In January we shared an update with Partnership members and wider stakeholders on the Bristol Green Capital Partnership-led bid to the National Lottery Community Fund’s new Climate Action Fund. The bid was one of 40 out of over 630 applications to be long listed during the first phase of the submission process.

The next phase of the bid’s development has been supported by Avon Wildlife Trust, Bristol City Council, Bristol & Bath Regional Capital, Bristol Water, Bristol Energy, Centre for Sustainable Energy, Sustrans, Resource Futures and UWE Bristol. A bid writer and social enterprise advisor, Tom Beale, joined this team in January and has been indispensable in the process.

Since January, we have worked with the six community partners selected to lead the project and potential climate action partners across Bristol (organisations and individuals with experience of responding to community priorities at the same time as tackling environmental issues) to develop the project proposal, which was submitted in early April.

Our bid proposes a large-scale project that empowers six community partners – organisations serving one of Bristol’s specific geographic communities, or communities of interest or identity – to respond to the climate emergency. Community partners will work with members of their communities to develop an even deeper understanding of local priorities before drawing on the wealth of expertise and support available in Bristol. Together, community partners will work with climate action partners to produce and deliver ambitious Community Climate Action Plans, which align with Bristol’s overall goal to become carbon neutral by 2030.

We expect to hear back from the National Lottery Community Fund regarding the outcome of our application in June, at which time we will provide an update and details of next steps. If successful, we will engage and inform stakeholders who may wish to be involved in the project.

We are very much hoping that this bid will be successful, because it will provide an enormous boost in enabling our communities to be even more empowered in Bristol’s response to climate change. However, we know that the need for action on climate change does not wait for these decisions and we will, of course, continue engaging communities in the Partnership’s work in the meantime.