Highlands & Islands

The Highlands & Islands are home to rich and diverse thriving communities. From our rural areas, small towns to the city of Inverness are dynamic, forward thinking yet cultural and traditional. The land and sea around us both connects us to the land and climate while also providing opportunity in the resources of both land and people to combat the climate emergency.

We support communities from Lochaber and Skye to Shetland including everywhere in between across three local authority areas - Highland, Orkney and Shetland. Innovation and sustainability has always been a feature of communities and this is demonstrated in the community led action throughout the region with communities taking the lead in climate action planning, creating local food systems, sustainable tourism and active travel to name but a few.

While communities throughout the region may be seen as remote, the shortbread tin style of rural Scotland of wide open landscapes, they are anything but this with communities throughout the region involved in land management and protection of the natural environment while also making innovations in producing energy and living sustainably. However, a key feature in many of our communities are inequalities, taking everyone with us on a just transition to net zero and addressing issues in our more fragile areas around repopulating through a community approach.