A £1MILLION fund to address the climate change emergency in Warwickshire has been approved by the county council.
Warwickshire County Council’s (WCC) Cabinet has approved the launch of a new £1million community fund for local schemes which will have an impact on carbon emissions.
As part of the 2020/21 budget, WCC approved the creation of four internal Revenue Investment Funds totalling £20million, to be divided into a Sustaining Prevention Fund, a Climate Change Fund, a Commercial Fund, and a Place Shaping and Capital Investment Fund.
The allocation of the resources between the funds was then updated by Cabinet in June to reflect the increased need to invest in economic recovery post Covid-19.
The new fund – The Climate Change Community Investment Fund – will come from the Climate Change Fund and allow the council to invest in initiatives proposed by community organisations to enhance local climate change agendas.
The aims of the fund are to progress the council’s objectives on climate change mitigation included in its adopted Council Plan 2025, take action to progress the Climate Change priority set out in the Council’s adopted Covid-19 Recovery Plan, and deliver local climate change mitigation projects.
Community or voluntary organisations will be able to apply for money from the scheme for projects that meet these criteria above.
The scheme will run alongside Community and Councillor Grant Schemes and share a similar application process.
WCC’s environment spokeswoman Coun Heather Timms said: “The Climate Change Community Investment Fund is an important step forward in our response to the Climate Change Emergency that this Council declared in 2019.
“There is already lots of fantastic work going on within Warwickshire County Council and our communities across the County to help reduce carbon footprints and minimise the effects we all have on our fast-changing climate.
“There can be few better demonstrations of our commitment to address this emergency than the sizeable sum of money made available to our communities as part of this grant scheme. As soon as the scheme launches, I hope to see as many community groups as possible applying for funding to make Warwickshire the best it can be, sustainable now and for the future.”
More details on the exact application channels and a full list of criteria for applications will be made available in the coming months.
Visit www.warwickshire.gov.uk/theclimateemergency for more information.
