Climate Action

Cloudesley is a signatory of the Funder Commitment on Climate Change, along with around 130 other UK funders. This commits us to the following:

Funder Commitment on Climate Change

For a summary of our climate action to date, please see our Climate Summary.

Climate Action Summary

For details of our progress to date, as well as some current plans, please see below.

1. Education and learning

Staff and Trustees have attended a range of related webinars and events, including on charity investments, buildings adaptations and net zero. Our Grants Manager has completed Carbon Literacy training.  

For the Islington churches that we support, our quarterly church newsletters have shared details of funding and resources to help with energy efficiency/ environmental projects. We also often convene church representatives to share knowledge, and provide opportunities to hear from experts. We published an initial evaluation of our Sustainable Church Buildings Project and have shared learning from the Project with other funders and the local voluntary sector.

In 2025, we commissioned a Heating Options Review report, looking at the most appropriate low carbon heating solution for each church, and offering estimates on when they would need to switch and how much the solution would cost.

Cloudesley is a member of the Islington Sustainability Network and we’re keen to work with others in Islington and beyond to share learning.

Islington Sustainability Network

2. Committing resources

Cloudesley is committed to supporting the Church of England churches in the Islington Deanery to reach their goal of achieving net zero. Through our Church Grants programme 2026-30, Islington churches can apply for grants of up to £65,000 for sustainability and environmental works. Over the past five years, 25% of our Church Grants funding has been agreed for environmental church buildings projects, such as the installation of solar panels, LED lighting and insulation. 

Between July 2023 and March 2025, we ran our second Sustainable Church Buildings Project (SCBP) for churches in the Islington Deanery. The project built on the successful programme we ran in 2017/18 and had a £500,000 budget. The project included a mix of technical support, non-competitive Small Grants and a Large Grants fund.

  • All 24 eligible churches received updated technical advice from Inspired Efficiency. They also delivered 10 new energy audits, and provided a further 99 hours of consultancy support to the churches
  • Three churches received Large Grants totalling £215,000 for particularly impactful projects
  • 20 churches received non-competitive Small Grants – for the full list click on the link below.

Following on from the SCBP, we commissioned a Heating Options Review to explore the best low carbon heating option for each church.

Sustainable Church Buildings Project: grants awarded

Sustainable Church Buildings Project 2023-25

Sustainable Church Buildings Project 2017/18

3. Integrating climate into existing funding programmes

Our 2026-30 Church Grants priorities include funding for major sustainability/environmental works and buildings projects, and for related professional fees and development work. Environmental considerations are taken into account during the assessment process, and we have discussions with applicants if we feel there is a better environmental alternative to their proposal.

All our grant-making application and assessment processes are now online, with support available from the staff team as required.

4. Stewarding investments

During 2024/25, as part of our investment policy review, we considered how closely our investments align with the charity’s environmental, social and governance aims. Trustees discussed the adoption of net zero targets and agreed to revisit this regularly. In practice, the majority of the portfolio is currently net zero aligned.

We ask our investment managers to provide a separate presentation on sustainability issues when we meet them twice a year. They also provide an updated analysis of the carbon footprint of the investment portfolio quarterly.

Our property managers report quarterly on EPC and green audit issues. During 2024/25, we asked them to develop proposals for improved energy efficiency during the refurbishment of one of the charity’s properties.

We also considered sustainability and environmental issues as part of a review of banking services. 

5. Decarbonising operations

We continue to hold some committee and working group meetings online, with other meetings offered on a hybrid basis. Paper copies of reports for Board, committee and working group meetings are no longer produced. Our impact report is now an online-only publication. During 2025, staff moved more internal operations to paperless processes.

Wherever possible, we repair or upgrade our computers rather than replace them.

Our flexible working offer means that most of the small staff team work remotely for the majority of their working week. We offer a cycle loan scheme. Catering at our events is vegetarian.

Impact report

As a signatory of the Funder Commitment on Climate Change, we’re required to report annually on our progress. You can find the latest FCCC report below. We will continue to update this webpage as we move forward, including through the addition of specific targets.

Funder Commitment on Climate Change report