Invest in Bristol: New fund to accelerate local climate and nature action

Today we’re launching the Community Climate & Nature Action Fund, providing an opportunity for businesses, philanthropists and others to invest in visible, local projects that turn community climate and nature priorities into realities.

Over the last five years, organisations from Bristol’s voluntary and community sector have worked with their communities to coproduce community climate and nature action plans, as part of an innovative model, pioneered by the Partnership’s Community Climate & Nature Action Project.

Thousands of residents have been engaged in the project, with over 50% of them new to climate and nature action. Together they have learned about the causes and impacts of the climate and nature emergencies, with expert support, and identified the priorities they want to take forward. These priorities have multiple benefits; responding to the climate and nature crises, developing climate resilience within our communities, and making life better locally too.

However, we need funding and support to turn these plans into realities. Working with West of England funder, Quartet Community Foundation, we’re launching the Community Climate & Nature Action Fund to make it easy for communities to access the funding they need and boost local efforts. The fund will only support local projects delivering nature-based interventions that benefit everyone, on terms these communities have told us works for them. The development of the fund has been supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund as part of Bristol’s Nature Together project.

Osborne Clarke and Quartet’s donors have already joined this first phase, contributing £30,000 and £10,000 to the fund, respectively. In doing so, they are showing their commitment to our region’s climate resilience. Their financial support will enable four community organisations to deliver tangible nature and resilience projects locally.

We’re looking for allies committed to our region’s future to join us in funding community-led nature action that improves biodiversity, climate resilience and wellbeing.

Lizzi Testani, CEO at Bristol Climate & Nature Partnership says “Communities are already getting on and doing. We urgently need to unlock more support for their work – delivering change that people across our city will really see and feel. That’s why we’re excited to be working with Quartet Community Foundation to launch this new Community Climate & Nature Action Fund. Thanks to our early supporters, this fund will provide direct investment into local community-led nature projects. We would love to speak to any local partners who want to align efforts and resources with this work, recognise local community leadership and increase our climate resilience.”

Sabita Ravi, Head of Philanthropy, Quartet Community Foundation says “We are pleased to be working in partnership with Bristol Climate & Nature Partnership to support the resilience of our region and facing up to the challenges that lie ahead due to climate change. Our region is diverse and the evidence shows that our communities will be affected differently, which is reflected in the locally produced plans. The new Community Climate & Nature Action Fund is starting in Bristol but we would love to expand this to include Quartet’s communities in Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. We would welcome conversations with funders and philanthropists with an interest in climate action and local community resilience on how we can help our communities realise their ambitions.”

To find out more about how you can help shape Bristol’s future, contact Hannah Roddis, Head of Business Development at Bristol Climate & Nature Partnership hannah@bristolclimatenature.org or Sabita Ravi, Head of Philanthropy at Quartet Community Foundation, sabita.ravi@quartetcf.org.uk

Find out more about the Community Climate & Nature Action Project

Find out more about Nature Together