NESTA offers share of £1 million to groups of people who can find new ways to cut carbon

Are you part of a group or not-for-profit organisation of any kind? Or perhaps there’s a group of people with whom you share an interest? Do you fancy bagging a share of £1 million for that group and saving the planet at the same time? If so you might be interested to know about the Big Green Challenge from the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts (NESTA). The £1 million prize fund is on offer to groups of people who can come up with new ways to reduce Co2 emissions in a community and prove they work.

Whether you’re already actively trying to reduce your carbon footprint or are considering this issue for the first time, with some fresh thinking there’s no reason why your community can’t be the blue print for change on a greater scale.

To explain the scheme in more detail we’re hosting an exclusive webchat with NESTA’s Vicki Costello who will be explaining how to apply and answering any queries you may have about entering this exciting initiative. Entrants will also need innovative ideas which achieve a measurable level of carbon saving that will last beyond the life of the Big Green Challenge as well as being taken up by other groups, and involve a community. The closing date for entries is the 29th of February so it’s time to get your thinking caps on!

Once all the entries have been assessed, up to 100 will be offered advice to develop detailed plans, and 10 of them will ultimately become finalists and given a year to see if their ideas work in practice. To ensure your project have what it takes, tune into our webchat to get some exclusive hints and tips on how to prepare your application for this very special competition.

Vicki Costello, Development Manager from NESTA joins us live on Tuesday 12th February at 12:45pm to discuss The Big Green Challenge.

For more information visit www.biggreenchallenge.org.uk

H: Lis Speight, host
V: Vicky Costello, Development Manager, Nesta

H: Hello and welcome to the Consumer Advice Show, I'm Lis Speight. Now, are you part of a group of a not-for-profit organisation? Do you fancy bagging a share of £1 million for your group, and helping to save the planet at the same time? Well if so, you might be interested to hear about the big, green challenge, brought to you by Nesta, which is the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts, and I'm pleased to say that joining us here in the studio is Vicky Costello who is the Development Manager for Nesta, welcome along Vicky

V: Thank you

H: It's really nice to see you today. So just explain to those of us who aren't in the know

V: Yes

H: What exactly is Nesta?

V: Ok Nesta is the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts. We're a government funded body and we exist to work out how to make the most of the great ideas that people have in the UK. We do that by conducting research, making investments into people's ideas and running big, ambitious projects like the Big Green Challenge

H: Like the Big Green Challenge, and Vicky's going to be telling us all about that a little bit later on, but this is a live show and it's an interactive show as well and we'd love you to take part, so if you want to know anything about Nesta or the Big Green Challenge, if you want to know how to get involved and what it's all about, then all you have to do is to type your name and your question in the box that's on the screen, press submit or send, and it'll come through to us here in the studio and me and Vicky will try to get through as many of your questions as we can during the course of the show. So Vicky just tell us a little bit about the Big Green Challenge then – in a nutshell, what's it all about?

V: Ok the Big Green Challenge is a £1 million prize fund

H: That's incredible, £1 million!

V: Yes it's very exciting and there's a reason why it's so eye-catching is because we really want to use it to challenge not-for-profit groups and organisations to come up with new ways of reducing CO2 emissions in their communities

H: Right so what sort of things are we talking about, or would that give the game away a little bit?

V: Well that's a good point, you see we're looking for new ideas so it's very difficult to know what's going to come through

H: Right

V: What we are looking for is a really wide range of ideas, a new idea, some people think innovation and they think technology, a new idea needn't be about technology and it needn't be a brand new idea either, it might be borrowing an old idea that we've lost sight of, or it might be combining existing things in a new way. It could be new ways of looking at how we share resources, so it could be a football supporters club re-looking at the way they travel to games

H: Oh right to try and cut down your CO2 emissions

V: Exactly so it's about people looking at the way they live and work, looking at what does produce a lot of CO2 emissions, looking at what the barriers are. We have lots of messages from government and from various organisations about saying you must change your behaviour, you must change your light bulbs, you must take up this particular new type of energy into your home, but it's not as easy as that a lot of the time

H: No

V: And by thinking about the way we live and work differently we should be able to come up with some new ideas to make those changes in a way that works for lots of different people

H: Ok so how organised does the group need to be? Is it something that's been established for a long time, can you set one up just for this challenge?

V: Yes the exciting thing about this is that it's the – the one thing that you must be is operating not for profit, but you could be a brand new group, so it could be a group of people who share an interest, maybe live in an area

H: Right

V: Who have come together and formed a new group specifically to apply to the Big Green Challenge

H: Ok

V: It could be an existing organisation, so it could be a charity or a Parents and Teachers' Association, a youth council or as I said it could be a brand new group

H: Ok, and there's a question on that from – oh I've just lost that one now, oh here we are, Peter Duncan wants to know “can I set up a community group purely for entering this award? If I feel my idea will have wider benefits beyond my local community?”

V: Well that sounds fantastic, we'd love to see some people coming together for the first time to really think about how to put some new ideas into practice, and the point about ideas that will be of benefit to a wider community is exactly what we're looking for, we're looking for ideas that really will work to reduce CO2 emissions. There are innovative, creative, new ideas that will last beyond the life of the Big Green Challenge

H: Right

V: That can engage communities, and that fifth criteria is exactly about having wider impact, so having an idea that could be copied or grown –

H: Right

V: Or take place –

H: Making a difference in years to come then?

V: Yes

H: Ok, we've had a question in – lots of your questions coming in, we'll try and get through as many as we can and Hilary wants to know “are you looking for really whacky ideas or sensible, workable ones?”

V: That's a really good question. Kind of both – ideally both. We're looking for people to really challenge themselves and really think differently, and so in that sense the ideas might be quite whacky. The thing that makes the Big Green Challenge different to some other schemes is because it's not just about ideas, if you become a finalist then – we're looking for 10 finalists

H: Right

V: And the 10 finalists will have to put their ideas into practice over a year

H: Right so it's got to work

V: It's got to work

H: It can't just be some mad cap idea that's never going to work?

V: Exactly, it's got to work and as I said it's got to be kind of simple enough that other people might be able to take it up, so the kind of idea that you think oh I wish I'd thought of that

H: Right

V: Of course we can do that as well

H: so simple but effective really

V: Exactly

H: And you were just saying you're actually going to put them to the test, aren't you? Explain a little bit more about that

V: Well the Big Green Challenge is in 3 different stages so the first stage we're just looking for people's ideas, really and the application form is online, www. biggreen challenge.org.uk

H: We'll give you that at the end of the program as well again

V: And – I said that quite fast – and the initial application form is quite simple, we're just looking for an outline of who your group or organisation is, who the wider community you're going to be working with is and what is the gist of your idea. Then we're going to select up to 100 competitors who will work with –

H: Oh right so you've got a good chance of getting through the first stage then haven't you?

V: Exactly and there are real benefits of taking part in the second stage even if you don't become a finalist, we're working with an organisation called Unlimited, and also some other organisations to provide some advice and support to our competitors to help them develop detailed plans, and then they'll submit their detailed plans at the end of May, so we'll announce the competitors at the beginning of April, they'll submit their plans at the end of May, and from those we'll select 10 finalists

H: So if you've got a good idea but you're not absolutely sure how to put it into practice you may well get help

V: Exactly

H: To put it into practice?

V: Exactly. At the moment all you need to do is convince us that your idea has potential against each of those 5 criteria that I just talked about

H: Ok well that sounds relatively easy doesn't it? So get your thinking cap on. Now Sale from Ealing has written in and she wants to know “is the fund available to individuals to use within a company or is it purely for organised not-for-profit organisations?”

V: That's interesting, it is – we're focusing on not-for-profit organisations because we feel that there's a gap at the moment in schemes that can encourage ideas to come forward from that sector, that doesn't mean to say that businesses and other types of organisations couldn't be involved in those ideas

H: Right

V: And – or it could be that somebody that works in a business forms a new group with maybe other people from the same profession

H: Right

V: Or other people in their local area and then they also engage –

H: But it can't be making money for that company?

V: No exactly

H: Right ok

V: It – sorry – it could be a social enterprise so it could be something that does make money but the money goes back into delivering benefit for the community

H: I see, ok. And if you do bag some of that £1 million, what are you allowed to spend it on?

V: That's the – this is a prize, so it's not that we're going to be very restrictive on what you spend it on, but it will have to be for the benefit of the community that you're working with

H: Right

V: It might be – and it would be great if it is – put into taking your idea further after the year, if you're one of the lucky winners. But it could equally be being put into new projects in that community as well

H: Ok. Does one group win the £1 million or does it get given to lots of different groups?

V: Well it won't be one group, it will be anything up to the 10 finalists basically

H: Oh right

V: They'll be needing to put their ideas into practice for a year, and what we're looking for – we don't want to commit to how much a particular group's going to get, because the idea of that £1 million exciting £1 million prize –

H: Is how much you're going to get!

V: Is that it motivates you and so whichever group's performed most strongly against those 5 criteria are the ones that have the chance of winning a bigger chunk of the £1 million

H: Oh right

V: We think there may be – yes we think there may be an overall winner and a small number of runners-up

H: Right

V: But really it depends on how many there are

H: It's still an awful lot of money, even if you divide it down isn't it, so it's worth having a go. Got a few questions coming in actually about the application form etc so people are obviously already thinking about applying. And Denise wants to know “questions two and three are drop down menus. In our application we could tick all of the geographical options as the activities will involved more and more people as we grow. Do you guys just want our starting place, ie. local or the aspirational place that our project will lead to?” She's got big ideas by the sounds of it

V: Wow yes that does sound ambitious. I can't quite picture which drop down boxes two and three are, but it sounds like – we're looking for where you're starting from

H: Right

V: And then when you're talking to us about your ideas then start to tell us about what your ambitions are and where you want to take it

H: Ok, well that's quite straightforward then isn't it, where you are now rather than where you're hoping to be when you win your £1 million prize. Now Lucy Conway wants to know “we have a lot of ideas all of which we feel could work, but we need more research which is presumably what could happen if we became one of the 10 finalists, but should we put all of the ideas in our initial application or will it just look like we're picking ideas out of the sky and putting them on paper to look good, which we're not?”

V: That's another good question. What I say is keep going back to what our criteria are, so that it has to work to reduce the CO2 emissions, has to be a new idea or a new approach that combines different ideas, it has to last beyond the Big Green Challenge, it has to be – have the potential to be taken up by other people or to grow in the future, and it has to engage the community. So if you feel that all your ideas could do that then kind of by all means put them all in, and the second stage of the competition will be about then shaping them and looking at what's realistic and looking at how you take your ideas and put htem into a plan that you can develop and make work

H: And tell us a little bit about the deadlines coming up then

V: That's an important point so the deadline for initial applications is the 29th February

H: Right so we've got a bit of time to play with

V: Yes, so you've got the next couple of weeks to really really get working. And then during March we'll be working out which of the – up to 100 competitors we want to take through and then they will have throughout April and May with some support from us to develop their detailed plans.

H: And the million dollar question as it were – million pound question – what exactly are you looking for, when you're looking through those criteria, which ones are going to jump out at you?

V: Well – as I said before it's difficult to know – to say what we're looking for because we don't want to give an example and then get 100s of those coming in, but we're looking for applications that really try to understand where the CO2 emissions come from within that community

H: Ok

V: And give us a few concrete ideas. They don't have to have details on how they're going to be put into practice, but a few concrete ideas of how you think you will be able to reduce the CO2 emissions. You'll need to describe why you think your approach is innovative and you'll need to describe to us why you think it's got potential to last and to grow, and that might be because it's a simple idea that everyone can take up because it's cheap, it might be – and all the ideas are going to be different. It might be because there are lots of other groups that are similar to yours around the country

H: Right

V: And they could copy it

H: So it's something that can really make a difference to CO2 emissions in a big way but maybe only in a small idea sort of thing?

V: Yes

H: Ok. Now Denise has sent a question in, she wants to know “we're in the process of pulling together a great project that has evolved out of a successful local community project. We have a clear idea of what our aims are, but keep going round in circles regarding how exactly we should constitute ourselves, ie. cooperative, community interest company. We will have resolved this by the March deadline mentioned in the BGC notes, but may not have the definite version ready by the 29th February. Does this matter given that there is further development time prior to the finalists actually launching their project?”

V: That doesn't matter and it's great that they're thinking about it, and different groups will be at different stages, some will be very established, some will come together and this is the first time they've kind of ever worked on something together, and we're not looking for groups to be formally constituted unless they become finalists

H: Right, ok

V: And if that's the case we'll give them some advice on what might be the best form of constitution for them

H: Ok, and just briefly tell us why CO2 emissions, I mean we've all heard of them. Explain why we're trying to reduce them?

V: Well it's widely accepted now that CO2 emissions and other greenhouse gases contribute to climate change, and so as a result of increasing emissions we've got increasing temperatures and we've already seen some of the drastic effects that we can have from them, and you know people are taking this seriously now and we're getting more agreement from scientists, we're getting government really taking notice, so we've got the UK has draft climate change bill, the Scottish government has draft climate change bill in consultation, and so you know it's serious stuff and going back to the purpose of Nesta, we are looking at ideas that – how you develop ideas that have a really big impact on the big issues of our time, and really climate change is one of the biggest

H: Ok now we've had a lot of questions coming through asking sort of specific questions about the application form and what have you, there's obviously the website that you can go to – biggreenchallenge.org.uk, but if people want to ask questions can they email or something?

V: Absolutely, if you go to the website there's a help number on the front page of the website if you have problems with actually filling in the application form, and if you also email admin@biggreenchallenge.org.uk someone will be able to help you and if you, if you just as clearly as possible describe what you need help with, somebody will get back to you as soon as possible

H: Ok but generally the first stage of the application form is relatively simple?

V: Yes

H: Ok so there's no excuses then, get your ideas in! And the closing date for the first round is the 29th February and 100 of the applicants go through to the first round and then it gets whittled down to 10, so you've got a really good chance and you know you may get a share of £1 million so what's stopping you? More information is available on the biggreenchallenge.org.uk, get your thinking caps on. Thanks for watching then, we'll see you next time, bye bye

Still got a question or comment?

Name

Your question Question