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Climate action grants

Climate Action Annual Grants or a small project grant help fund projects in Yarra that take climate action and help create a sustainable city.

Got a great idea to take climate action and create a more sustainable or climate resilient Yarra?

Then apply for a Climate Action Annual Grant or a small project grant.

Annual Grants open in June 2024 for projects commencing in 2025.

You can apply at any time for a small project grant.

For all grants, applicants must be a not-for-profit, incorporated community group or organisation (or meet the specific exemption requirements in the annual grants guidelines).

The group or organisation must be applying to fund a project, service or activity that is of benefit to the Yarra community.

Annual Grants

Annual grants are funded through the climate action stream of Yarra City Council's Annual Grants program.

Annual grants support community-led projects that focus on:

  • mobilising the community to take climate action, including advocating for change
  • supporting the most vulnerable in our community to cope with climate impacts, such as extreme weather, energy and food insecurity
  • reducing carbon emissions
  • supporting local food systems
  • caring for local natural environments
  • avoiding waste and enable more conscious consumption
  • fostering sustainable transport behaviours
  • building stronger social connections to increase resilience to future shocks and stresses

There are two tiers of funding in the Climate Action Stream, with funding up to $10,000.

Major Project Grants

There are also major project grants available which provide significant funding to not-for-profit organisations to run programs which serve the community and align with our funding priorities, including the Climate Emergency Plan [ PDF, 429.52 KB] . This stream can fund projects up to $50,000.

Visit the Annual Grants page to see the full list of annual grants recipients from recent years.

Small Project Grants

These grants are for small projects that accelerate community-led climate and environmental action at a local level with funding of up to $2,000 available.

You can apply any time during the year, until the pool of funds run out. Applicants are usually advised of the outcome within a month.

Find out more about our Small Project Grants and read the Grant guidelines [ PDF, 429.52 KB] here.

Apply now
Previous grant recipients

These community-led projects were delivered with financial support from Yarra City Council.

2021 annual grant recipients, Melbourne Girls' College and their Pedal Powered Cinema event partnering with other schools and community organisations.

2021 annual grant recipients, Yarra Riverkeeper and their Revitalising Burnley Crofters project that included a community planting day to engage the community to take on-ground climate action to enhance our local environment.

2021 annual grant recipients, Cultivating Community and their Let's Keep Cooking project that engages young people to grow, cook and understand sustainable food systems.

Open Table's No Waste Cook Club offers interactive cooking workshops inspiring residents with creative, yet simple ways to reduce household food waste, tips on appropriate food storage, food preserving, meal planning, and composting and worm farming practices.

Taught out of the Bargoonga Nganjin, North Fitzroy Community Hub kitchen, the free sessions are held three to four times a month.

Participants learn how to think creatively in the kitchen, and to shop and cook in a way that is healthier, sustainable and wastes less food.

Find out more about Open Table or book to attend a workshop.

Engaging over 100 musicians and industry professionals, GMA explored the creation of a 'New Normal' in a way that honours First Nations cultural practices and fosters a new vision for the local music scene centred on justice and healing.


Responding creatively to the COVID-19 restrictions, GMA redesigned their original program to deliver a three-hour live online workshop. Berish Bilander, CEO of Green Music Australia, and prominent Australian artist Lisa Mitchell explored the intersection of our two crises - health and planet - and how they're forcing us to re-evaluate everything.

As part of the project, Green Music Australia (GMA) put together online resources for non-Indigenous allies supporting First Nations Leadership and environmental action in the music industry.

Find out more about Green Music Australia and access The New Normal resources and workshop recording.

Open Table collects surplus food and turns it into nutritious, vegetable-based lunches to share with the community.

The free community lunches are volunteer run and open to all members of the community.

Throughout 2019, Open Table delivered 50 community lunches across three locations in Fitzroy, North Fitzroy and Carlton North. Each month they fed well over 100 people.

Through relationships with local businesses, volunteers collected around 200 kilograms of surplus food per month. On top of the food served as free meals, there is an extra 10 to 30 kilos of fresh produce given away each week.

Find out more about Open Table.

The SES volunteers that service the City of Yarra are now plastic free!

A Small Project Grant enabled the unit to purchase high quality, reusable metal water bottles for their members along with the installation of a chilled water unit at their headquarters.

Response vehicles have also been equipped with suitable larger capacity water containers to provide refill stations.

Reducing Our Footprint (ROF) offered a mixture of face-to-face and online workshops to engage City of Yarra community members on a sustainability journey.

ROF ran several workshops across Yarra Libraries, including some in conjunction with the National Sustainable Living Festival, on topics including energy saving, minimalism, eco-friendly cleaning and a digital session on sustainable fashion.

The community compost hub at Rushall Garden provides a local option for residents to drop off their food waste for recycling, keeping it out of landfill.

As a result of its success, and an increasing numbers of users, the community garden required additional capacity to manage the organic material. Additional compost bins were funded via a small project grant.

If you have a question about grants, you can ask us online, or T: 9205 5170 or T: 9205 5146

Please also review the following information: