Yes wECCAN! Driving change at a local level
On the 30th of September 2026, Hope for the Future facilitated a political roundtable that connected members of The Edinburgh Climate Action Network (ECCAN) with key Edinburgh politicians.
This marked the culmination of a series of events HFTF has run with ECCAN to upskill their members and give them the opportunity to build their influence with Edinburgh politicians.
In this blog HFTF’s Policy and Engagement Coordinator, Matthew Seller, shares his reflections about the event and how our collaboration with organisations like ECCAN is driving change.
Written by Matthew Stellar, Policy & Engagement Coordinator
Hope for the Future’s collaboration with ECCAN
ECCAN is an amazing organisation that fosters and supports climate action across Edinburgh. They have a fantastic array of members who are working on all elements of climate action in Edinburgh.
One of the best things about Hope for the Future’s work is that we get to connect with organisations like these who are driving change at a local level and link them up with people that hold political power.
An insight into the political roundtable event
On the day we were joined by twenty six members of ECCAN representing a host of organisations involved in everything from community growing initiatives and heat networks to people working on national struggles against new fossil fuel projects.
We had the great task of linking up these groups and individuals with four politicians and representatives of politicians: Lorna Slater MSP, Cllr Chas Booth and Thomas Lynch representative from the office of Scott Arthur MP. Christine Jardine MP was unable to join on the day.
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Event highlights
ECCAN members raised issues about topics that they had expert knowledge of, for instance local heat networks, retrofitting schemes and food security issues. For me the event really showed how important it is that politicians and constituents speak directly together. There was the kind of genuine respectful sharing of views and ideas that is often hard to find in political discussions on social media or TV.
One issue that particularly highlighted how vital it is for politicians and constituents to speak directly, was when Tatheer NKS shared her organisation's experience of the unmanageable level of food waste supermarkets are passing on to local charities. This first hand knowledge brought up an issue with a policy that could have been otherwise missed by those in power, showing the value of these face to face interactions.
Looking ahead with ECCAN
We’re continuing to link up ECCAN members with their politicians on the issues they care about most and to push for political action.
It has been great to see Scott Arthur MP taking his constituents' concerns directly to Parliament where he formally raised constituent concerns around the Rosebank oil field to Miatta Fahnbulleh and again to Michael Shanks.
We love to see constituent voices heard loud and clear in Parliament!
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