Winners of Green Action Fund announced, awarding ambitious plans to advance sustainable consumption worldwide

05 July 2022

We are delighted to announce the winners of the Green Action Fund 2022 - the annual global award given to our Members from developing and emerging economies for innovative projects that support consumers to make sustainable choices worldwide.   

As the world emerges from the pandemic, plunges into a cost-of-living crisis and struggles to meet climate crisis actions, the case for supporting consumers to take action on and overcome these issues has never been clearer. Initiatives such as the Green Action Fund demonstrate one way of how consumers can be supported across a range of contexts and challenging circumstances.  

This year, the Fund will award 27 Members with grants to carry out diverse projects such as tackling plastic pollution in Benin and supporting environmental school garden schemes in Cape Verde. Importantly, in Pakistan, the project overseen by our Member, The Network will also help consumers impacted by rising costs of living.

Image from our Member, Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS) in India, conducting a project on sustainable consumption.

The theme for 2022 continues on from last year as ‘sharing community’ and each of the grantees demonstrated their steadfast commitment to this with creative, solid plans to advance sustainable consumption across cross-cutting themes.    

  • Food Initiatives: Safe and sustainable food is a key focus for many grantees. In Serbia, an institutional network of communities and food-related stakeholders will be established to ensure sustainable nutrition and in Senegal, community workshops will guide consumer choices towards pesticide-free products from off-ground agriculture. A community kitchen and garden will be established in Pakistan and local cooks will educate consumers on balanced nutrition, natural ingredients and chemical free food in Colombia.   
  • Land and Ocean-Use: Promoting sustainable land and ocean use practices through sharing community cuts across several projects. We were thrilled to see the dynamic plans for aquatic ecosystem preservation in Benin and Fiji. Other awardees in this area include Rwanda and Togo. 
  • Waste Reduction Schemes: Grantees awarded here include those in Oman and Zimbabwe, working to educate consumers to avoid plastic waste. Others centre on the path to become independent of plastic in Mexico, community plastic collections in Mali and a composting effort to tackle food waste in Lebanon.   
  • Tackling Unsustainable Use of Consumer Goods: Some grantees are leveraging their expertise in consumer advocacy to fight for consumers’ right to sustainable goods and services. In Yemen and Burundi awareness will be raised on the effects of unsustainable disposal of medical waste and organise a community pick-up of left-over medicines from households and along rivers.   
  • Collaborative Marketplace Enterprises: Various projects will build capacity for the creation of collaborative and inclusive market enterprises. In Nepal, local artisans will be better connected to young entrepreneurs to help them enter the market, families will be taught to exchange compost for organic food with local associations in Argentina, and communities will be taught how to make eco-prints for sale in Indonesia.   
  • Knowledge and Experience Sharing Networks: Grantees are furthering collaborative approaches, such as in Malaysia where schools and local authorities are being brought together to encourage waste prevention and sustainable consumption, in India, workshops uniting women and youth will focus on plastic usage and multiple local communities are joining up to share best practices in composting in Costa Rica.  

SUPPORT THE #GREENACTIONWEEK CAMPAIGN 

Green Action Week will run from Tuesday 4 October to Monday 10 October 2022 where grantees will showcase activities linked to their broader projects for change. We are delighted to celebrate the week with our partner, the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC) who provides the support for the funds.   

Together we will amplify our Members’ innovations and inspire others to promote sustainable consumption, support consumers through crises and help to advance the Sustainable Development Goals.  

For regular #GreenActionWeek updates follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.  

Download our summary to learn more about each project.