ICLEI Action Fund launched in Europe with Google support

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ICLEI Action Fund launched in Europe with Google support

In Europe a 7 million EUR fund made possible by Google.org is available for projects in Barcelona Spain Berlin Germany Glasgow United Kingdom Helsinki Finland Malm Sweden Rome Italy Rotterdam The Netherlands and Stockholm Sweden. Additional cities will be selected in the next couple of weeks. 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 wants to encourage innovative projects that provide citizens with fair and just 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. 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 in May 2020. An additional 2.8 million EUR has been provided by Google.org to the ICLEI USAICLEI USA, which totals almost 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 providing local governments with better 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 was intended to build on the success of our first ICLEI Action Fund.

The projects must be aligned with the city's sustainability plans and strategies. As supporters, service providers, sponsors or partners, localities can get part of the funding in case of the latter.

The ICLEI Action FundICLEI Action Fund will continue to 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. A team of sustainability experts within ICLEI Europe will guide project selection by a series of criteria set by a team of sustainability experts.

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 to apply before the 24 July 2022 deadline, visit action-fund.com.