Information for

Local Governments

Is this guide for you?

The BC Community Climate Funding Guide offers a simpler way for local governments and Indigenous communities to find funding for their climate action projects.

Maybe you’re a grant writer looking for funding to add heat pumps to a community building. Or a mayor preparing your town to cope with future wildfires. Or a sustainability manager implementing active transportation projects.

Whatever your role and whatever your project, this is the place to start if:

You’re looking for funding for a climate action project, and
you’re working on behalf of a local government.

Search For Funding Opportunities

Need help finding programs?

Tell us about your project to find funding programs that match it.

Use the Funding Finder Tool

Know what you’re looking for?

See the full list of funding programs and use filters and keywords to narrow your search to suit your project.

See the full program list

Looking for funding opportunities for Indigenous communities? Start here instead

Reducing the Barriers to Your Climate Action Goals

Across B.C., local governments are stepping up to tackle climate change. By demonstrating innovation and commitment to strong climate action, they’re taking the lead in making the switch to clean energy and preparing for the impacts already being felt in our communities.

Taking these important steps, though, requires funding. And as we heard from many of you, finding that necessary funding can be overly complicated and time consuming.

This guide was created as an additional tool to help you simplify your search for funding and reduce the barriers between you and your climate action goals. Use it to discover which funds you might be eligible for and to find programs that can help get your projects moving.

What types of programs are listed?

Climate Preparedness and Adaptation

Funding to help communities prepare for and respond to wildfires, droughts, floods and other impacts of climate change.

Community Infrastructure

Funding to help cover the costs of building sustainable communities, including waste facilities, transportation systems and community buildings.

Sustainable Transportation

Funding to help communities pay for bike lanes, charging stations, and other projects that will encourage the use of zero-emission vehicles and active transportation, like cycling and walking.

Clean Energy

Energy efficiency, fuel switching and renewable energy projects that help communities move to cleaner energy systems.

Through funding from CleanBC’s Community Energy Leadership Program, the District of Summerland added heat pumps to their wastewater treatment plant (their most energy-intensive major facility) and reduced their energy use by almost 800 gigajoules annually.

A $500,000 grant from Forestry Innovation Investment’s Mass Timber Demonstration Program is helping build one of the first zero-emissions mass timber buildings in Canada. The District of Saanich’s new fire station – slated for completion in 2023 – will feature a steel and timber post-and-beam system with a cross-laminated timber roof, all topped off with solar panels. The station will showcase innovative uses of B.C. wood and serve as a template for how mass timber can be used in a building designed to withstand emergencies – all while meeting ambitious environmental targets.

A fully-electric vehicle has replaced a gas-guzzling security van in the Coquitlam School District’s fleet, thanks to funding provided through the CleanBC Go Electric program. Emissions from the fleet are one of the main contributors to the School District’s carbon footprint and the van – the most-used vehicle in the fleet – was a major source of those emissions. Driven more than 200 kilometres each day and using 7,700 litres of gas each year, it produced more than 18,300 kilograms of greenhouse gases annually. The new electric vehicle runs completely on B.C.’s clean electricity, charges quickly and efficiently, and can travel 260 kilometres on a single charge.

Cortes Island cyclists and pedestrians will soon reap the benefits of the Union of BC Municipalities’ Active Transportation Planning Program. The $20,000 awarded to the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) will make it easier for islanders to leave their cars at home. The SRD plans to use the money to develop an inventory of Cortes’ walking paths, cycling routes and support facilities, such as bike parking and repair sites. They’ll also provide information on safety and road conditions to help make active transportation a worry-free option.

Through a combination of federal and provincial support, the City of Kamloops completed a $13.5 million project to upgrade the energy efficiency of its Canada Games Aquatic Centre. The project started with a need to replace the centre’s critical ageing infrastructure. But – thanks to provincial and federal funding – it turned into an opportunity to simultaneously improve the environmental performance of the building. Bolstered by more than $1.1 million from the provincial government through the CleanBC Communities Fund and $1.37 million from the federal government, the city was able to install a heat-recovery system that uses the heat that evaporates off the pool to warm the new air entering the building. This reduces the centre’s reliance on natural gas and lowers its greenhouse gas emissions – taking Kamloops one important step closer to meeting its climate goals.

The original fleet of electric SkyTrain cars is still running smoothly, thanks in large part to the Canada Community-Building Fund. Through one of the fund’s three streams – the Greater Vancouver Regional Fund – TransLink has received almost $2 billion to date for everything from new buses to constructing the new Marpole electric-bus transit centre. Most recently, funding allowed for the refurbishment of 144 Mark 1 SkyTrain cars dating from the 1980s and 90s, each of which has run, on average, more than 3.2 million kilometres to date. Now, with funding from the Canada Community-Building Fund, they’ll be a part of the region’s clean transportation future for years to come.