The GCNS Story

Our history

Like many other groundbreaking initiatives, Going Carbon Neutral Stirling (GCNS) was the product of the dedication and enthusiasm of local volunteers.

It was set up by Jon Cape, of Going Carbon Neutral Riverside (a suburb of Stirling), and Rachel Nunn, a local mum who was interested in reducing the carbon footprint of her children’s school community. It seemed logical at the time to join forces – one concentrated on the nuts and bolts of carbon reduction, the other majoring on behaviour change.

Given the time constraints imposed by the climate science, they also felt that small initiatives weren't really addressing the crux of the problem.

Friends of the Earth’s Big Ask gave a useful 'in' to local Labour MP Anne McGuire and the then Council Leader Corrie McChord, who agreed to pull together a meeting of local sustainable organisations in order to create a city-wide initiative. At that meeting, held just one month later in December 2006, a consensus to go 'carbon neutral' was agreed.

In order to create a project of sufficient scale to 'cause a stir', it was agreed that an application to the Big Lottery should be made for one of the larger awards.

Stirling Council granted a £3,000 landfill tax award to Keep Scotland Beautiful to put together this application. Over the following 18 months, KSB worked with Rachel Nunn to create a business plan, which called on the experience of over 100 organisations and 350 individuals.

In the later stages of the application process, the Big Lottery worked with KSB to bring on the involvement of the Scottish Government. By June 2008, the Scottish Government announced an £800,000 grant, match funding a £500,000 Big Lottery award, to support a team of eight to roll out GCNS.

GCNS recruited its first staff member in September 2008, and started its public delivery in February 2009