Learning for Sustainability Funding & Grants June 2026

Free Trees for Schools & Community Groups (UK)

Organisation: Woodland Trust

Deadline: August 2026

Link: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/plant-trees/schools-and-communities/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwpv2TBhDoARIsALBnVnl4mX3ME2YPKMkKZu_l0kI5ujcVNuUrw9IhbLoocKo68CjWepkrLXQaAhtJEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Hundreds of thousands of trees are being given away to help the UK reach its 2050 carbon net-zero target.

 

Grow Wild – Youth Grants Programme

Organisation: Grow Wild

Opening: early 2027

Link: https://growwild.kew.org/apply-grant/youth

Grants of £500 are available for youth-led projects that celebrate UK native wildflowers, plants, and fungi in exciting and engaging ways.

Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) Community Path Fund

Organisation: Strathclyde Partnership for Transport

Link: Path Funding – Walking Scotland

Supported by the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT), the SPT Community Path Fund supports communities to deliver small capital projects that improve local walking and wheeling networks and infrastructure.

Applications close on Wednesday 12 August at 12:00pm. 

Aberdeen International Airport – ABZ Propeller Fund

Organisation: Aberdeen International Airport

Link: Aberdeen Airport Propeller Fund | Aberdeen Airport

Grants are available to charities and community groups in proximity to Aberdeen Airport for projects focused on education, sustainability, and economic regeneration.

The Fund aims to support local projects that will have a positive impact within communities most impacted by the activities of the airport.

Tesco Fruit & Veg Grants

Organisation: Tesco PLC 

Link: Fruit and Veg Grants – Tesco Fundraising | Tesco PLC

Tesco Fruit & Veg grants is now open for applications. Schools, registered charities and not-for-profit organisations supporting children and young people can apply for up to £1,500 for projects that improve access to healthy food.

 

Target 2030 June Newsletter

Our Target 2030 newsletter focuses on the newly launched Sustainable Learning Setting Practitioner Guide.

 

Contents:

  • What is Learning for Sustainability?
  • The Learning for Sustainability in Scotland web page
  • Sustainable Learning Setting Practitioner Guide
  • Practitioner Support
  • Online Sessions
  • Share your views
  • Easy self-led nature activities

Get the full newsletter here:

Target 2030 June Newsletter

 

For advice and support contact: LfS@educationscotland.gov.scot

Get involved in COP30

COP30, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, is taking place in Belem, Brazil from 10 November until 21 November 2025.

UN Climate Change conferences (or COPs) take place every year and are the world’s only multilateral decision-making forum on climate change with almost complete membership of every country in the world.

The COP is where the world comes together to agree on ways to address the climate crisis, such as limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, helping vulnerable communities adapt to the effects of climate change and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

More than 70,000 delegates are expected to attend COP30, including the member states of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Business leaders, young people, climate scientists, Indigenous Peoples, journalists, and various other experts and stakeholders are also among the participants.

Officially, COP30 stands for the 30th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC.

A Decade of Acceleration Must Begin in Belém

Leaders acknowledge that ambition gaps remain to keep 1.5C in reach and deliver on finance and adaptation. The technologies and tools needed to decarbonise energy, transport, and industry, protect forests, and strengthen resilience are already available. The challenge now is to accelerate scale.

With COP30 imminent, the Secretary-General urged all countries yet to finalise their NDCs to do so without delay: “COP30 in Brazil must conclude with a credible global response plan to get us on track.”

Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said, “Leaders across the world have stood together to show that even at a moment of division and uncertainty, the resolve and determination to fight the climate crisis is alive and strong.”

More Information:
www.un.org/en/climatechange/climate-summit-2025

COP30 and Climate Change Resources

UN Climate Change Conference – Belém, November 2025

Momentum Gathers Towards COP30 as Close to 100 Countries Signal New Climate Targets

The Countdown to COP 30: Why This Summit Is the Most Crucial in Years – The Sustainability Community

UN Climate Change Conference COP30 – Teaching Resources

The WildHearts Global Youth Summit – WildHearts Schools

Education Scotland Learning for Sustainability summary page
Weather and climate change
Learning for Sustainability – Resource Themes
Climate Action Live Lessons
Learning for Sustainability advice and guidance: Sustainable development education
COP30 Teaching Resources (twinkl.co.uk)
ECO2 COP30 Resources (Ages 9 – 11+)
Climate Ambassadors

STEM Learning has created a new subset of STEM Ambassadors called Climate Ambassadors. Employers and organisations can choose to be connected to Climate Ambassadors and filter requests of this type.

 

Join Free Online Course ‘Live at COP30’

How should we take positive action towards a sustainable future? The University of Edinburgh, Learning for Sustainability Scotland, and the British Council, have created a free, short, facilitated online course ideal for anyone interested in sustainability and of particular interest to educators.

  • Learning for a Sustainable Future: Live at COP30 (starting 10 November)
    FREE ‘Learning for Sustainable Futures: Live at the COP’ MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) will return in November 2025 as COP30 gets underway in Belém, Brazil.Since its first iteration in 2021 for COP26, over 20,000 people from over 170 countries have taken part in this collaborative, facilitated learning opportunity.

    About the course

    This course offers you an opportunity to examine what the COP process is, why it’s considered to be important, and reflect on how you can add your voice to the call for collective action for a sustainable future.

    Throughout the course, you can get ‘live’ insights into the issues being discussed at COP30, as well as responses to the conference themes from children and young people, community groups and ministerial bodies, both nationally and internationally. Using these ‘starting points’, reflect on what you have heard, watched and read, and think about what these conversations and issues mean to you.

    Course content from ‘Learning for Sustainable Futures: Live at COP30’ will remain open, free and accessible as a legacy resource for school, community and individual use beyond the Conference.

Sign up here

Scotland’s Climate Week 2025

Scotland’s Climate Week, an annual event that encourages individuals and communities to come together to show support for tackling the climate emergency, begins on 29 September and ends on 5 October.

CLIMATE CONVERSATION PACK

Join communities, schools, businesses and individuals across Scotland taking action on climate change. Climate Week celebrates progress – and shows us all how to go further.

For more details and information on how to take part in Scotland’s Climate Week click here Climate Week | Net Zero Nation

Keep Scotland Beautiful Climate Action Week

29 September – 5 October

Timed with the Scottish Government’s Climate Week, this year’s Climate Action Week follows the story of human induced climate change from past to present, with opportunities for collective action to create hope for the future.  

There is an all ages assembly  in English with Gaelic interpretation and Live Lessons to support your work on Climate Action.

Each lesson is accompanied by classroom resources.

Register for the Live Lessons here.

Climate Week resources

Personal learning opportunities

  • When we think of NASA, we think of space exploration.  But much of  NASA’s work  has focused on the Earth, and its climate . They have some amazing interactive tools that visualise our planet form space, showing the impacts of climate change, habitat loss and natural disasters.

If you are into podcasts here are a couple of climate learning ones:

  • TED Climate unpacks problems and solutions in bite-sized episodes (average 10 minutes)
  • Climate Vision 2050  – This podcast is set in 2050 and explores how the world radically reduced carbon emissions and saved itself from climate catastrophe. It contains 8 episodes that weave human stories with accessible explanations (average length 30 minutes).

 

Get involved in COP29

 

COP 29, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, is taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan from 11 November until 22 November 2024.

UN Climate Change conferences (or COPs) take place every year and are the world’s only multilateral decision-making forum on climate change with almost complete membership of every country in the world.

The COP is where the world comes together to agree on ways to address the climate crisis, such as limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, helping vulnerable communities adapt to the effects of climate change and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

More than 70,000 delegates are expected to attend COP29, including the member states of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Business leaders, young people, climate scientists, Indigenous Peoples, journalists, and various other experts and stakeholders are also among the participants.

Officially, COP 29 stands for the 29th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC.

This is a decisive decade for climate action.

The latest science from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change indicates that greenhouse gas emissions need to be cut 43% by 2030, compared to 2019 levels. This is critical to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of this century and avoid the worst impacts of climate change, including more frequent and severe droughts, heatwaves and rainfall.

Among the key priorities of COP 29 are securing a new goal on climate finance, ensuring every country has the means to take much stronger climate action, slashing greenhouse gas emissions and building resilient communities.

Also in focus will be the next round of national climate plans, or NDCs, currently being developed by countries ahead of next year’s deadline and ensuring these bolder, fully implementable and investable strategies and targets are economy-wide, focus on transitioning away from fossil fuels, and keep the world on track to 1.5 degrees of warming.

unfccc.int/cop29

 

UN Climate Change Conference COP29 – Teaching Resources
Cop29: Key questions about the UN climate conference
Boost for UK clean energy growth as PM arrives at COP29
Climate change education at COP29
Education Scotland Learning for Sustainability summary page
Weather and climate change
Learning for Sustainability – Resource Themes
Climate Action Live Lessons
Learning for Sustainability advice and guidance: Sustainable development education
COP29 2024 Event Information and Teaching Resources (twinkl.co.uk)
Ways To Use COP29 In The Classroom – Teaching Ideas
ECO2 COP29 Resources (Ages 9 – 11)
Climate Ambassadors

STEM Learning has created a new subset of STEM Ambassadors called Climate Ambassadors. Employers and organisations can choose to be connected to Climate Ambassadors and filter requests of this type.

 

Join Free Online Course ‘Live at COP29’

How should we take positive action towards a sustainable future? The University of Edinburgh, Learning for Sustainability Scotland, and the British Council, have created a free, short, facilitated online course ideal for anyone interested in sustainability and of particular interest to educators.

  • Learning for a Sustainable Future: Live at COP29 (starting 12 November)
    Investigate the broader context of COP29 and consider other associated frameworks such as the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.
  • Consider local, national and global perspectives on COP 29 through a range of responses to the core themes of the conference.
  • Share ideas and inspiration as to how individuals, communities and organisations can take collaborative action for a sustainable future. Sign up here.

Learning for Sustainability – Call to Action spotlight

Learning for Sustainability

Etive House, St Modan’s High School

Our learners are responding to the Call to Action by connecting, acting and sharing Target2030 through our creative curriculum.  Learning for Sustainability is the golden thread linking our curriculum, and by working in partnership with organisations such as Artlink Central, Avon Outdoors, Princes’ Trust and RHET, our learners have been supported to use their knowledge of reusing everyday items in a creative way.

The school wide Christmas door competition has enabled Etive House learners to continue their Learning for Sustainability journey from the design stage to realisation.  Having watched the John Lewis Christmas advert, it sparked discussion, which concluded in a visit to a local garden centre to look for a Venus Flytrap.  Within this project it is visible to see commitment to Sustainable Development Goal 12; Responsible Consumption and Production, using unwanted clothes, cushions and necklaces to make our ‘Snapper’ grow.

Our learners are now redesigning the door, applying principles of the circular economy to reuse the different parts of door project in the creation of a standalone Snapper, which will continue to inspire learners about nature, biodiversity, and responsible consumption.  Etive House learners are demonstrating their commitment to Target20230 by sharing their door design within the school community, and local authority.

Alison Poole

Integrated Support Worker

 

LfS Peer Mentor Roles Available – Apply Now!

Are you passionate about Learning for Sustainability? Would you like to work with other practitioners to share practice, ideas and help build an exciting movement for change?

If so, then Education Scotland would like to invite you to apply to become one of our new Learning for Sustainability Peer Mentors.

Learning for Sustainability Action Plan

In June 2023, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills launched Target 2030: A Movement for People, Planet and Prosperity. This refreshed Learning for Sustainability action plan aims to ensure that:

  • All learners receive their Learning for Sustainability entitlement
  • All 3-18 learning settings and schools become sustainable by 2030.

The Learning for Sustainability action plan includes a focus on climate change education, outdoor learning, global citizenship, children’s rights, social justice, and equalities.

A national Call to Action was launched on 06 December to encourage people across Scotland to work together to achieve Target 2030.

What will the peer mentors do?

Education Scotland has been tasked with establishing a Learning for Sustainability (LfS) Peer Mentor Network to deliver on the ambitions of the Learning for Sustainability Action Plan. We are looking for peer mentors to work with early learning and childcare, primary, ASN, secondary and community learning and development settings to help them develop their practice and to support their journeys towards effective whole setting approaches to Learning for Sustainability. The period from 01 February to the 31 March 2024 is the pilot phase of the programme and the LfS Peer Mentors involved will play an exciting role in establishing the new national network.

Activities may include aspects of the following:

  • Working with a small number of settings and schools locally to offer support and advice
  • Providing advice and support virtually via email, online networks, online calls etc
  • Supporting local and national LfS networks
  • Facilitating the sharing of ideas, approaches and resources and supporting collaboration
  • Leading open days and events.

Who should apply?

To apply to be an LfS Peer Mentor you should:

  • Be passionate about Learning for Sustainability
  • Have at least two years’ experience of leading LfS within an ELC, primary, secondary, ASN or CLD context
  • Be available to undertake at least 4 days (or a total of 28 hours) of activity between 01 February and 31 March 2024. This could be made up of full days, half days, or cumulative hours of support.

Education Scotland will provide cover costs to settings to allow LfS Peer Mentors to be released. Alternatively, mentors may be commissioned to undertake work in their own time. Where relevant, please consult your headteacher, head of centre, line manager before applying to confirm that they are able to release you to undertake activities. FREE bespoke professional learning for mentors will be provided at training days on 06 and 07 February 2024.

Following the pilot phase, a short evaluation of success of the network will be conducted to inform decisions regarding next steps. Anyone involved as a mentor in the pilot phase will be contacted in due course to let them know whether a further opportunity to be involved beyond 31 March will be made available.

How to apply

To apply, please complete this short online form no later than 5pm on Friday 12 January 2024: https://forms.office.com/e/BEj2x97Gy6.

We will contact you early in the New Year regarding your application.

Get involved in COP28

COP 28 the United Nations Climate Change Conference is taking place in Dubai, United Emirates from 30 November until 12 December 2023

UN Climate Change conferences (or COPs) take place every year and are the world’s only multilateral decision-making forum on climate change with almost complete membership of every country in the world.

The COP is where the world comes together to agree on ways to address the climate crisis, such as limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, helping vulnerable communities adapt to the effects of climate change and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

More than 70,000 delegates are expected to attend COP28, including the member states of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Business leaders, young people, climate scientists, Indigenous Peoples, journalists, and various other experts and stakeholders are also among the participants.

Officially, COP 28 stands for the 28th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC.

With the most important details of the Paris Climate Change Agreement negotiated and agreed over the last few years, COP 28 is all about implementing the Agreement and ramping up ambition and action.

This is a decisive decade for climate action.

The latest science from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change indicates that greenhouse gas emissions need to be cut 43% by 2030, compared to 2019 levels. This is critical to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of this century and avoid the worst impacts of climate change, including more frequent and severe droughts, heatwaves and rainfall.

COP 28 is an opportunity to identify global solutions for limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees, develop countries’ preparations for revised and more ambitious national climate plans due by 2025, accelerate the green transition that is already happening and ultimately achieve the delivery of the Paris Agreement goals.

unfccc.int/cop28

COP 28 Education Day

As part of the conference 8th December is dedicated to Youth, Children, Education and Skills. This Education day will seek to empower young people to shape the outcomes of COP28 and beyond, considering the impacts of climate change for young people. Focuses will include investment in youth-led innovation and entrepreneurship, inclusion in policy-making processes capacity–building, and transforming education to close the skills gap for green jobs aligned with climate action – Youth Children Skills – COP28 UAE.

UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) – Teaching Resources
COP28, the key questions and what it means for Scotland
First Minister and global leaders at COP28
Yousaf warns ‘planet at tipping point’ as he attends COP28 in UAE
Climate change education at COP28
Scottish students debate on climate crisis at COP28 mock event
Education Scotland’s COP26 legacy materials – recycling, reusing, repurpose materials from COP 26 in Glasgow…because they were so popular and it’s good for the planet to use again!
COP28 2023 Event Information and Teaching Resources (twinkl.co.uk)
Ways To Use COP28 In The Classroom – Teaching Ideas
ECO2 COP28 Resources (Ages 9 – 11)
Climate Ambassadors

STEM Learning has created a new subset of STEM Ambassadors called Climate Ambassadors. Employers and organisations can choose to be connected to Climate Ambassadors and filter requests of this type.

 

Join Free Online Course ‘Live at COP28’

How should we take positive action towards a sustainable future? The University of Edinburgh, Learning for Sustainability Scotland, and the British Council, have created a free, short, facilitated online course ideal for anyone interested in sustainability and of particular interest to educators.

  • Learning for a Sustainable Future: Live at COP28 (starting 30 November)
    Explore global issues during COP28 and be part of the call for collective action. Find out more about the key international frameworks that support action on climate change, and explore national and international responses to the conference themes from children and young people, community groups, and ministerial bodies. Engage in community discussion and share your perspectives and ideas for the future. Sign up here.

Scotland’s Climate Week 25 September – 1 October 2023

Scotland’s Climate Week 

Scotland’s Climate Week, an annual event that encourages individuals and communities to come together to show support for tackling the climate emergency, begins on 25 September and ends on 1 October.

This year is about taking action in the areas that have the most impact.

For example, emissions from car use and home heating are the biggest contributors to climate change in Scotland from individuals. By choosing more climate-friendly ways to travel and by improving our home heating, we can do good for the planet and it feels good for us too.

CLIMATE CONVERSATION PACK

The climate crisis is already significantly impacting countries around the world, including Scotland. Together we can work to reduce our emissions to net zero and limit any further damage. By starting just one conversation with your students or colleagues you can create a ripple effect of positive actions that could help make the change needed to reach net zero and save the planet.

Climate change can be a hard thing to talk about, so the Climate Conversation pack outlines the important information you need to get started. It provides the opportunity to get to grips with all things climate change and identify topics and conversation starters to weave into your daily conversations, whether that’s on social media, at work, school or with friends.

Starting these conversations can help empower others and provide a sense of unity and community, but remember, it can be a challenging and emotional subject to bring up. No one should feel blamed, attacked, criticised or judged when talking about climate change. Always be mindful of where people are coming from – economically, societally, and emotionally.

For more details and information on how to take part in Scotland’s Climate Week click here.

Keep Scotland Beautiful Climate Action Week

26 September – 2 October

Timed with the Scottish Government’s Climate Week, Keep Scotland Beautiful Climate Action Week is a series of interactive lessons, inspiring stories and activities about climate change and what we can do about it. Click here to find out more.

There is an all ages assembly plan, secondary resources and interactive lessons aimed at helping upper primary learners understand what climate change is, its impacts, how we are contributing to this situation and how we can contribute to its solution. These lessons are supported with resources and activities that classes can carry out after each lesson.

Climate Week resources

Creative Collaborations for Sustainability conference 20 & 22 June

We are delighted to bring you the news of a forthcoming event run by Creative Scotland and Education Scotland. The Creative Collaborations for Sustainability conference aims to explore the opportunities for developing Learning for Sustainability in, about and through the arts, investigating through a variety of discipline-specific and interdisciplinary workshops how people and communities value and engage with the natural environment. Creative Collaborations for Sustainability seeks to support teachers in developing confidence to use arts approaches in their practice around Learning for Sustainability.

  • Tuesday 20th June will be for secondary practitioners
  • Wednesday 21st June will be for primary practitioners

See the dedicated website for more details: Creative Collaborations for Sustainability – Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (rcs.ac.uk)

Sign up through the Eventbrite page: Creative Collaborations for Sustainability Tickets

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