The National Lottery Community Fund has awarded over £19.5m in grants to help tackle the climate emergency across the UK.
Distributed over the last four months, the funding has gone to projects supporting communities to take local climate action and focus on environmental themes including energy, food, transport, waste and consumption, and the natural environment.
The 23 projects, from Cumbria to Cornwall, and Glasgow to Gwynedd, are the first to receive money from the lottery-funded Climate Action Fund, a 10-year, £100m fund that aims to reduce the carbon footprint of communities and support community-led movements that demonstrate what is possible when people take the lead in tackling climate change.
Nine grant holders were announced on December 1, while the other 14 were revealed in August this year. They will work together to share learning and become catalysts for broader and transformative change.
Nick Gardner, Head of Climate Action at The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “From 25 years of funding environmental projects, we know that local community action can deliver positive environmental impacts alongside additional benefits for people to reap.
“This year we have been reminded that communities are best placed to understand their places and spaces, and so often play a vital role in responding in a crisis.
“Thanks to National Lottery players, communities across the UK will be able to demonstrate what is possible when people take the lead in tackling climate change. This funding will bring people together so they can learn from each other and have an impact within and beyond their communities.”
The projects include large scale schemes delivered by local partnerships, as well as smaller development grants, which will see lottery funding used for emerging ideas to engage different communities and to test new approaches.
The National Lottery Community Fund will use learning from this funding to help shape what happens next with the Climate Action Fund and will explore and reflect on ways people and communities take climate action throughout the programme.
The Climate Action Fund is part of The National Lottery Community Fund’s Environment Strategy, which has seen significant lottery investment through community-led projects that are focussed on activities that not only improve the environment, but use it to enhance the lives of people and communities.
Since April 2013, the Fund has awarded more than £340m to environmental projects, through almost 4,800 grants.
National Lottery players have raised £41bn for more than 565,000 good causes across the UK since 1994, £30m every week for good causes. The lottery plays a critical role in supporting people, projects and communities during these challenging times.
A list of all 23 Climate Action Fund projects can be found here: https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/funding/programmes/climate-action-fund