SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The National Lottery Community Fund, the independent public body responsible for distributing grants raised by the National Lottery, has confirmed that £14 million will be directly distributed to community organisations fighting climate change.
This story featured in today’s SBC News 90. To view the latest round-up, watch today’s edition here.
The grants are announced as part of the National Lottery’s ‘Climate Action Fund’ launched in 2019 – a 10-year project backed by a £100 million funding commitment to reduce the UK’s carbon footprint through the support of community led initiatives.
Marked as a core objective, the National Lottery Community Fund seeks to establish a network of groups and organisations sharing insights and learnings on improving environmental standards and public awareness of climate change at a local level, which will become ‘catalysts for broader and transformative change’.
The National Lottery announces the first 14 community organisations to receive its Climate Action grants, branded as projects directly tackling a diverse range of environmental and sustainability issues.
Recipients include the ‘Middlesbrough Environment City Trust’, an urban climate change project which has received £1.6 million to help develop sustainable transport, energy use and improve waste management across the post-industrial town of North Yorkshire.
Meanwhile, East London’s ‘Women’s Environmental Network Trust’, in partnership with London Leap, has been awarded £2.1 million to run a range of community food projects to deliver a sustainable food system across Tower Hamlets in London.
The National Lottery Community Fund highlights the above organisations as sustainability projects that are focused on activities that not only improve the environment but use it to enhance the lives of people and communities.
Since April 2013, the National Lottery Community Fund has awarded more than £340 million to environmental projects, providing direct funding through just under 4,800 grants.
John Rose, Director and environment lead at The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “From 25 years of funding environmental projects across the UK, we know that local community action is at the heart of delivering solutions that not only minimise the impact on the environment but also offer additional benefits that people and communities can reap.
“In the last few months we have been reminded that communities truly understand their places and spaces, and so often play a vital role in responding in a crisis, and we’re confident with people in the lead communities can tackle climate action and respond to the climate emergency.
“Thanks to National Lottery players we’re now bringing these communities together so they can address climate change, learn from each other and have an impact within and beyond their communities.”
