Climate Challenge Fund and Environment and Climate Strategy
If you have an idea that you think might be of interest,complete our project proposal form below
The Climate Partnership has been established to kickstart new projects and activities that can help deliver the climate and biodiversity targets set out in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead’s environment and climate strategy.
Our vision is for everyone in the Borough to benefit from cleaner air and water, with greater biodiversity and a happier healthier population. You can find out more about the kind of projects we have supported and to view the data that guides our decision making by clicking here.
The Climate Partnership offers support and resources to incubate ideas, including in some cases offering funding to help launch new projects. We are particularly interested in projects that aim to do more, more quickly to address the impact of biodiversity loss and climate change, including those that impact positively on residents of the Royal Borough and that are scalable across our area or more widely.
We can offer expert advice from members of our Steering Group and in due course we will also offer support and capacity from our Climate Partnership membership – groups that may include project partners, community organisations, businesses and others focused on a common theme such as Biodiversity, Circular Economy, Energy, Transport or Skills development.
Environment and Climate Change Strategy 2026-2035
The Council declared an Environment and Climate emergency in 2019 and adopted its Environment and Climate Strategy in 2020. It committed to taking action across four main themes, circular economy, energy, natural environment and transport.
Significant progress has been made against the actions set out in the strategy. The recently published Impact Report provides detail on what has been achieved.
The current strategy runs until the end of March 2026 and the Climate Partnership work has started to deliver a refreshed strategy that recognises the challenges we face and brings together the whole borough to take action.
Next Steps
The draft strategy has been developed following the initial engagement sessions. The draft has now been taken to Place Overview and Scrutiny on the 29th September 2025 for some initial feedback on where they think we are on track and where they think needs more work.
Using the feedback from the committee and the community, we’ll go away and further develop and improve the strategy. At the same time, we’ll also organise further workshops with the community to develop the action plan that will sit under the strategy along with the communications plan.
The Council will then hold a full public consultation in the winter to ensure we get feedback on the strategy, action plan and communications plan before a final version is signed off by Cabinet in the Spring.
The Climate Partnership and the Council are both committed to making this an inclusive process, welcoming as many views and ideas into the process as possible including from groups that may be under-represented. Without this broad coalition, evidence suggests we won’t be able to generate the scale of change required to tackle the climate and environment crisis.
Strategy and Climate Action Plan Engagement
The sustainability team will be hosting drop in sessions across the borough for residents to provide feedback on the draft Climate Action Plan that will accompany the new strategy. You are welcome to join us anytime during one of the following sessions.
Monday 17th November: Maidenhead Library 11am-1pm
Wednesday 19th November: Ascot Durning Library 12.30-1.30pm
Sunninghill Library 2.30-3.30pm
Thursday 20th November: Cookham Library 10-11am
**Friday 21st November: Braywick Nature Centre 9am-1pm
Monday 24th November: Kerith Church, Dedworth 10am-12pm
**This session will focus on RBWM and The Climate Partnership gathering feedback from the Climate Emergency Coalition and will be a more formal workshop that will analyse the priorities for the new strategy in turn. All other sessions will be drop in, feel free to come along at any point to discuss your thoughts.
Climate Challenge Fund
If you have an idea for a project that you think might be of interest or that might benefit from our support please complete the project proposal form. We can offer advice, resources and some financial support if appropriate.
We accept applications from non-constituted community groups, registered charities, CICs and businesses. We do not accept applications from individuals.
If we consider that your proposal fits with our vision, then our Climate Partnership Coordinator can work with you to fully develop your idea for consideration by the Climate Partnership Board. We aim to respond to all project proposal applications within two weeks.
Decisions about funding or support are made monthly by our Steering Group and they follow this governance, however we cannot guarantee that your proposal will be taken forward to a particular board meeting or that resources will be available to support your project or activity.
Please do read our FAQs to see if your project idea would benefit from the Climate Challenge Fund.
Please ensure that all pages of the document are completed. Once completed, please email to: info@theclimatepartnership.co.uk.
