Words by Smiley Team
The National Lottery Community Fund has awarded over £19.5 million in grants to help tackle the climate emergency across the UK. The funding, awarded over the last four months, 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 National Lottery-funded Climate Action Fund - a ten-year, £100 million 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.
Grant holders were announced December 1st while 14 were revealed in August this year. Together they will work together to share learning and become catalysts for broader and transformative change.
“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." Nick Gardner, Head of Climate Action at The National Lottery Community Fund, said.
"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.”
Thanks to National Lottery players, £41 billion has been raised for more than 565,000 good causes across the UK since 1994. National Lottery players raise £30 million every week for good causes in the UK.
The projects include large scale schemes delivered by local partnerships, as well as smaller development grants, which will see the National 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 to ways people and communities in taking climate action throughout the programme.
To find out more visit www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk
