Low Carbon Communities
Grants for Nova Scotia organizations to plan community clean-energy projects and provide energy education.
Denne finansieringsmulighed er i øjeblikket beskrevet på engelsk.
The 2025–26 round funded preparatory work for cleaner buildings, electricity and transport, rather than construction. Examples include energy assessments, feasibility studies, community energy plans, design and engineering, consultation and staff or workforce training.
Clean Buildings, Clean Electricity and Clean Transportation projects could receive up to CAD 75,000 each, covering up to 75% of eligible project costs. Clean Energy Education projects had the same rate with a CAD 50,000 maximum. Reasonable, direct project costs were eligible, subject to the Department of Energy assessing their reasonableness.
For local innovation pilots only, purchase and installation of Level 2 electric-vehicle chargers could receive 50% of installed costs, up to CAD 5,000. Testing innovative solutions in buildings, electricity or transport required evaluation and sharing the learning as project deliverables.
Recipients received 90% at project start and 10% after completion and reporting. They had to share findings in the final report. LCC staff had to approve changes to deliverables, timelines or budget allocations. The round required activities to start no earlier than August 2025 and projects and final reports to be completed by 28 August 2026 at 11:59 pm ADT.
Eligibility
The following requirements describe the closed 2025–26 round.
- Your applicant organization had to be based in Nova Scotia: a municipality, First Nations Band or organization, registered nonprofit, post-secondary institution or business. Nonprofits needed registration, for example with the Nova Scotia Registry of Joint Stock Companies. Business project outcomes had to directly support continued positive impacts, access or services for Nova Scotian residents.
- Your project had to benefit Nova Scotian communities, demonstrate strong community support and show potential for future greenhouse-gas reductions. It should be a community priority, appear in a community plan or municipal document, or have Council support. It had to materially advance the federal plans A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy (2020) and 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan (2022), and the provincial plan Our Climate, Our Future (2022).
- You had to demonstrate matching funds or in-kind contributions. Eligible in-kind support included donated materials, equipment and labour associated with the project; incremental costs had to be new costs caused by the initiative. Other municipal, federal, provincial or community funding could contribute, but provincial government funding in total could not exceed 75% of total project cost. Other funding applications and their status had to be disclosed.
- For building projects, community buildings meant noncommercial buildings providing public services or gathering space. Affordable housing meant rents at least 20% below the area market average for at least 30% of units.
- The programme excluded organizational administration, existing staff salaries, startup and restructuring costs; construction, financing, land acquisition or lease, permitting and procurement; and capital purchases such as solar panels, heat pumps or vehicles, subject to the charger-pilot exception above.
- Projects serving organizations with exclusive membership, redistribution as grants or rebates, ongoing operation of chargers, fleets, transit or shared mobility, and audits or design plans solely upgrading existing electrical systems were excluded.
- Multiple applications were allowed, with their priority ranking identified. Assessment considered community engagement, future emissions reductions and resilience, learning, local economic benefits, equity and inclusion, monitoring and the budget. Projects not involving equity-deserving groups could provide a rationale.
How to apply
- Status
- lukket
- Lukker
- Vilkår for ansøgningsrunden
- Full application by invitation following an eligible expression of interest; applications are closed.
Applications are currently closed.
For the 2025–26 round, applicants first submitted a brief project overview through the online expression-of-interest form. Staff checked eligibility and programme fit; only eligible projects received an invitation to complete the online application. The invited application required matching-fund or in-kind confirmation and evidence of Council, community or partner support. Applicants also completed the project budget and sent the budget forecast and supporting documents together in one email to lowcarboncommunities@novascotia.ca, combining documents of the same type into one PDF.
The form asked whether the site faced coastal flooding or erosion and, if so, how site selection and design would address that risk. Applicants described monitoring, measures of success and their next steps after the project.
Nova Scotia Department of Energy programme staff are available year-round to discuss potential projects and partnerships at lowcarboncommunities@novascotia.ca.