Climate Action Ting – Shetland residents encouraged to have their say

Climate Action Ting is our participatory budgeting project exclusively for Shetland communities. Supported by three funders; The National Lottery Communities Fund, the Coastal Communities Fund from Shetland Islands Council and Zenobe, through Foundation Scotland, the project will distribute £60,000 to Shetland communities at an event held in Mareel on Saturday 14th March 2026.

Since Autumn 2025, community organisations have been encouraged to consider climate action projects they could carry out with funding from Climate Action Ting. An impressive 14 applications were received with a total funding ask of £89,499. These applications are an impressive mix of groups from Unst, Yell, Northmavine, Bressay, Scalloway, Sandwick, Bigton, Fair Isle, and the Shetland Youth voice. It’s now up to residents of Shetland to have their say and vote for who they would like to fund.

An in-person event is planned for Saturday 14th March within Mareel where all community groups campaigning for votes will be present with stands that showcase their project to the attending voters. All residents of Shetland are welcome and encouraged to attend to learn about the projects and to vote for their favourites.

Community Development Officer for Shetland, Andrea Sanchez Quiroz said:

“I’m so pleased to be at this stage in the Climate Action Ting project. The community groups have worked really hard to prepare their projects and this is the last step. I can’t wait to start distributing funds and to watch the successful projects spring into action. It’s amazing to be able to raise awareness of all the groups who applied too, not everyone will be successful on the day but I really hope everyone leaves feeling pleased with the results, the awareness they’ve brought to their project and the connections made.

I am really looking forward to what will be a true celebration, bringing together groups from across Shetland in one place. I hope the event will encourage collaboration, inspire shared learning, and help us all explore how we can make our communities more sustainable and more resilient to our changing climate. To celebrate this ongoing work, I’ve arranged delicious refreshments and live music for those who come along.”

In addition to the in-person event on the 14th March, Shetland residents are encouraged to cast their vote online should they not be able to attend the event. This offering ensures residents have a variety of ways to have their say. Each successful group has been issued with the online voting information and can campaign for votes via their own means.

Hub CEO, Joan Lawrie said:

“Participatory Budgeting events like Climate Action Ting are particularly important for the Hub, climate change impacts on everyone and we believe firmly in local people creating local solutions through local decision making. I’ve been so inspired by the range of ideas that came in during the application process, I can’t wait to meet the people behind the application forms. It’s an exciting opportunity for me to visit Shetland again and see in real time the impact this opportunity will have on Shetland communities and their ambition to tackle the climate emergency at local level.

We’re acutely aware that Island life means not always being able to attend activities in person which is why we’ve enabled the online voting option. While Climate Action Ting will be promoted to a regional and National level, votes will only be accepted from those who live in Shetland. I’d love to think we could inspire similar activity in Orkney & Highland and not only that, I look forward to sharing the project with the National Hub network which covers Scotland as a whole.”