Ashden

05/10/2026

We’re heading to GOGSFE 2026 in Kigali, Rwanda! Come and meet the Ashden team there 👋

Isona Shibata, Emily Benson and Anthony Okello from the Ashden team will be attending, and find out how we’re working with locally-led clean energy enterprises across Africa to help them grow, attract investment and scale their impact.

This year, we’ll be putting the spotlight on enterprises from our Powering Clean Energy Investment (PCEI) programme – businesses tackling energy challenges in different ways, from solar-powered cold storage and clean cooking to battery storage and turning waste into energy: https://bit.ly/4hEuClj

We’ll be joined at GOGSFE by PCEI enterprises Battery Bank Africa, Vittoria Technology, AceleAfrica, ClimaVault Africa, BioAfriq Energy, Savanna Circuit, Mega Gas and EcoBora.

We’re also looking forward to meeting with organisations from our Transforming Humanitarian Energy Access (THEA) programme attending the Forum and sharing what we’re learning about refugee-led approaches to expanding access to clean, affordable energy.

📍 Find us at Booth #48 in the Expo Tent.

Come by, meet the team and the enterprises we work with, and talk to us about financing, scaling and supporting locally led clean energy solutions

29/09/2026

🏠 Millions of households across the UK continue to face high energy bills while living in cold, inefficient homes.

Ashden are part of a coalition of civil society organisations who are calling on the UK Government to use the Autumn Budget to deliver the funding already promised for local energy efficiency programmes that support low-income households.

Despite strong demand for insulation, solar and heat pump schemes, underfunding is preventing many households from accessing support.

⚠️ From 1 October, household energy costs are set to rise again, reaching levels last seen during the energy price crisis. Investing in proven local delivery schemes could help hundreds of thousands of households benefit from energy-saving home upgrades before 2030, reducing bills, improving living conditions and cutting energy demand.

📄 Read the coalition's proposals ahead of the Autumn Budget: https://bit.ly/4rD44rp

Councils across England are temporarily closing applications for grants under the Warm Homes scheme due to a lack of central funding

26/09/2026

⚡️ Calling all Yorkshire-based organisations interested in kickstarting a community energy project

We have just two places remaining for Yorkshire-based organisations to receive free, tailored support through Local Power Potential.

The programme helps community groups turn early-stage renewable energy ideas into viable, deliverable projects that can lower energy bills, generate community wealth and support local jobs and skills.

Successful groups can receive free, wide ranging support, including:

💼 Identify local opportunities for renewable energy generation
👥 Develop governance structures and organisational models
⚡ Navigate grid connection challenges
💷 Explore funding strategies and community share offers
🤝 Strengthen community engagement and partnerships

We're delivering Local Power Potential with Northern Powergrid Foundation, alongside the Centre For Sustainable Energy and Community Energy England.

If your organisation has an idea for a community energy project in Yorkshire - or knows a group that could benefit- we'd love to hear from you.

Find out more about the programme and apply by submitting an expression of interest here: https://bit.ly/4iFPg93

24/09/2026

Our colleagues Isona Shibata and Dua Zehra recently returned from Gabon, where they spent time with three of our Thriving Forests partners: NADA, Association Ngudu Dimbu and PROGRAM. They were shown how the health of the forest is connected closely to the lives of the people.

Gabon sits within the Congo Basin, the world’s second-largest tropical rainforest and one of its most important carbon sinks. But behind the scale of the forest, the visit offered a much closer look at what protecting it involves day to day.

NADA describes the forest as a “territory of life.” When heavy rains make roads difficult and communities more isolated, it becomes their “pharmacy and supermarket”, providing food and traditional medicine. Community knowledge is also being combined with GIS to map ancestral territories and support 19 communities seeking legal recognition for a territory of more than 145,000 hectares of forest.

The connection between livelihoods and biodiversity came through strongly too. Around Moukalaba-Doudau National Park, Ngudu Dimbu is using beehive barriers to help deter elephants from crops, while honey provides another source of income. PROGRAM works with local people, including former poachers, who are now involved in wildlife protection and community-led tourism.

And behind these examples is a lot of less visible work. Reaching remote communities, building relationships, securing recognition of ancestral territories, developing livelihoods and monitoring biodiversity all take time — often for relatively small teams managing several things at once.

These experiences are giving us plenty to reflect on as we think about the next phase of Thriving Forests, particularly around how conservation programmes are designed and funded.

We’ve brought together four lessons from the Gabon visit, exploring local stewardship, the relationship between livelihoods and biodiversity, operational complexity, and what these experiences could mean for funding.

Read the four lessons and reflections from Gabon: https://bit.ly/4yunC45

22/09/2026

“It was surprising, it was new, it was unheard of in Gabon for a village to tell a forester to stop logging.”

For the community of Massaha in Gabon, protecting their forest meant finding a way to make their voices heard. Hear Walter Mbamy tell the story in his own words 🗣️

During their recent visit to Gabon, our colleagues Isona and Dua spoke with Walter from NADA about the community’s efforts to protect the places that are important to them.

NADA is a community-based organisation and one of our Thriving Forests partners in Gabon. It is working with 19 communities around Ivindo National Park to secure legal recognition of more than 145,000 hectares of ancestral forest, while supporting livelihoods including sustainable fishing and beekeeping.

The story of Massaha helps explain why securing these rights matters. Walter describes how concerns grew after a logging company destroyed a sacred site near the Libumba River. The river is an important source of resources for the community, and the surrounding area is home to several sacred sites.

With support from NADA, community members wrote to government authorities about the destruction and called for their natural and cultural heritage to be protected.

Through Thriving Forests, delivered in partnership with The Nature Recovery Project, we support community-rooted organisations like NADA to strengthen their work, protect forests and biodiversity, and build sustainable livelihoods, alongside support to strengthen their organisations and access further funding.

Find out more about our Thriving Forests programme here: https://bit.ly/3AB8I34

17/09/2026

institutozag is an Indigenous-led movement protecting and restoring 42,000 hectares of the Atlantic Forest. The Atlantic Forest spans across Southern Brazil which is rich in biodiversity and is home to Indigenous Peoples.

Guided by ancestral knowledge, the community began replanting its land – replenishing sacred but critically endangered araucaria trees.

Discover how their impact has led to them becoming an Ashden Award winner https://bit.ly/4aDvru4

15/09/2026

'Stop killing us. Because we are the forest.'

That's the message from Ashden Award winner Isabel, Co-Founder of Instituto Zág.

institutozag is an Indigenous-led movement protecting and restoring the Atlantic Forest of southern Brazil.

To date they have worked to:

🏞️ Protect 42,000 hectares of land in the Laklãnõ-Xokleng territory
💚 Restore, monitor and protect land around 16 villages
🌴 Collect seeds from sacred mother trees to share with partners across Brazil to ensure genetic diversity
🌱 Grow seedlings in community nurseries to restore tree ferns, imbuia, yerba mate and notably planting 140,000 araucaria seedlings
🧠 Teach ancestral knowledge in schools, engages young people in forest stewardship, and documents cultural practices through photography workshops and publications

Discover more about their journey to becoming an Ashden Award winner: https://bit.ly/4aDvru4

10/09/2026

Plymouth Energy Community’s model is a deliberate effort to build a joined-up, city-wide energy system that works for people and saves carbon.

They work in partnership with Plymouth City Council and the two work closely together, not just to deliver services, but to lead on shared goals like housing, health and lowering emissions.

Discover their journey to becoming an Ashden Award winner: https://bit.ly/4gn72N6

08/09/2026

Plymouth Energy Community creates warm, energy-efficient homes – and locally owned solar power – for the city’s residents.

Its impact includes retrofitting 400 homes since 2021 – lowering fuel costs, and also powering green jobs for local small businesses. A key feature of their model is a long-term partnership with Plymouth City Council.

Explore their work and see how they became and Ashden Award winner: https://bit.ly/4gn72N6

03/09/2026

We face a well-documented shortage of home decarbonisation and core construction skills.

In 2025, the construction sector had 140,000 vacancies, with a third of existing workers due to retire by 2035.

Our Green Homes and Good Local Jobs, funded by The MCS Foundation, resource gives guidance to anyone procuring and delivering home decarbonisation upgrades, whether grant-funded or not. By providing practical tools and guidance to embed and enforce local jobs and skills social value, we aim to encourage commissioners to look beyond the cheapest price when procuring decarbonisation work.

Ashden, worked in partnership with EN:Able Communities, UK Green Building Council and the National Retrofit Hub to speak to over 100 retrofit sector practitioners in order to inform this guidance.

Read the full report here: https://bit.ly/4xLKefG