Camden launches its Climate Action Plan – tackling climate inequality in the borough
Camden Council has officially launched its Climate Action Plan for 2026 to 2030 at the We Make Camden Summit. A key element of this has been the relaunch of the Camden Climate Fund.
Building on our achievements of our previous action plan, we have set out a comprehensive framework for how we can work together with our partners and communities to reduce emissions, build the borough’s climate resilience at the same time as to improve the day-to-day lives of all our residents. This includes saving money on their energy bills, providing healthier, more comfortable homes, more green job and skills opportunities, and greener streets.
Whilst tackling the climate crisis and protecting those most exposed to its impacts, this plan also addresses the inequalities that the climate crisis can cause in our communities, with examples like extreme heat and flooding disproportionately affecting lower-income households, those with health conditions, and communities with limited access to green space or secure housing.
These are often the same communities that have contributed the least to the climate crisis but bear the brunt of its consequences. Addressing the climate crisis without addressing these inequalities risks reinforcing existing disparities.
In 2019, we declared a Climate Emergency and held the UK’s first Citizens’ Assembly on the climate crisis. This put our citizens alongside the Council at the centre of rising to the climate challenge.
The resulting Climate Action Plan for 2020-25 generated new levels of community-led climate action across Camden. Importantly, it helped us leverage over £35 million of external funding, among other things to finance our energy-efficiency retrofit programme for buildings.
This has helped to cut carbon dioxide emissions across our own estate and operations by 64.5%, excluding housing, while borough wide emissions have reduced by 52%.
The new Climate Action Plan for 2026-2030 builds on these achievements and goes further to support our communities to prepare for the impacts of climate change, taking climate action that helps residents to lower their energy bills, save money by reusing and repairing household items, have cleaner air in their homes and create green spaces across the borough by:
- Supporting residents to manage the cost of living through helping them access energy saving improvements and low carbon heating systems, including retrofit, saving money on people's bills.
- Working with partners to help them have more energy efficient and climate resilient buildings and operations – including Camden businesses, schools, community buildings, health centres, hospitals and care homes, for example through retrofit, net zero carbon building design and climate action projects.
- Installing more green infrastructure including rain gardens and tree pits and increasing amount of climate-adapted green open space, including for food growing.
- Providing funding and knowledge to empower schools, businesses and communities to address emissions and build their resilience to extreme heat and flooding locally.
Since it was launched in 2017 Camden’s Climate Fund has proven to be a popular and successful way to support our residents, businesses and community groups to improve the energy efficiency of their homes – saving money on their bills, community buildings and places of work, as well as helping to take climate action locally.
In 2025 we awarded £64,786 in funding across seven projects to voluntary and community sector organisations supporting community projects aimed at tackling the climate crisis.
The fund supported the relocation of the Library of Things to Swiss Cottage Library and campaigns to de-mystify and encourage the uptake of retrofit. Among the funded projects was the Energy Saving Ambassadors Programme, which delivered training to residents so they can provide advice to others on how to use less energy and save money on energy bills.
A further £131,571 was awarded to 17 households, community organisations and SME businesses to help improve the energy efficiency of their homes, community buildings and workplaces.
Several exciting updates have been introduced as the Camden Climate Fund re-opens for 2026. We have updated the climate action project eligibility criteria so that we can support climate adaptation and resilience projects that deliver carbon savings, helping us to recognise our vision of a climate-ready borough.
We know that feasibility assessments are vital for informing businesses of their options for improving energy efficiency and cutting costs, making them more likely to progress with retrofit works. And so, an allowance of up to 10% of an award to SME businesses and community organisations undertaking energy efficiency improvement works can go towards covering the cost of a feasibility study.
Finally, we have updated our terms and conditions, application forms and created a new FAQ document, simplifying the application process and providing clarity on eligibility for those applying for funding for retrofit measures.
- Notable projects over the past five years include the community led Somers Town Future Neighbourhood climate action programme, major energy efficiency projects at Swiss Cottage Library, Highgate Library, Talacre Leisure Centre and Acland Burghley school, and our successful community energy partnership which has seen solar installed at Hampstead, Parliament Hill and Regent High schools.
- From November 2024 through to May 2025, we carried out extensive community engagement with residents including young people, businesses, community groups and some of the original Citizens’ Assembly members to help shape the new Climate Action Plan for 2026-30.
- The community told us that they were already experiencing the impacts of the climate crisis, noting the extreme summer heat of recent years and the increasing rate of surface water flooding, and need support to build their resilience with a focus on those most vulnerable to the impacts of the climate crisis.
- The community also told us how action on climate could help respond to pressing cost of living and public health concerns by reducing household energy costs, making it safer and easier to walk and cycle around Camden and by providing sharing-economy focused offers such as the Library of Things service at Swiss Cottage and Kentish Town libraries, that reduce the need to buy new household goods.