North East England Climate Coalition (NEECCo) is a cross-sector initiative bringing the North East England region together to tackle the climate emergency, reverse ecological collapse and deliver an urgent and just transition under the shared vision of ‘Becoming England’s greenest region’. 

Working together we will confront the climate emergency by catalysing and accelerating action across sectors, organisations and individuals. We will build upon the assets and the means we have within the region to achieve net zero emissions and seek further investment to deliver regional initiatives to drive real change.

The North East & Yorkshire Net Zero Hub has just opened its Energy Project Enabling Fund. This fund:

• Offers grants of £10,000 - £50,000 to eligible public sector organisations, community groups, charities, and businesses, wanting to deliver local energy projects for communal or public benefit across the North East and Yorkshire.
• Successful projects must be completed, and funding drawn down by March 31st 2023.
• Applications are open from 4th July  till 19th August.
• Proposed projects must focus on at least one of the Hub’s strategic priorities: Renewable Technologies, Heat Decarbonisation, Natural Carbon Sequestration and Circular Economy

Grants of up to £350,000 are available from OVO Foundation to non-profit groups in the UK for projects which equip less advantaged children and young people with the skills to take action on sustainability issues and improve access to green spaces.

Northern Powergrid has opened its annual Community Partnering Fund for the fifth year and has expanded it with allocations of up to £20,000 now available to community groups and grassroots organisations based in the North of England.

The Nature-based Solutions for Climate programme offers one-off grants, using blended public and private funding, to partnership-led pilot projects. Projects must achieve habitat creation and restoration at a landscape scale - an area of at least 500 hectares in size. 

The Agri E fund from Virgin Money will offer £200m of lending to support farmers adapting to environmental changes.

There will be 0 per cent arrangement fees when a farmer completes a carbon audit and is borrowing over £50k to invest in emission reducing initiatives, such as renewable energy, energy efficiency initiatives or activities that reduce greenhouse gases. 

Northumberland County Council have just launched our Town and Parish Council Climate Change Toolkit which includes useful hints and tips on getting town or parish councils onboard in making little – or even bigger - changes to help enhance and protect our beautiful county. We all want to work together in our ambition to tackle climate change and we understand that, to reach this goal, we need to support all of our partners and colleagues in making the necessary adjustments to become more sustainable – whether that is through identifying land to plant trees or providing information about different funding streams.

Are you proud of the work you're doing in the North East to tackle the climate emergency, reverse ecological collapse and deliver a just transition? Then we'd love to hear from you!

Please get in touch to tell us your story and you could be our next case study of the month.