Country Road Climate Fund

The Country Road Climate Fund was created as part of Country Road’s responsible business journey which strives to drive positive change across climate, nature, and community within our own operations, and also through building positive outcomes in our value chain and beyond.

The Country Road recognises that the fashion industry is a direct and indirect contributor to the climate crisis. While there are many existing and innovative climate fashion solutions, many of these solutions lack the finance to be developed or deployed across the fashion industry.

The aim of the Country Road Climate Fund is to bridge this financing gap by investing in, incubating and accelerating climate solutions in the Australian fashion industry.

To be eligible for funding:

• Applicant must have an ABN
• Applicant must be an Australian resident/Australian registered company
• Applicant must be registered for GST

The Incubator Program is available to not-for-profits or for profit organisations with:

• less than 15 employees;
• less than $250,000 in net assets; and
• annual revenue of less than $250,000

The Accelerator Program is available to the following organisations which are too large to qualify for the Incubator Program on at least one of the net assets or annual revenue criteria:

• registered:
  1. not-for-profits
  2. co-operatives
  3. social enterprises*
• universities (if that university is undertaking an industry project with tangible application of outcomes or ‘knowledge translation’ relevant to the fashion industry)

See the guidelines for full details of organisations eligible for CRCF support.

• Climate focus: Projects which have a positive climate impact (i.e. the project directly or indirectly reduces greenhouse gas emissions or supports the enablement of such reductions).

For example, a project that improves energy efficiency in the production of textiles may directly reduce greenhouse gases. A project that provides brands with accurate data on the emissions intensity of different materials/processes, may enable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions of products by supporting more informed design choices.

• Sub-themes: The Fund is also targeted at investing in projects which align with one or more of the following sub-themes:
  1. Biodiversity– Protecting or restoring nature and biodiversity (for example, a conservation project on a wool farm aimed at improving the state of biodiversity)
  2. Circularity– Reimagining the textile life cycle from a take, make and dispose mindset to one which redefines the value of waste, keeping existing resources in use for as long as possible (for example, a project that enables garment renewal or on-shore textile recycling)
  3. First Nations– Led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities (for example, a First Nations organisation working with local cotton farmers to implement traditional land management practices that drive positive climate outcomes)
  4. Innovation– Unique, disruptive, and game-changing technologies and ideas shifting the face of the fashion industry (for example, a technology that dramatically improves the carbon footprint of finishing or dyeing techniques)

• Co-benefits: Alongside alignment with the Country Road Climate Fund’s primary climate theme and sub-themes, projects which demonstrate strong co-benefits will be strongly preferred. This includes projects which promote the following co-benefits:

1. 1. Industry collaboration
   2. Provenance, accountability, and transparency, for example:
      • Provenance: a project developing a technology that allows better visibility of the place of origin for fashion products;
      • Accountability: a non-profit project to promote actors in the textile value chain being more accountable for their environmental impact; or
      • Transparency: a project promoting greater transparency of environmental and social performance in the fashion industry.

See the guidelines for full details of projects eligible for CRCF support.

All project applications will be assessed against the following criteria:

1. Eligibility of the project
2. Alignment with the Country Road Climate Fund’s objective, themes and scope
3. Potential for the project to create positive impact
4. Financial and practical feasibility of the project
5. Capacity of the project team to implement the project
6. Whether winning the grant would make a difference to the outcomes of the project

See the guidelines for full details of the assessment criteria.

You should read and understand the guidelines.

You need to ensure you are eligible for the funding. Applicants that do not meet all the eligibility criteria outlined above will not be considered.

The fund is particularly interested in:

• projects with a positive, and quantifiable, climate impact outcome (i.e. the project directly or indirectly reduces greenhouse gas emissions, or supports the enablement of such reductions).
• projects that have a positive impact outcome aligned to at least one of the Country Road Climate Fund’s other impact themes:
  1. Biodiversity
  2. Circularity
  3. First Nations (applicant must be majority First Nations owned or operated)
  4. Innovation

• projects focused on generating positive climate impacts within the raw materials production, materials processing and manufacturing stages of the fashion value chain.
• projects that have the potential to drive industry-wide change, where processes have the potential to be applied across the sector more broadly, rather than being limited to one brand.

The Incubator Program

• Applicants will be required to provide evidence against each of the criteria (i.e. employee number, net assets and annual revenue)

The Accelerator Program

• Applicants will be required to provide evidence of their type of entity and evidence of meeting each of the criteria (i.e. net assets and annual revenue)
• *If applicant’s organisation is a social enterprise, they will be required to show third party verification of social enterprise status or membership to a voluntary social enterprise body. For example, certification by Social Traders.

See the guidelines for full details of information requirements.

Applicants can commence an online application through the Country Road’s Climate Fund page at countryroad.com.au.

Register your interest here with GrantHelper to explore your alignment with this grant and how we can assist you to increase your chances of success.