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The Zero carbon fund

Text reads: 5 x £100,00 zero carbon grants. An image of three school pupils with their arms around each other smiling at the camera accompanies the text.

Decarbonising our schools will be a huge leap towards a greener, fairer future. Schools account for over a third of public sector carbon emissions, and face an annual energy bill of £1.8 billion. So decarbonisation can deliver huge cash savings and carbon cuts – while making schools more comfortable, inspiring places to learn and work.

Our Zero Carbon Fund was a one-off grants scheme for projects helping UK schools decarbonise, financed by Green Future Investments Ltd. It supports the work of Let’s Go Zero through discovering, spotlighting and supporting bold and innovative projects that boost green measures and cut carbon emissions in UK schools. 

Download our impact report

Impact

  • Advocacy that’s helped secure a £550m increase in the UK’s School Rebuilding Programme.
  • New digital tools that will spark transformative building upgrades, and more ambitious climate action plans for individual schools.
  • The expansion of a proven climate support programme directly to 82 new schools –benefiting 40,000 young people.

Along with substantial investment, we supported each project with advice, networking and amplification.

Our Winners

In 2024/25, the Zero Carbon Fund gave five £100,000 grants to a cohort of groundbreaking initiatives across the UK.

The selected grantees range from local, community-engagement projects with specific subject areas to nationwide, scalable platforms that can be applied to all aspects of school life. 

The houses of parliament lit up at night with a projection of 'Teach the future' written in white on a red background.
Three students are stood outside the Department of Education to hand in a petition.
A group of councillors, local MPs and supporters of Teach the future are stood together in solidarity holding up banners.

Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS-UK): Teach the Future, Fund the Future

Fund the Future was a campaign by student-led group Teach the Future to secure more government funding for retrofitting and rebuilding state schools. Success would ensure more young people could learn in a modern and comfortable environment, and more schools could lower their emissions and energy bills.

Using its strong student voice and established reputation, Teach the Future aimed to build support by hosting and attending events, running media campaigns and directly engaging politicians and policymakers.

The impact

Fund the Future’s aim was to build political support for, and increase government funding towards, school retrofit and rebuild. There were some notable wins during the campaign period, when the government committed to:

  • A 19% increase in capital investment for the Department for Education.
  • A £550m increase in the School Rebuilding Programme.

Brighton & Hove City Council: Our School, Our World

Our Schools, Our World is a renowned, whole-school framework from Brighton & Hove City Coucil that embeds sustainability into every aspect of school life. The Zero Carbon Fund enabled the authority to share it via regional hubs across England, advancing climate leadership and sustainability in education.

The impact

Funding established Our Schools, Our World programmes in Brent, Devon, Bedfordshire, Leicester and Suffolk, proving the approach works across cultural and economic contexts.

  • 82 schools took part, bringing Our Schools, Our World to 40,000 pupils and 3,600 staff.
  • Many of these regions have begun recruitment for their ‘second cohorts’, where more schools will be trained in the framework and begin implementing it in their settings.

  • 94% of schools involved have created their Climate Action Plans, a detailed roadmap of the actions they’ll take to reduce emissions.

  • 71% completed baseline carbon calculations and 94% have adapted their curriculum to equip pupils with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to make a positive environmental impact.

Young school students are stood in their school uniforms in front of a bed of flowers that they have planted.
A group of school pupils are stood holding spades around a tree that they have just planted.
Teaching staff are stood around a table together considering new climate related teaching materials and content.
Three students and a teacher are stood together wearing OsNosh aprons.
A group of student are stood in front of a vegetable garden that they have planted.
Students are crouched down looking at some chickens in a specially made chicken coop.

Shropshire Good Food Partnership: Schools Food Web

The Schools Food Web, from the Shropshire Good Food Partnership, showed how introducing local, sustainable food systems can support decarbonisation while improving access to healthy food.

The impact

Operating exclusively in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin, The Schools Food Web supported 20 schools to improve their food systems:

  • Hot bin composters brought real cost savings and emission reductions to schools, with estimates of up to 368.8kg of CO2e savings for some.
  • Competitions empowered schools to develop growing and cooking projects, improving their food resilience.
  • As a result of the project, several schools have hired their own chefs, moving away from catering contracts and giving them ownership over their menus. This can lead to more local and climate friendly options.
  • Food audits, conducted at the beginning and end of the school year, showed how far school food, policy and culture had moved on.

Retrofit Action For Tomorrow (RAFT): Zero Carbon Action Builder

RAFT is an architect-led organisation helping schools and communities decarbonise their buildings. Their action builder is a powerful new platform that will enable schools, trusts and estates to take meaningful action.

Rapid improvements are needed to get the school estate to zero carbon, with finances and expertise often in short supply. Drawing on RAFT’s vast experience in retrofit, the tool will give schools the ability to identify, assess and implement retrofit actions to their buildings, driving them towards zero carbon efficiency.

Currently, the Zero Carbon Action Builder is going through final trials and testing to ensure the best possible user experience.

Students sat in a classroom have their hands raised to the sky ready to answer climate related questions.
A group of students are sorting recyclable materials in to different bins.
A group of young students are stood in their uniforms in a corridor.
Students are sat in a classroom learning about climate related topics.

Eco Schools: The Playground

The Playground is an online tool from charity Eco-Schools, inspiring students and staff to take meaningful climate action.

Using the unique characteristics of an individual school, it shows in detail how a wide range of changes to their operations – from building upgrades to greener travel – would affect overall emissions.

“The Playground is a brilliant tool, especially for the pupils. Learning about carbon footprints can sometimes be quite complicated, and it’s really simplified it.”

Teacher, Walmley Junior School, Sutton Coldfield

If you would like to discuss powering innovation in school sustainability, please email letsgozero@ashden.org.

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