# Carbon Innovation Fund offers £3m to tackle climate crisis

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2021/11/22/carbon-innovation-fund-offers-3m-to-tackle-climate-crisis/
- Published: 2021-11-22T11:31:06+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**The Co-Op Foundation and Co-op have jointly created a £3m fund that will support
organisations that are tackling climate crisis in the food and farming sector.**

This is the largest partnership to date between retailer the Co-op and the Co-op
Foundation, its charitable foundation. It follows Co-op’s own commitment to become
a [Net Zero business by 2040](https://www.coop.co.uk/environment) and COP26. 

Grants of **up to £100,000** are available from the fund.

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Funding for the Carbon Innovation Fund has been donated by Co-op from the sale of
compostable carrier bags in the UK, with the remainder coming from the Co-op Foundation’s
own funds. 

## Who can apply?

The £3m Carbon Innovation Fund will support projects run by charities, social enterprises,
community organisations and local, regional and national governments that aim to
cut greenhouse gas emissions in the food and farming sector and “contribute to real
system change”.  

## What might innovation comprise?

Innovation in this context could be:

 * something new to the organisation’s sector, region, country or the world
 * applying ancient, traditional or indigenous practices
 * introducing a new and better method of delivering something that already exists
 * behaviour change among consumers or producers).

First-stage [applications](https://www.tfaforms.com/4944765) for funding open on
22 November. Applications will close at 12pm (midday) on **Friday 10 December** 
before a second stage in January. 

The Foundation expects to fund approximately **10 projects** in year one. 

It has previously supported environmental projects and organisations such as Heeley
Trust, The Conservation Volunteers, Co-operative Alternatives and Cynnal Cymru (
Sustain Wales). 

**Nick Crofts**, CEO of the Co-op Foundation, said: “We want to harness the passion
that people across the world showed during COP26 to make a real difference to climate
change and greenhouse gas emissions. I’d encourage all eligible organisations to
learn more about how our fund could help them. Climate change affects us all, but
co-operation and knowledge sharing can help us safeguard the planet for future generations.”

**Jo Whitfield**, Co-op Food CEO said: “Rather than ideas for individual commercial
benefit, we want innovations that can be freely shared and can be of benefit to 
society in general. It’s this type of co-operation that we believe we need to help
accelerate our response to the climate crisis.” 

## WATCH: Carbon Innovation Fund Webinar

Last week the Co-op Foundation held a webinar to share more information about the
Carbon Innovation Fund and answer questions from potential applicants.

## Co-op Foundation’s fundraising success

This month the Co-op Foundation marked raising £100 million from Co-op members to
support local communities across the UK.

> We're [@coopuk](https://twitter.com/coopuk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)'s charity. We've
> been ❤ing the celebrations this week to mark the £100m raised by Co-op members
> to support local communities across the UK 🎉 
> Want to support your local community?
> Download the app and become a member ➡️ [https://t.co/IODnsq9Slm](https://t.co/IODnsq9Slm)
> [#ItsWhatWeDo](https://twitter.com/hashtag/ItsWhatWeDo?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> [pic.twitter.com/WjazAPw4DO](https://t.co/WjazAPw4DO)
> — Co-op Foundation (@Coop_Foundation) [November 19, 2021](https://twitter.com/Coop_Foundation/status/1461650667983020035?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

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