We are thrilled to announce that the Bristol Green Capital Partnership collaborative bid to the National Lottery Community Fund’s Climate Action Fund has been successful, which means that Bristol’s efforts to become carbon neutral by 2030 are set to receive a £375K boost.

Local people are at the heart of the new project, which will support community-led climate action, putting them in the driving seat and empowering them to respond to climate change in their communities.  

The funding from the National Lottery’s Climate Action Fund will enable six organisations across Bristol – Ambition Lawrence Weston, ACH, Bristol Disability Equality Forum, Heart of BS13, Lockleaze Neighbourhood Trust, and Eastside Community Trust (formerly Up Our Street) – to play a leading role in shaping Bristol’s transition to a low carbon and climate resilient city. This project will be supported by three lead programme partners – Bristol Green Capital Partnership, who led the funding bid; Centre for Sustainable Energy; and Bristol City Council.  

There is a growing desire for climate action across Bristol, with 88% of residents reporting concern about climate change in the most recent Quality of Life Survey and the city recently adopting the One City Climate Strategy. The project’s approach is to enable communities to explore and tackle the issues around climate change set out in the strategy in a way that complements other local priorities, such as COVID-19 recovery, health, increased mobility, warmer homes, social inclusion, better access to services, nature and green space, and skills and employment opportunities.  

Each community will produce their own Community Climate Action Plan, with an emphasis on action. This will help to put the city on a path to improving well-being locally and becoming carbon neutral by 2030.  

There was huge interest in the National Lottery’s Climate Action Fund, with over 630 applications submitted from across the UK and only 19 projects funded so far. It is a testament to the strength, ambition and collaboration of the project that Bristol has been successful.  

Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol, said: “I welcome the emphasis The National Lottery Community Fund has placed on communities leading on climate action. The communities involved in this project are working on some really interesting initiatives, and we are proud of the many local organisations across the city that are improving their neighbourhoods. The Climate Action Fund will support these organisations to help us become a more sustainable, resilient city and enable us to remain inclusive whilst becoming carbon neutral by 2030. I am delighted that the city council has been able to contribute to securing this funding and we will play our part to deliver a successful project.”

Lizzi Testani, Chief Operating Officer of Bristol Green Capital Partnership welcomed the news, saying, “Achieving this success has come thanks to a lot of hard work and collaboration – exactly what is needed in Bristol’s response to climate change. With big thanks to National Lottery players and this funding, we can’t wait to get started in supporting our communities to generate solutions that fulfil their existing ambitions whilst contributing to national efforts to tackle climate change.”  

Community partners said…

Laura Welti of Bristol Disability Equality Forum, said, “We are delighted to be a partner in this project.  All too often, at both a strategic and developmental level, what works for Disabled people is an afterthought - so we jumped at the opportunity for Disabled people to be actively involved in shaping this initiative, right from the start.  As some of the poorest people in society, and the most dependent on energy consumption (for heating, stairlifts and hearing loops), our members finely honed problem-solving skills will be looking to bring creative solutions to the project that will benefit all disadvantaged communities.”   

Executive Director of Heart of BS13, Georgina Perry says “It’s exciting to think that we will now hear voices that don’t usually get a platform within the climate and environmental science debates.  BS13 will be one of the Bristol communities that gets to spearhead the conversations and actions needed to make lasting change across the city.”

Richard Thickpenny, Deputy CEO of ACH – a provider of integrated refugee services, says, “This is a great opportunity not just to increase awareness of climate issues but to link the community with the green opportunities of the future.”  

Stacy Yelland, Chief Executive Officer of Eastside Community Trust, says, “We are incredibly excited to be a partner on Bristol’s successful lottery Climate Action Fund bid. We know climate change and environmental sustainability is high on the agenda for some communities in Easton and Lawrence Hill. We also know that for others it feels like less of a priority when each week is a struggle to get through, made even harder by the pandemic. Through this project, we will work with as many people in our neighbourhood as possible to create meaningful plans for how we can work collectively to tackle the climate emergency.”  

Mark Pepper of Ambition Lawrence Weston states “with the funds coming from the National Lottery we can now meet climate change head on whilst continuing to meet local residents‘ priorities'”.

Further information

For more information about the project please contact Community Coordinator Amy Harrison on: amy@bristolgreencapital.org, or join the Partnership to receive regular updates.