Today, London has received the good news that over £2.3 million in National Lottery funding is going to local partnerships to tackle climate change. Over £2.1 million is going to The Women’s Environmental Network Trust and £200,000 to Octopus Communities and Global Generation to work with communities and demonstrate what is possible when people take the lead in tackling climate change.
The Women’s Environmental Network Trust, in partnership with London Leap, will use its grant from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK, to run a range of community food projects that will create sustainable ways of delivering and consuming food across Tower Hamlets.
Through the project, called Just Food and Climate Transition, people and communities in Tower Hamlets will take the lead in helping the borough to reduce carbon emissions. The project will set up community hubs across the borough to encourage food growing, as well as creating community gardens, hosting food co-ops and explore ways to reduce plastic waste. The Network will create a community-led blueprint for grassroots food and environmental work to be shared with other London boroughs and cities across the UK.
The five-year project will not only help the local environment, but will also bring additional community benefits for local people, such as fresher food and cleaner air for families, as well as amplifying the voices and agency of local young people.
Bethany Summers, Co-Director at The Women’s Environmental Trust, says: “We are excited to say that thanks to National Lottery funding we will be able to launch a ground-breaking project for climate action in our East London borough of Tower Hamlets. Our project, Just FACT (a Just Food and Climate Transition) will enable community led solutions to reducing the carbon impacts of our local food system. Working with partners, and driven by the voices, experiences, knowledge and passion of our local communities, the project presents an amazing opportunity to think differently about our urban food systems nationwide. It will promote solutions which not only have real impacts on emissions, but positively affect the lives and wellbeing of our communities too. Thank you to the National Lottery for making this a reality, and we can’t wait to get started.”
A development grant awarded today – which is made possible thanks to National Lottery players – went to the Octopus Community Network in partnership with Global Generation and Islington Council, to develop ways of maximising local food growing in Islington.
This project will empower residents and young people across Islington, as Climate Action Ambassadors, to voice their ideas around urban food growing, and engaging families and peers to tackle climate change on their doorstep. Local people will also see additional community benefits including saving money through reduced food waste and improved access to surplus food.
