ICLEI Action Fund launched in Europe with Google's support

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ICLEI Action Fund launched in Europe with Google's support

In Europe a 7 million EUR fund made possible by Google.org is available for projects implemented in Barcelona Spain Berlin Germany Glasgow United Kingdom Helsinki Finland Malm Sweden Rome Italy Rotterdam The Netherlands and Stockholm Sweden. The call is open to projects focused on environmental and climate action, with an emphasis on mobility, buildings, solar energy, air quality management, and climate resilience. The Fund welcomes proposals that contribute to cities' just transition and climate goals.

The ICLEI Action FundICLEI Action Fund is looking to encourage innovative projects that support cities in providing citizens with access to renewable energy sources, sustainable mobility alternatives, and greener and healthier public spaces. After the success of the first round of grants, we are optimistic that we will receive high-quality proposals from eligible organisations that use relevant sources of data and green technologies to further smart and sustainable action at the local level, said Wolfgang Teubner, Regional Director Europe of ICLEI.

The ICLEI Action FundICLEI Action Fund is a granting scheme implemented by ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability with support from Google.org to encourage environmental and climate projects that use data from private and public sources. In May 2020 in Europe, the ICLEI Action FundICLEI Action Fund 1.0 granted 2.5 million EUR to six non-profit and academic organisations in Copenhagen Denmark Berlin and Hamburg Germany, Nantes France and Birmingham and Oldham UK. Google.org has provided an additional 2.8 million EUR to the ICLEI USA, which is more than 10 million EUR in support for data-driven environmental projects.

By 2030, Google is committed to helping more than 500 cities reduce one gigatonne of carbon emissions annually by giving local governments access to data and technology. We want to empower collaboration with the civil society, which will play a critical role in achieving this goal. Rowan Barnett, Director of Google.org, Europe, Middle East Africa, said that this new open call aims to build on the success of our first ICLEI Action Fund.

The projects must be aligned with the city's sustainability plans and strategies. Municipalities can get involved in local Action Fund projects as supporters, service providers, sponsors or partners, having the chance to receive part of the funding in case of the latter.

The ICLEI Action FundICLEI Action Fund will help cities and non-profit organisations to implement innovative, data-driven climate action on the ground, and measure sustainability impacts in the long-term by joining Google.org's grant support and ICLEI's network and technical expertise. The selection of projects will be guided by a series of criteria set by a team of sustainability experts within ICLEI Europe.

Google.org also provided support in the form of EUR 237,000 Search advertising to help publicise the Action Fund, cultivate supporters and share valuable climate information with the public.

For more information on eligibility requirements and how to apply before the July 24th, 2022 deadline, visit action-fund.com.