Government Sanctions Grants to Aid Environmental Projects in England

The UK government has been on a funding splurge. In a latest move, it has decided to provide environmental grants worth £100,000 to the local authorities, businesses, environmental groups, and other related organizations which are working to build a greener habitat.

Environmental grants

The £100,000 grant is part of a bigger £10-million fund that has been created to attract private sector investment for environmental projects. The grants will be provided by the Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund (NEIRF) to the concerned authorities, environmental groups. The NEIRF has been institutionalized as a competitive grants scheme for providing monetary support between £10,000 and £100,000 for environmental projects in England. The NEIRF intends to support all goals set by the government, from 25-year environment plan, Prime Minister’s 10-point plan, to the green finance strategy.

Objectives

The main objective is to preserve the domestic natural habitat. The NEIRF periodically stimulates private investment in the ongoing projects by facilitating monetary grants to various corporations and local bodies. This covers natural projects such as creating and restoring habitats, tackling climate change-related problems, improving the quality of water and air, and others.

On a broader perspective, NEIRF intends to achieve one or natural outcomes of the 25-year environment plan, build an investment model that can be developed further and is commercially viable, and instituting an ecosystem service that can attract and repay the investment.

The latest infusion is likely to create a pipeline of projects in which the private sector can invest and generate fresh funding models that can be replicated elsewhere, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Environment Agency, and Natural England stated.

Who all can benefit?

Projects that have been incorporated with an objective of creating ecological habits, restoration works, and building a better environment are entitled to receive monetary support from the new fund.

  • Objectives including the carbon sequestration restoration of peatlands, green spaces for the public, creation of new woodlands, and building habitats for wildlife will benefit from the funding.
  • Similar projects have the potential to bolster the UK government’s target of achieving net zero emissions.
  • Furthermore, the projects working on reducing the tidal flooding by creating new coastal wetlands are poised to gain substantially.
  • Such projects can attract investment from developers, generating a revenue model through eco-tourism.

The environmental benefits are likely to deliver financial incentives to water companies, inspiring them for investment as the water treatment costs will be reduced.

Applications open until 26 March

On behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Environment Agency has been delivering the fund to assist organizations in getting expert advice, building capacity to develop their projects to a stage from where they can receive and repay the investment by engaging the investors. The NEIRF is open for applications until 26 March. The organizations who want to apply for the funds should have replicable and scalable projects.

 

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Lisa Baker is the Editor of Always Finance, and writes about Business, Finance Technology and Healthcare. Lisa is also the owner of Need to See IT Publishing.