Projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions within Christchurch or support resilience to the impacts of climate change could now be eligible for a grant from Christchurch City Council.
“In Christchurch we have a goal of halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and reaching net zero emissions by 2045,’’ says Councillor Sara Templeton, who chairs the Council’s Sustainability and Community Resilience Committee.
“We want to do what we can to support those in our community who are working on projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to combat climate change, so we have decided to re-focus our Innovation and Sustainability Fund.
“The fund, which has been renamed the Sustainability Fund, will focus on encouraging community, school, social enterprise or business projects that support the Council’s climate change objectives,’’ Councillor Templeton says.
“While innovation has been taken out as an evaluation criteria, we still expect that many of the projects will be innovative and we encourage that.
“One of the Council’s strategic priorities is to meet the challenge of climate change through every means available so it makes sense for us to use this fund as a way of supporting those who share our goals.’’
Applications for the fund, which has a $400,000 allocation this year, are now open.
Find out how to apply to the Sustainability Fund.
The original Innovation and Sustainability Fund was set up in August 2017 to support community projects that advance the Council’s vision and strategic priorities.
Through the fund, the Council has invested $1.47 million into 72 projects. In 2019/20, for every dollar invested by Council through the Fund, about $17 was leveraged from project sponsors and in-kind contributions.