A partnership of local organisations in Leeds has been successful in a £2.5m award from The National Lottery’s Climate Action Fund.

The partnership includes Our Future Leeds, Voluntary Action Leeds, Together for Peace and Leeds Tidal, and is supported by a host of other Leeds community organisations. It has a goal of creating a ‘zero carbon, socially-just and liveable city by 2030’, and the funding will go towards supercharging climate and social justice action across the city.

Community hubs

The project will build on the work already happening around Leeds and will involve setting up 16 community hubs specifically focused on supporting big ideas to tackle the climate emergency in a positive and fair way. The project will also create over 40 local jobs, and around £400,000 of grants to local community groups will be shared to help them take action on climate and social justice.

The five-year programme will not only help the local environment, but will also bring additional community benefits for local people, such as creating employment opportunities and amplifying the voices and agency of young people.

The project will also involve the creation of a Leeds Climate Assembly, where communities will come together to share and celebrate activities and learning and ensure that their plans are joined up and work towards city-wide priorities and goals. 

Place-based climate action

More than £14 million in grants from the National Lottery Community Fund has been awarded to communities across the UK to tackle climate change, including Leeds. 

The grants are the first to be announced as part of the National Lottery-funded Climate Action Fund, a ten-year £100 million fund that will reduce the carbon footprint of communities and support community led movements that can demonstrate what is possible when people take the lead in tackling climate change. Funding from The National Lottery Community Fund will support these projects to work together, share learning and be catalysts for broader and transformative change.

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 responding 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.”

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