Our commitment

Our Environment Plan:

At the National Lottery Community Fund we believe that ‘It starts with community’. We know that communities are happier and healthier when they live in a high-quality environment and that an increasing number of people and communities across the UK are concerned about their environment.

Therefore, one of our four community-led missions - where we will focus our funding, learning and efforts – is on supporting communities to be environmentally sustainable.

In September 2023 we adopted a new Environment Plan. This plan is guided by a vision developed through our conversations as part of our Strategy Renewal process, and aligns with our strategy timeframe to 2030.

Our goals for environmental sustainability include:

• Be a world-class environmental funder: supporting impactful projects that protect and improve the environment in ways that matter to local communities. Find out more about our climate funding.
• Improve the environmental impact of the voluntary and community sector: we will do this by leading the way in our funding practice, supporting and inspiring our applicants and grantholders to take action to protect and improve the environment, and leveraging our position as the UK’s largest community funder by starting to mainstream requirements into all our funding.
  We provide guidance and inspiration to grant holders on how to reduce their environmental footprint and good examples of community-led climate action, through this Climate Action Hub.
• Lead the way in managing our environmental impact: walking the talk, and working towards net zero, sharing our practice along the way to inspire others.
  Our commitment to reducing our carbon impact is certified by Planet Mark.

• Demonstrate influence and leadership: bringing stakeholders together, actively showcasing the role communities play in improving our environment. We’ll also share our knowledge, evidence and learning, in order to extend the positive environmental impact we aim to achieve.