Lottery launches £100m community ‘climate action’ fund

A £100m Climate Action Fund has been launched by the National Lottery Community Fund to help people and communities tackle climate change.

The funder has said that types of activities will differ from place to place, but will all have the ability to deliver ‘high impact’ community-led climate action in areas such as sustainable energy, transport, food production or wildlife habitats.

The fund was launched yesterday (July 17) at an event in London that was attended by Ummi Hoque, an 18-year-old student who received National Lottery funding to drive climate action in her local community.

She also recently joined the hundreds of thousands of young people around the world striking together for climate action.

Ummi said: ‘While we need business, government and policy-makers to respond effectively to the crisis, it’s important that local communities are encouraged to play their role.

‘I’m excited to see how communities can work together and learn from each other, as we find ways to address the crisis together.’

Dawn Austwick, chief executive of the National Lottery Community Fund said the fund will mean everyone can play their part in addressing climate change.

‘The impact will be all the greater if we come together within and across communities,’ she said.

‘This is why, thanks to National Lottery players, we are launching the Climate Action Fund to create grassroots momentum built on learning and sharing within, between and beyond communities – in order to achieve meaningful and sustained climate action.’

The National Lottery Community Fund has already invested millions in environmental projects across the UK, large and small. A range of these projects were featured at the launch event, including Twipes, Fantastic Home and The Toy Project.

Twipes is the ‘world’s first’ truly flushable eco-friendly toilet wipe that disperses in water in three hours. It was developed by Ellenor McIntosh and Alborz Bozorgi who received National Lottery funding to take their bio-degradable wipes digital.

The young environmental leadership grant helped them develop digital sensors on hand wipes in buildings and hotels that send alerts when they are running low in order to save costs and waste, further mitigating the impact on the climate and reducing marine pollution.

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