How Local Communities Contribute to Climate Solutions

How 56,000 Residents Are Rewriting the Heat Pump Playbook 🏡 Quick context: Heat pumps are super-efficient electric heating and cooling systems that can replace gas furnaces and air conditioners. They're crucial for decarbonizing homes and improving energy efficiency. The conventional wisdom says adoption depends on: • Federal tax credits • Utility rebates • Contractor availability • Equipment costs But something fascinating is happening in communities across America... New data from RMI reveals how 12 local programs are cracking the adoption code through an entirely different approach. Here's what they discovered: 1. The Missing Ingredient: Community Leadership Traditional programs focus on: - Marketing utility rebates - Technical education - Contractor training - Individual sales What's actually working: - Local government coordination - Neighborhood champions - Volunteer "heat pump ambassadors" - Community installation tours - Multilingual engagement 2. The Proof Is In The Numbers Real results from these community-led programs: - 56,000+ residents actively engaged - 100+ local contractors brought into network - 3,000+ successful installations - 95% reduction in home fossil fuel use - Materials in 8+ languages - 3,500+ neighbor-to-neighbor conversations in Cincinnati alone 3. The Innovation That's Working These communities succeeded by: - Partnering with BIPOC organizations to ensure equitable program design - Creating qualified local contractor networks (saves homeowners time) - Offering full coverage options for income-qualified residents - Training volunteer ambassadors who speak the community's language - Hosting neighborhood tours so people can see installations firsthand Key insight: While the industry debates technical specs and rebate amounts, these communities are showing that adoption barriers are more social than technical. People trust their neighbors more than utility mailers. For utilities: This is how you build trust and engagement at scale. For contractors: A blueprint for community-led market development. For policy makers: Evidence that local partnerships accelerate adoption. For community organizations: A proven model to lead climate action locally. Question: What other clean energy technologies could benefit from this community-led approach? What are we missing by focusing solely on incentives and technology? #HeatPumpRevolution #CommunityPower #CleanEnergy #LocalLeadership

I live in the largest city in Appalachia. The city built on steel. The state in bed with fracking. I’ve seen how extractive industries have shaped this region—driving wealth for a few while leaving too many with polluted air, poisoned water, and economic uncertainty. But I also know what’s possible. Appalachia is more than the industries that have exploited it. It’s rolling hills and deep forests, tight-knit communities, and generations of resilience. And while climate change is hitting us hard—rivers that flood more often, hotter summers, worsening air quality—we have the power to shape a different future. A future where circular economies replace extraction, where abandoned coal mines become hubs for renewable energy, and where climate finance is used to rebuild communities, not just corporations. Here’s how we get there: ✅ Community-Owned Energy – Expanding solar and AI-driven microgrids in schools, homes, and businesses to lower costs and increase resilience. ✅ Sustainable Industry & Workforce Development – Transitioning workers into green manufacturing, regenerative agriculture, and clean tech jobs. ✅ Climate Finance for Local Economies– Ensuring investments flow to Appalachian communities through green banks, public-private partnerships, and targeted federal funding. ✅ Restoring Land & Water– Cleaning up abandoned mines, protecting our rivers, and using nature-based solutions to prevent flooding. ✅ Circular Economy Innovation – Scaling up reuse, repair, and sustainable production to create jobs and reduce waste. The Private Sector Has a Role to Play: 🔹 Invest in Appalachia’s Future – Direct capital toward green infrastructure, renewable energy, and circular economy startups. 🔹 Create Quality Green Jobs – Commit to hiring and training workers in clean industries, ensuring fair wages and benefits. 🔹 Partner with Local Communities – Engage with Appalachian leaders to develop solutions that prioritize people, not just profit. 🔹 Decarbonize Supply Chains – Transition to sustainable materials, invest in regenerative practices, and minimize environmental impact. As Hazel Dickens once sang, “Can’t you feel those hills around you? Can’t you feel that touch of home?” This land has always been home to hard-working people who deserve more than boom-and-bust cycles. It’s time to invest in what sustains us, not what depletes us. A thriving, green Appalachia isn’t just possible—it’s necessary. Who’s ready to build it? #JustTransition #ClimateFinance #CircularEconomy #EquitableInvestments #AppalachiaRising

Let's talk local #adaptation. More importantly, what happens when indigenous people get the resources they need to make their own decisions. This is what my village looked like exactly a year ago during the floods of 2022. With 4000+ people trapped on a canal bank, and emergency supplies being transported via rafts like the one pictured here. At some point when the aid organisations left (they left pretty soon), people when back to their homes which had become unlivable due to cracks, collapsed walls and ceilings, and many had become rubble. Aid organisations had built them in 2010 with one uniform design. There was no picking and choosing. So, there began our housing project. We had YouTube videos at our disposal (thank you to the Heritage Foundation for making the tutorials public) and the brilliant minds of local skilled labourers. We made our panels, learned through trial and error on how to assemble them, and built 250+ in 3 months! First, we asked homeowners if they liked the design and wanted it. It was a quick yes. These homes would be built quickly, there would be no risk of the home collapsing, and they could easily pick it up and put it somewhere else in case the landowners kicked them out. They were protected from rainfall and heat, and with some earth-filling, protected from the floods as well. Unlike 2010 and 2012, there weren't any outside teams doing needs and pre-needs assessments. Because we were a community support organization based in our own community, there wasn't any outside entity dictating allocation or asking for CNICs. We knew our land and climate, and knew that concrete blocks do not belong here because we saw them collapse and we saw them turn our homes into ovens in the summer. #climatechange #indigenousknowledge #localcommunities #adaptation #resilience #balochistan

🌱 Biochar in Kenya: A Village-Level Climate Solution You Can Join Plants already capture CO₂, but most goes back into the air. What if we could help nature lock more of that carbon in the ground? That’s exactly what PlantVillage+ is doing with real people, real results, at village scale: 🌾 They’ve built simple kilns in arid regions like Turkana, Baringo, and Kwale. 👩🌾 Local farmers, and many women are trained to convert agricultural waste into biochar. 🌳 Within a year, tree seedlings grown with biochar are stronger and more resilient 🌍 So far: Produced 228 t of biochar Sequestered ~1,200 t CO₂ Trained 300+ farmers, creating direct jobs They’re not dreaming. They’re doing. ✅ What You Can Do Today 👩🌾 Farmers – Collect dry crop waste. Build a simple trench kiln. Make biochar. 🌱 Composters – Mix biochar into compost. You’ll get better texture, and less smell. 🧑🔧 Youth groups – Build and sell $200 kilns. Help farmers use them. Earn while reducing waste. 🏘️ Village leaders – Set up one kiln per village. Make fuel. Improve soil. Train your own people. #WasteFree23 #Biochar #CarbonRemoval #VillageInnovation #SoilHealth #ClimateAction #CircularEconomy #LocalSolutions #PlantVillage #Agroecology #FarmIncome #NatureBasedSolutions

For Indigenous People's Day this year, sharing some quick stats on the impact Indigenous communities have on our critical ecological systems ⚡ . - 21% of all land on Earth remains ecologically intact due to the conservation practices of Indigenous peoples and local communities. That's more of the Earth than all national/government-sanctioned parks and forests. - Despite the fact Indigenous peoples make up just 5% of the global population, they protect 80% of the world’s remaining biodiversity. - Indigenous territories harbor more biodiversity than protected areas in Brazil, Australia, and Canada. At least 36% of the world’s remaining intact forest landscapes — continuous tracts of forest and other natural ecosystems — are found within Indigenous territories. -Indigenous people are essential to achieve the goal of protecting a third of the world’s land and waters by 2030 that countries agreed to last year at a United Nations-sponsored biodiversity summit in Canada. Takeaway: Indigenous land wisdom and ownership is an underrated, proven, localized climate solution that has wide and far-reaching implications on natural infrastructure. We must do more to bring Native and Indigenous perspectives and solutions into mainstream climate spaces, allocating capital of all types to Indigenous land protectors and entrepreneurs. Link: How solar allows Ecuadorian Indigenous guards to patrol their ancestral lands to protect one of earth’s most biodiverse places from extractive industries. Indigenous climate change makers: Native Renewables Inc Honnold Foundation Indigenous Climate Action Navajo Power Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy GRID Alternatives Sources: https://lnkd.in/gGAYD5xP https://lnkd.in/gxw5aSK2 https://lnkd.in/gkA8YUDB https://lnkd.in/gNziAnhh #indigenouspeoplesday every day 💚 #climateaction

Want to know the antidote to the extractive economy? It’s the new stewardship and regeneration economy. 🌎 Since the Industrial Revolution, natural resources have been recklessly depleted to satisfy corporate greed. In stark contrast, Indigenous people have historically managed and cared for the environment for thousands of years to sustain their people, land, and waters (more on Indigenous stewardship here → https://bit.ly/3FVjUqi). Now more than ever, this crucial and effective perspective is returning to the forefront of the climate movement. Simultaneously, the economic value of regenerating the environment is being recognized and the need to compensate stewards of our remaining resources is apparent. Within Sustainable Ocean Alliance’s #EcopreneurNetwork and Grants Program, we have many such initiatives leading the way. 🌎 Building corporate responsibility programs to restore #bluecarbon ecosystems: Founded by Anne-Sophie Roux, tēnaka is a social business whose mission is to restore the blue carbon sinks of our planet by developing tailor-made corporate responsibility programs and impact measurement technologies. 🪸 Turning #coralrestoration into a scalable business: Coral Vita, founded by Sam Teicher and Gator Halpern, grows climate change-resilient coral to restore dying reefs using a land-based farming model to scale up restoration By offering reef restoration as a service to clients that benefit from healthy reefs, Coral Vita is developing an industry that can support large-scale restoration. 🔐 Developing #cryptocurrency incentivization for #mangrove restoration: SOA Grantee Beach Collective is a blockchain-enabled, climate-tech platform in the Philippines that is implementing a novel pilot project to compensate community members for restoring mangroves with their cryptocurrency, $BEACH. Local businesses now accept the currency and are being enrolled in payment loops. Individuals can also send or receive $BEACH through the Beach Pay app. Bonus? All transaction fees are exclusively reserved for supporting future environmental activities. 🌱 Restoring mangroves with #carboncredits: SOA Grantee #MikokoPamoja Project is the world’s first community-led project to protect and restore mangroves through a groundbreaking carbon credit system. By selling carbon credits, Mikoko Pamoja compensates community members—who have collectively planted 4,000 mangroves annually since 2013 across intertidal areas of Kenya’s Gazi Bay. Importantly, this provides the community with opportunities for economic security rather than resorting to logging of these critical forests. What regenerative stewardship projects inspire you? Share examples in the comments below and let me know what questions you have about the new stewardship and regeneration economy!

We know that #communities living closest to #biodiversity hotspots and important #ecosystem services are best placed to actively #protect and regenerate them. 👩🌾 Most often, communities do this important work without getting compensated for the broader positive environmental and climate impact they generate.  🙋♀️ What if communities closest to areas with high climate & conservation value could be compensated for protecting them? 🌟 This exciting possibility is becoming a reality thanks to new technological advances, and Climate Collective is looking to work with organizations building in this space. 🌿 Payments for Environmental Services (PES) are economic mechanisms for compensating individuals or entities for conserving or enhancing natural resources and ecosystems. 🌳 🦍 We believe this is an important piece of the puzzle to protecting biodiversity and accelerating climate change resilience and adaptation work. 🔍 Why PES matters: By economically incentivizing #landowners and communities to champion environmental protection, PES gives communities income and compensation for work they otherwise would do unrewarded. This realigns incentives in favor of sustainability and paves the path for the natural provision of ecosystem services that we all depend upon. ✅ It’s pretty simple really, effective PES solutions allow communities to avoid a choice between short term livelihood fixes like feeding their families, and medium- to long term biodiversity regeneration. 🌐 Emerging technologies are powering PES: The recent convergence of blockchain and #AI technology is helping turn PES from a promise into a reality. ⚙ Digital tools for measurement, reporting, and verification (#dMRV) are improving traceability of PES incentives, while digital wallets enable seamless transactions and reduce transaction costs. #tokens and blockchain-based registries have unlocked the potential for cross-border PES projects, while #smartcontracts ensure predictability and transparent accounting. 🚧 Challenges: Despite the recent progress and the huge potential, PES projects face barriers including inefficient monitoring mechanisms, gaps in evidence for net environmental gains, and unwanted shift of pressure beyond project boundaries. These and other challenges need to be solved in order for PES to reach its true potential. 🙋♀️ This is where we need your help: ❓ Know any organizations working to provide resources to frontline communities and compensate them for their climate work? Or know anyone using emerging technologies (e.g. #blockchain and AI) to implement impactful PES programs? We’re excited to connect and better understand how to support their work. #PES #payments #climatetech #incentives #blockchain #AI Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH International Climate Initiative Leibniz Association Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) GmbH GoodDollar.org Kolektivo Lauren Serota Julian Granados, Ph.D

I was moved by this story of how the Red Cross strengthens communities as our climate warms and the planet changes: "The weather that we are supposed to be experiencing at this time of the year should be dry and sunny instead it is wet and cold,” said Seru Ramakita of Navuevu, Fiji. As a result of the continuous rain, his community is now experiencing flooding for the first time in 50 years. In Fuji and around the world, we see that climate change impacts our futures and how we live today. It's today that worries young people like Robin Kaiwalu who has been affected by the recent floods. Robin joined the Y-Adapt program run by the Fiji Red Cross Society and sponsored by the Japanese Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - IFRC. Y-Adapt is a youth-based training program designed to educate, engage and inspire young people to take action and become climate change leaders in their communities. It also builds climate resilience through increased technical understanding and planning skills to take climate action. In Fiji, 60 youths have participated in the Y-Adapt program. Among them, 70% were unemployed or school dropouts. Some of these youths are now pursuing further studies in vocational studies, while others have found employment in hotels or are still seeking jobs. Through collective action and collaboration, youth like Robin can leverage their diverse ideas, skills and perspectives to tackle climate change challenges effectively. Robin's been volunteering for five months and says the program's been a great experience, allowing him to use his time and energy to help his community. Seru says that while his community is changing, he's hopeful to see volunteers like Robin making a difference. “It is very heartening to see our youths, the future leaders of tomorrow, taking the lead in helping their very own communities with such initiatives," he said. Link the the full photo essay and story in the comments.