July 27th 2022
Community projects tackling climate crisis to get £8m in funding
UK community projects tackling the climate crisis through nature now have access to £8m worth of funding from the National Lottery Community Fund’s Climate Action Fund.
Groups can apply for grants of up to £1.5m over two to five years to support place-based projects relying on nature to encourage community-led action on the climate emergency.
Most schemes are expected to be funded with between £300,000 – £500,000, but development grants of £50,000 – £150,000 over 12 – 18 months are also available for communities with initial ideas that need developing.
Nick Gardner, Head of Climate Action at The National Lottery Community Fund, said: ‘We know communities have a big role to play when it comes to the climate emergency, and we’re excited to again be accepting applications to the Climate Action Fund to support climate action.
‘We’re looking to provide National Lottery funding to projects across the UK that explore deeper connections with nature, change behaviours and bring nature back into the places we live and work, helping communities to reduce or adapt to the impacts of climate change.’
The UK has lost much of its natural environment to human activity and was ranked 189th in the world for biodiversity in 2019 out of 218 countries.
Research by the National Lottery Community Fund has found that more than half of Brits are worried about the impacts the climate crisis will have on their local community.
48 projects are currently benefitting from the Climate Action Fund, a ten year £100m funding programme supporting people and communities to grow and reach net zero.
The projects not only help to restore the earth’s environment and tackle the climate emergency, but also help to boost employment, teach local people new skills and support communities to grow their green economy.
Since 2017, The National Lottery Community Fund has granted more than £410m through over 7,000 grants to schemes boosting the environment, acting on waste and tackling transport issues.
Photo by Kenny Eliason