advice call, with home visits offered to those who qualify.
Find out more about free home energy support here
New funding awarded for action on climate change
Futureproof Cumbria is thrilled to have been awarded £300,000 in new funding from Westmorland & Furness Council, with support from the Lake District National Park Authority, to expand the Zero Carbon Cumbria project and Partnership.
The programme will strengthen coordinated climate action, improve emissions tracking, and is supported by the appointment of Michael Robinson as Partnership Manager.
Read more about the funding here
Science supporting cleaner waste incineration
The UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is a major climate policy, which helps cut down on pollution. The scheme sets a limit on how much greenhouse gas different industries can release into the air and puts a price on these emissions.
As part of the UK’s journey to Net Zero, the government has expanded the ETS to include waste incineration and energy-from-waste (EfW) plants. This move aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions further, but it brought a scientific challenge: how to accurately measure the origin of carbon dioxide (CO₂) released when waste is burned. For the policy to be fair and effective, the government needed to know if it was possible for companies to measure which type of CO₂ they were releasing. Science advice was at the heart of this project.
Aviva Foundation – Financial Futures Fund and Communities Fund
Amount available: 1) Financial Futures Fund: multi-year grant funding for large organisations with incomes of more than £1m. 2) Communities Fund: Match-funding through a crowdfunding platform for small charities and not-for-profits with incomes of less than £1m.
Deadline: Unspecified
Funding for UK-based organisations which help people build financial resilience and support community-led climate action.
Find out more about Aviva Foundation – Financial Futures Fund and Communities Fund here
Charities’ sustainability becoming less of a donation draw, survey suggests
Over a third of people are more likely to donate to a charity with sustainable investments, according to a new survey, but this proportion has declined over the past two years.
In response to a survey of over 4,000 adults, produced by Yonder for Cancer Research UK, 36% said they would be more likely to donate to charities that “invest funds in environmental sustainability”, down from 45% two years earlier.
Other charitable behaviours, such as likelihood to fundraise (22%, down from 28%), take part in an event (26%, down from 28%) and volunteer (23%, down from 26%) based on environmental sustainability investments also dropped.
Read more about the survey here
Energising Britain – what is it and why does it matter?
In December 2025, the Government published it’s climate and nature public participation plan, Energising Britain: Your voice in our Clean Energy Superpower Mission. The plan sets out how they will engage with people and communities in decision-making as we move towards a cleaner energy system.
In this DSC blog, Head of Policy and Programme Lead, James Somerville, breaks down what it is and why it matters.
New Energy Support Network for energy advisors launches in England and Wales
The Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE) are launching a new Energy Support Network for energy advisors. This project is made possible thanks to funding from National Grid‘s Grid for Good Energy Affordability Fund. It covers England and Wales and will run as a pilot until March 2026.
By joining the network you will have access to:
- An online Microsoft Teams channel to ask questions and share resources and best practice with other advisors.
- Ongoing training and knowledge sessions on energy, smart and low carbon energy advice topics.
- A newsletter highlighting key updates in the energy advice sector, and a Resource Hub.
The process to join is very simple – all you need to do is complete the short form.
For more information about the project, visit the website here.
If you have any questions, please get in touch with the Centre for Sustainable Energy team at energysupportnetwork@cse.org.uk
How to develop your sustainability policy
Charity Digital explore some top tips to help your charity develop a robust, evolving, and practical sustainability policy.
Influencing decarbonisation in Cumbria – Policy and practice briefings for multi-stakeholder action
A recent project between Futureproof Cumbria and the University of Cumbria for Zero Carbon Cumbria has explored the most significant barriers to accelerating decarbonisation and identified practical steps that could help unblock them and enable scalable, long-term solutions.
Four briefing papers have been developed which each focus on a different dimension of the challenge: influencing policy and practice, improving data and evaluation, strengthening civil society action, and securing the funding and resources required for sustained progress.
Four free webinars will accompany the papers.
