Projects.

Your Sustainable City.

Since launching Creating Sustainable Cities in 2018, Ibex Earth has helped to secure over £50+ million in funding to deliver 'sustainable city' projects. We have focused on projects that decarbonise schools and public buildings (2imprezs), build the business case to invest in nature-based solutions (Nature Smart Cities), deploy climate adaptation solutions (Cool Towns, Sustainable and Resilient Coastal Communities) and support the growth of local circular economies (BLUEPRINT to a Circular Economy).

You can find out more about our completed projects at the foot of this page.

All of our projects are developed under the following criteria, they must:

contribute positively to the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals
be capable of being replicated by other cities and towns, with the intention to develop and share best practice
result in greener, cleaner and healthier urban environments, helping to deliver net zero and climate targets locally
be designed to attract private investment, enabling the scale-up of their impact throughout the UK and easing the burden on the public purse.

Current Projects.

Our current projects have prioritised action that will help to drive forward the sustainability agenda in schools, create clear pathways for private finance to support local net zero and climate action, and identify solutions about how we can improve the health of urban waterways.

Better Planet Schools in an initiative developed and delivered by Better Planet Education (formerly the Young People's Trust for the Environment) that engages with UK primary schools about some of our planet's most pressing environmental challenges. There are now over 500 primary schools taking part in this fantastic initiative.

At least half of the funding to deliver local net zero projects must come from the private sector, yet funding from private institutions, lenders and investors is not making its way to where it is needed. Shift to Net Zero is an initiative that sets out to create clear pathways for private finance to fund local net zero and climate action across the two-tiered local government structure in England.

The Net Zero Leadership Summit is an initiative involving Ibex Earth, ep group and Surrey County Council and will see decision-makers from across the two-tiered local government structure come to the City of London's Guildhall to identify new commercial solutions and governance structures that will help them to accelerate the pace, scale and financing of local net zero action.

Previous Projects.

Creating a Business Case to Invest in Urban Greening

Nature Smart Cities is an EU funded project that sets out to develop, test and validate a new business model that enables local authorities to justify the economic expenditure required to deliver urban greening programmes. The project will explore the enormous economic, social and climate benefits that urban greening programmes can bring to urban landscapes. We have already published 'The Benefits of Urban Greening' through this project, a copy of which you can download from our publication page.

Understanding the Food-Water-Energy Nexus for Urban Environments

Urban populations are in a constant state of growth, which places an increasing pressure on three vital resources - food, water and energy. The CRUNCH project, funded by the Sustainable Urbanisation Global Initiative, led by the University of Portsmouth, which explores the connections between food, water and energy.

Energy Challenges UK

We have had a fantastic opportunity to work with the Young People's Trust for the Environment to develop an exciting initiative called Energy Challenges UK. The project engages primary schools on a variety of environmental topics that include energy and climate, plastic and waste, and nature and biodiversity. The funding for the project was secured via the Interreg North Sea programme. Information about the project is available at www.energychallenges.org.uk

Tackling Plastic Waste and Identifying new opportunities via the Circular Economy

The BBC's Blue Planet II acted as an incredible catalyst for action on plastic pollution. Through a project called PlastiCity we will be exploring how cities and towns can identify streams of 'waste' or 'lost' plastic and develop new processes that reduces the volume of plastic that turns into waste. We are currently working on a project that will help local authorities identify how they can achieve their new 65% municipal waste recycling targets by 2035. More information will be available soon.

Empowering Solar PV and Battery

EMPOWER is an Interreg North Sea funded project that will identify how cities and towns can help their communities deploy technologies (solar PV, batteries) and become more independent from national energy grids.

Reducing the Urban Heat Stress

Cool Towns is funded via the Interreg 2 Seas programme and sets out to demonstrate how urban greening and shading can be integrated into the landscapes of European cities and towns to reduce the risks associated with heat stress and the urban heat island effect. It is a strategic project that links in with the aims and objectives of Nature Smart Cities.

Exploring Nature-Based Solutions to Reduce Coastal Flood Risk

The Sustainable and Resilient Coastal Communities project is our fourth successful application under the Interreg 2 Seas programme. It looks at how urban coastal communities can integrate nature-based solutions into their coastal flood defences, as opposed to coastal communities relying on traditional grey infrastructure.