Community Vitality Catchup - London Environmental Network
Community Vitality Catchup - London Environmental Network
Over the past three years, funding from an LCF Community Vitality Grant has helped the London Environmental Network (LEN) develop their Green Economy London (GEL) program, which supports businesses and organizations in London to set and meet environmental targets.
The Vitality grant helped kickstart the program, funding events, forums and workshops that engage businesses, setting them down the path to being more sustainable by introducing ideas that help them reduce their carbon usage and water consumption. With Green Economy Hubs already helping businesses become more sustainable in Hamilton-Burlington, Kingston, Ottawa, Sudbury, Waterloo Region, and York Region, LEN Director Skylar Franke was excited to get started, saying in 2018;
“The thing that gets me the most excited is imagining if each city had a Green Economy Hub, and every city was setting targets and businesses were part of changing things, and they were voluntarily committing to reducing their impacts. That’s kind of what I project to see in the future, instead of having these isolated projects that don’t all mesh together, you have a network of Green Economy Hubs, and everyone knows what it is, and everyone’s working on the same target.”
Composting project at Chippewas of the Thames First Nation
Three years later, Green Economy London has exceeded most of its targets, having 45 members by the end of 2021, despite the difficulties caused by Covid-19. Now, through sponsorships and membership fees, the Hub is financially sustainable and is still growing, being on track to hit 70 members by 2023.
Since its launch, GEL helped over two thirds of their members establish baseline figures for their emissions, and has supported over 40 sustainability initiatives and projects ranging from the installation of solar panels to the creation of pollinator gardens. The sum total of this work is that Green Economy London members have reduced their CO2 output by over 1,200 tonnes.
A great example of the support and benefits that come with a Green Economy London membership is Heeman’s Garden Centre & Strawberry Farm.
“We were able to identify areas in Heeman’s business operations that needed some work in terms of sustainability, mainly their energy usage. We completed a walkthrough of their business, completed a sustainability report, and helped find over $200,000 in financial incentives to help them carry out recommended projects. We helped them find and apply for an incentive for a solar installation project, which they were successfully able to obtain and allowed them to install a huge solar PV project that reduces 60% of their electricity consumption”, says Skylar.
Visit the Green Economy London website for more information about the benefits of membership, and sign up to our mailing list to get news about funding opportunities such as the Community Vitality Grant program.