Prior to making this application, please consider carefully the criteria below to the make sure you meet and evidence meeting the criteria below.  If you do not meet the criteria your application will not progress to the Climate Change Working Group and Environment Sustainability Committee for consideration.  If you require any further assistance with completing this form or would like to receive the form and guidance in an alternative format, please ask. 

Your project must meet at least one of the following criteria:

The project …

a) Contributes to meeting the Council’s climate change targets of meeting net zero in the Council estate or the wider Spelthorne community.

b) Provides opportunities to create and support carbon sink initiatives within the Borough, including landscaping and more tree planting.

c) Contributes towards reducing the carbon footprint of the Council’s estate and the Borough as a whole.

d) Develops opportunities to improve facilities for walking and cycling in the Borough to help reduce car use.

e) Encourages more sustainable travel.

f) Improves and encourages waste prevention and recycling.

g) Meets Spelthorne Borough Council’s objectives for the Environment in the Corporate Plan and complies with at least one of our key objectives.

h) Contributes to developing opportunities for larger projects which address ‘green’ priorities within the Corporate Plan.

Applicants must …

i) Belong to an organisation that can prove financial stability over a period of time and not have any existing large balances not allocated.

j) Not apply for multiple elements of financial support for the same objective. (Unless you are specifically requesting match funding.)

k) Have clearly defined outcomes and deliverables for the funding requested.

l) Address how they will monitor key performance indicators towards their goals and demonstrate how they have been successful in achieving them.

Contact details

Name and position	Gina Cook - Climate Change Officer
Organisation	Spelthorne Borough Council
Charity CIO number (if applicable)	N/A
Address of organisation	Council Offices, Knowle Green
Location services will be provided or project will take place	Spelthorne
Contact phone	01784 446257
Contact email	g.cook@spelthorne.gov.uk

Your Project

Please provide information to clearly demonstrate what you wish to achieve with the funding you are applying for and how you will measure success.

Please provide as much detail as possible here including who are your stakeholders, where and how the funding will be spent.  Please detail the importance of this and why you believe this funding will contribute positively to mitigating or adapting to climate change.  Please refer to our Corporate Plan and aims and detail which one/s your proposal supports.

You can also submit additional information to support your application by email.

Considerations	Response
Aims and Project Objectives Corporate Priority Alignment	The aim is for Spelthorne Borough Council to be accredited as a Carbon Literacy Organisation (CLO) (Bronze and Silver). This is in support of the council’s ongoing commitment to the climate agenda, supplementary to declaring a climate emergency in 2020, and producing a climate change strategy in 2022. A CLO is an organisation that has been accredited by the Carbon Literacy Project as having a substantial commitment to Carbon Literacy. CLO accreditation supports the development of a carbon literate workforce, with a substantial number of people literate and maintaining and promoting a low carbon culture. This aligns to the Environment priority in educating and training staff about climate change and their role in reducing carbon emissions across SBC. One of the short-term corporate goals is to become a certified carbon literate organisation. We have been working towards this accreditation since implementing the training for SBC staff.
Business justification provided and options considered including. - Benefits, Deliverables & Objectives - High Level Financials & ROI in terms of carbon savings, wellbeing benefits, reduction in pollution, seed corn funding	We are now reaching milestones in our carbon literacy training journey where we can apply to become a Carbon Literate Organisation. This can be advertised to residents and the wider public to showcase our commitment to the climate emergency, and the actions we are taking internally to promote a climate conscious culture across all departments and services. The training requires staff to make 2 pledges, an individual and group pledge, relating to their area of work and show a reduction in carbon. The Carbon Literacy Trust estimates that savings of between 5% and 15% in carbon emissions can be regularly demonstrated by the pledges made by employees. In the training there is also a focus on the co-benefits that targeting carbon reduction measures can provide. For example, supporting the improvements of energy efficiency measures on financial savings and health and wellbeing, planting more trees and habitats, reduction in overall waste consumption, improvement of active travel facilities etc.
How will you measure success?	Spelthorne Borough Council will become a Carbon Literate Organisation at both Bronze and Silver levels.
Indicative Timeframes	If successful in the bid, we have already met all requirements for Bronze so can apply straight away for accreditation. We should know if we are successful by end of summer 2024. To achieve Silver, we must meet additional requirement, which we are currently working towards. As per the corporate plan, we are aiming to achieve Silver accreditation by 2025 latest.
Risks	Ensuring that we meet all of the criteria for both Bronze and Silver.
Stakeholder Identification	Climate change and sustainability officers working with SBC staff across all departments to achieve criteria for accreditation. E.g. Continue training staff to meet minimum certifications required, work with HR to integrate carbon literacy into performance management and assessment, work with comms to promote carbon literacy internally to staff and showcase externally on the website, bulletin and articles.
Roles & Responsibilities	Gina Cook (Climate Change officer) and Tim Snook (Sustainability and Flood Risk officer) will continue to run sessions for members of staff, assist and provide comments for pledges and send to Carbon Literacy Project to assess. Staff are expected to attend this mandatory training and submit their pledges after the course, in order to become carbon certified. This is needed to achieve accreditation as an organisation. Support from managers is needed for this. Climate Change officer will work with projects team to ensure all criteria are met to apply for both accreditations. The climate and sustainability team will engage will comms and HR to add in additional steps needed to achieve Silver accreditation. This includes showing a visible commitment to carbon literacy through comms, and integrate carbon literacy into performance management reviews.
Communication Plan	Climate and Sustainability Officers will continue to advertise training for staff. Once Bronze/Silver accreditation has been achieved we will work with the comms team to put out comms on this significant achievement.  As part of Silver accreditation we must showcase a visible commitment to carbon literacy such as CLO logo on main (or local page) of website.
Amount of funding applied for from Spelthorne	£1500 Bronze £1000 Silver Total = £2500
Funding agreed from elsewhere	None
Please identify where services will be delivered	Across Spelthorne departments within the Knowle Green Council Offices
How have you identified the need for carbon reduction or environmental improvements?	As a council we declared a climate emergency in 2020, and subsequently adopted our climate change strategy in 2022. One of the actions for the strategy was to implement carbon literacy training to staff across all departments and services, to ensure that they are aware of the impacts of climate change, and also how they can make a difference in their service area. By pledging both an individual and group pledge, this contributes to their reduction in emissions as an employee of Spelthorne Council and the work that they do within their role. As we continue our training, we want to strive towards setting a good example, and becoming a Carbon Literate Organisation.

Reviewing the application

Once applications have been received, they will be reviewed to ensure that they meet the criteria.

Where applicants do not meet the criteria, they will be told that their application cannot be taken further and signposted to other potential financial support available for what you are trying to achieve.

If it is obvious that an error has been made and crucial information has mistakenly been omitted, and where we are able, we will endeavour to contact you to give you the opportunity to provide the missing information.

It is important to note that unfortunately meeting the criteria does not guarantee you will receive funding from the Green Initiatives Fund.  Applications received and those evidencing that they meet our criteria will be considered by the Climate Change Working Group who will then recommend those to go to the Environment and Sustainability Committee for formal approval.

In exceptional cases we may ask you for further information or clarification during the Climate Change Working Group’s consideration of your application.  The Environment and Sustainability Committee has the final say. We are required to follow this process as we are using public money and need to follow due process. 

The final decision and payment

The Climate Change Working Group may decide to recommend to the Environment and Sustainability Committee:

a) That your organisation gets awarded the full amount applied for.

b) That your organisations receive an award for a lower amount than applied for.

c) That your organisation has been unsuccessful for the current year.

Appendix 1 For Non-Council Organisations the following will also be required

Financial status:

Please provide your last set of audited accounts and preferably, where possible, for the previous year.  Please note that these will be treated in the strictest confidence, but we need to be reassured that your organisation is financially able to deliver what you are applying for.  If you are unable to provide audited accounts, please contact us as a matter of urgency to discuss what you can provide and when.  They can be sent securely by email or attached to the electronic application form.

Please provide details of all funding that you have applied for, for the year 2022-2023.  Please include any applications you have made for funding that remain pending, along with those refused, agreed, or agreed in part.  In addition, if you have been advised that an offer of match funding has been made please include that in the table below.

Other grant or applications for financial assistance for the year 2022-2023

Organisation applied for, for funding

Reason for application to Green Initiatives Fund

Application amount

Current status of application

The Aims of your organisation:

It is extremely helpful for the Committee to know about your organisation.  How, why and when it was set up and for what purpose.  What are your key objectives and how have these changed?

When was your organisation set up?

If you have charity status when was it awarded?

Why was your organisation created?

What are you aiming to achieve?

How do you measure success generally?