ClientEarth receives £100,000 grant for business project

ClientEarth has been awarded £100,000 by the City Bridge Trust to roll out a campaign to raise awareness of air pollution issues among businesses.

Clientearth’s grant funding will be used to inform businesses about the effects of air pollution. Picture: andersphoto, Shutterstock

A registered charity, ClientEarth is best known as having led the legal case against the government over its Air Quality Plan.

According to ClientEarth, the grant funding will be used to inform businesses about the effects of air pollution and what can be done to tackle it and to seek to build support for the policies that are needed to clean up London’s dirty air.

The City Bridge Trust is a charitable fund set up by the City of London Corporation, which issues grants of close to £20 million a year to tackle ‘disadvantage’ across the capital.

The City of London Corporation has been engaging with business on air quality for several years through its City Air Programme. Its City Air app gives Londoners low pollution travel routes across the city as well as advice and alerts when air pollution is high.

Fund

Alison Gowman, chairman of the City of London Corporation’s City Bridge Trust Committee, said: “City Bridge Trust is keen to help ClientEarth work with the capital’s businesses to improve London’s air quality.

“We are committed to supporting Londoners to make the capital a healthier and fairer place to work and live. We are delighted to have helped so many projects through the fund that are opening up incredible opportunities and enhancing lives.”

Last year, the City of London Corporation agreed a deal with Addison Lee – London’s biggest private hire taxi firm – to automatically switch hybrid taxis to ‘electric mode’ in key areas of the city.

The Corporation recently banned the purchase of diesel vehicles for its own fleet of 300 vehicles and is spearheading a London-wide crackdown on drivers who leave their engines idling. It has also introduced a city-wide 20mph zone and its new procurement rules tightly restrict harmful emissions from bulldozers and generators.

Business

ClientEarth spokesperson Simon Alcock said: “We are delighted to receive this grant from City Bridge Trust. This is the perfect time to be engaging business following our court case victory and the announcements made by the Mayor of London.

“The solutions to solving our clean air crisis should benefit business and consumers. It will help protect the health of employees and make London a more desirable place to work and live.

“It will also create economic opportunities for businesses that develop the new products and services we will need to clean up London’s air. We want to build business support for this shift and to help make London a world leader in sustainable urban transport and clean technologies.”