Carbon Copy and community energy leaders push for more locally generated renewables ahead of this year’s Earth Day.

Empowering Communities to Lead the Renewable Revolution

“Community energy really is for everyone,” says renewable energy advocate Sonya Bedford MBE, speaking on the latest episode of climate charity Carbon Copy’s podcast. Sonya joined host Isabelle Sparrow to explore ways to encourage more people to participate in local, community-owned energy generation projects.

The episode comes ahead of this year’s Earth Day, on April 22, which is themed Our Power, Our Planet. Isabelle says:“Energy generation is a hot topic, literally. We need to speed up the transition away from fossil-based energy sources in order to halt, and ultimately reverse climate change. We know, however, that for many people ‘saving the planet’ feels far too big, and too conceptual. What feels more relatable, however, is making your community better and more resilient and giving local people more control over how things are done.”

Sonya agrees; and says that even if the technology side of energy isn’t that interesting – there are lots of different ways to get involved:

“I think if people have a passion, then they’ll work really hard at helping everyone else deliver that. If people are bored by the technology side of renewable energy; then let’s not make them focus on that! If it’s the community engagement part and the talking to people part about it excites you, you do that bit.  If it’s the marketing or design bits of things, or if it’s just making cakes to bring people into meetings and that’s what excites you, then let’s do that!”

How Community Projects Are Shaping a Just and Sustainable Future

There’s nothing small about the total energy generated from all these potential new community energy projects. According to Community Energy England, over five years, local energy could deliver 8 gigawatts of solar and onshore wind – the equivalent of 2.5 new nuclear power stations – enough to power nearly 4.4 million homes. With the recent announcement of the government’s £5m funding pot for community energy groups, to be delivered via Great British Energy, this is an exciting moment for local electricity generation.

The podcast is just one element of Carbon Copy’s year-long campaign 25 Big Local Actions in 2025, which seeks to mobilise people to take collaborative action for climate and nature in the places where they live and work. The campaign is highlighting the benefits for communities that extend far beyond the carbon savings.

Community Energy England’s John Taylor, who appears as a guest on the podcast episode says:“ There’s definitely a social justice angle. We’ve seen over the last few years through the energy crisis: a lot of the prices that have been heaped on people have been due to imported fossil fuel. We’re losing money out of our communities by buying in imported energy, whether it’s gas, petrol or diesel. The more energy we can generate locally, the more money we can keep in our local economies, rather than being siphoned away and extracted. Through community ownership of onshore renewables, the money we’re spending on energy comes back into the community, and can then be reinvested to local projects – benefiting the local area and people.”