Point awarded if the combined authority has established a community climate action fund by attracting external investment or similar, provided the following criteria are met:
- The fund is at least £100k or higher
- The financing of the fund has come from attracting external investment
The fund is accessible to small and medium-sized enterprises and/or the public sector
- More general community or environment funds will be awarded if they specify that climate change projects will be supported.
To account for funding released in stages, the point will be awarded if the funding or support has been offered since 1st January 2022.
This is a ring-fenced fund that a combined authority has created by attracting external investment to spend on climate action locally, either in partnership with a local council, or directly by other public sector bodies.
A fund created only with existing combined authority funds or only from government funding is not valid for a point.
The criteria must clearly be about environmental action projects and those who apply must complete some sort of application to define their planned climate action activities.