Climate Curve

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Primary Project Category:

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Name of Project:

Project Summary / Description:

Cultivating Community’s rooftop farm converts underutilised urban roof space into productive, regenerative food systems that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The project replaces carbon-intensive food supply chains with local production, diverts organic waste from landfill, and builds carbon-rich soils in a dense urban setting.

Keeling Curve Prize funding will enable us to double the number of modular food cubes on the rooftop, significantly increasing food output, soil volume, and emissions reduction capacity, while supporting the climate-critical labour and inputs required to operate the system efficiently.

How Project Affects Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions:

['Replaces/avoids GHGs (e.g., projects that replace sources of GHGs, such as the burning of fossil fuels for electricity, heat, transport, or other energy uses)', 'Reduces GHGs (e.g., projects that reduce sources of GHGs, such as through efficiency or other changes in consumption)', 'Removes/stores GHGs (e.g., projects that capture, sequester, or otherwise enhance the "sinks" that accumulate and store GHGs)']

Impact on Underrepresented Groups:

Cultivating Community’s rooftop farm embeds climate action within communities that are often excluded from climate solutions. The project prioritises participation by people experiencing disadvantage, including women, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and those facing barriers to employment.

A key focus is our Deaf and hard of hearing cohort, who participate in horticulture training delivered in accessible formats and within a live regenerative farming environment. This approach ensures climate-positive skills development is inclusive and practical, not theoretical. Participants gain hands-on experience in regenerative food production, composting, and low-input growing techniques that are directly relevant to the climate transition.

The project also supports people living in or connected to social housing through food distribution and community garden participation, ensuring climate mitigation delivers tangible benefits to climate-vulnerable households. Over the next phase, Cultivating Community will expand training pathways to include new migrants and people living in social housing, building climate literacy and job-ready skills alongside emissions reduction.

These communities are represented within our organisation through lived-experience–informed program design, community partnerships, and staff leadership with deep experience in inclusive service delivery. Climate action is delivered with, not for, the communities most affected.

Website:

https://www.cultivatingcommunity.org.au/

Mission Statement:

Cultivating Community works alongside people facing food insecurity, social isolation, and barriers to employment, supporting them to grow food, build connection, and develop skills through cooking and horticulture. Our sustainable garden services fund community programs, create paid horticulture jobs, and promote healthy soils, biodiversity, and resilient local food systems.

Link: Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/CultivatingCommunity

Link: Twitter:

https://x.com/Cultivating_Com

Link: Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/cultivatingcommunity/