Sadiq Khan announces £4.6 million Green Roots Fund for green spaces & climate resilience projects
London community groups, schools and charities are set to receive new funding to improve parks, plant trees and restore wildlife habitats after the Mayor of London announced a £4.6 million Green Roots Fund towards green and blue spaces across the capital.
The Green Roots Fund includes £3.5 million from the second round of Sadiq Khan’s Green Roots Fund alongside a further £1.1 million for a tree planting programme focused on neighbourhoods affected by heat, flooding and pollution.
Announced at the Chelsea Flower Show, the programme will support projects across London designed to improve access to nature while helping communities respond to the effects of climate change. Thirty-three local projects will receive grants ranging from £10,000 to £500,000 to improve parks, community gardens, rivers, wetlands and shared outdoor spaces.
Among the organisations receiving funding is The Tree Council, which has secured £358,600 for its Young Tree Champions Living Labs project. The scheme works with schools and young people in areas facing higher climate risks to help create greener local environments through tree planting.
In Hackney, Natural Neighbours has been awarded £80,500 to transform sites at Priory Court and Homerton Grove Adventure Playground into wildlife-friendly community gardens while training local residents to help maintain them.
Spitalfields Crypt Trust in Shoreditch will receive £30,000 to support people recovering from homelessness and addiction through gardening projects focused on restoring a public green space.
The separate £1.1 million tree equity programme will support the planting of up to 5,000 climate resilient trees across parts of London more vulnerable to rising temperatures and flood risk.
City Hall says increasing tree cover can help cool streets and absorb rainwater during periods of extreme weather, while improving access to shaded outdoor spaces in communities that need it most.
The latest awards build on earlier environmental funding programmes introduced by the Mayor, including the Grow Back Greener Fund and the first round of Green Roots funding announced in October 2025.
Projects supported during the first round included river restoration work in Enfield, flood prevention rain gardens in Lambeth and an accessible community garden in Kingston for people with learning disabilities.
Sadiq Khan said the latest funding would help communities take a direct role in improving local green spaces while helping London prepare for increasing climate pressures in the years ahead.
Applications for the next round of the Green Roots Fund close on 28 May.
Recent environmental projects across the capital have reflected growing concern about access to nature and climate resilience in London communities, including Waltham Forest’s decision to declare a nature emergency earlier this year. The latest funding also arrives as local groups across London continue pushing for new wetland and biodiversity projects, including plans for expanded wetland spaces at Alexandra Park.
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