The Green Valleys, a community renewable energy scheme based in the Brecon Beacons, has been named a winner of the Big Green Challenge - a £1 million prize fund to encourage community-led carbon emission reductions. The Green Valleys has slashed CO2 emissions by an impressive 20 per cent in the past year alone, making a significant impact on the UK's 2020 emissions reduction target of 34 per cent.
On Wednesday (13th January), Lord Puttnam, Chair of the judges, revealed The Green Valleys as one of three winning communities. The project fought off competition from over 350 community groups across the UK because of their achievements over the course of a year in four areas: CO2 reductions achieved; the innovative nature of their initiatives; the longevity and scalability of their project; and their level of community engagement. They will be awarded £300,000 from the prize fund.
Jonathan Kestenbaum, NESTA's Chief Executive says: "The Green Valleys team has exceeded our expectations of what communities can achieve in reducing carbon emissions and for this they should be congratulated. The success of the project proves that when communities are incentivised, empowered and supported they become a compelling force in solving some of society's biggest challenges."
Jane Davidson, the Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing commented "Whilst many leaders are still talking about how to tackle climate change, the Green Valleys project is leading by example. I am delighted that their efforts and dedication has been recognised in this way and I hope we can all play a part in supporting projects like this in the future"
Grenville Ham, the founder of The Green Valleys, who is also an officer for Brecon Beacons National Park Authority said: "This has been a huge leap of faith for all those hardworking and focussed communities that have supported us. The incredible team behind The Green Valleys has been put together almost as if it were fate to bring a dream into reality. To have our project on the same platform as the other two winners is an incredible achievement for The Green Valleys and without NESTA's support and encouragement along the way it may have taken a lot longer for our ambitions to have been realised.
"Ten micro hydros have already been installed and we have surveyed another 50 sites that could bring huge benefits to our farms, communities and the environment. In 2025 we hope The Green Valleys will realise its long term ambition of the Brecon Beacons becoming carbon negative."
Chris Blake, Director of The Green Valleys said: "The essential tenet of The Green Valleys is local people taking control of their own futures. All of our members are volunteers from communities around the National Park. Carbon saving works on so many levels - it works to alleviate some of the factors of climate change, it introduces a number of community benefits from bringing people together to achieve a common aim to providing the funding to improve community facilities and it has the capacity to save people money on their fuel bills. We think our approach is one with many merits and one which can easily be reproduced anywhere in the country. We are thrilled that NESTA and their panel of judges saw it the same way."
The awards are the culmination of a year long experiment to test whether a Challenge Prize can be used to unlock the power of communities in responding to climate change. NESTA developed a rigorous target and evaluation mechanism around the Big Green Challenge - something which is lacking in many initiatives to date. The Big Green Challenge has attracted international interest in how to stimulate civic action, including from the X Prize Foundation in the US, which inspires people to develop technological breakthroughs.