From today (Monday 19 April) until Friday, The National Lottery is encouraging us all to share a #PlanetaryPromise on social media to commit helping the planet.

The campaign, fronted by naturalist, environmental campaigner and TV presenter Chris Packham, focuses on how we can all join together and do our bit for the environment.

"If we do want to make the future a greener - and greater - place for future generations, we do really need to start changing our behaviour today.”

Chris Packham, naturalist, environmental campaigner and TV presenter

Since 2011, The National Lottery has invested more than £2.2billion in green initiatives thanks to funds raised by players. Projects supported have ranged from community groups preserving natural habitats to art installations that educate young people on climate change.

Chris Packham said: “The National Lottery has given a staggering amount of funding to help communities at a local and regional level to tackle climate change. If we do want to make the future a greener - and greater - place for future generations, we do really need to start changing our behaviour today.”

Time to change our habits

The call to share a #PlanetaryPromise comes as research published today found that 7 in 10 of us believe that we aren’t doing enough to protect the environment.

The pandemic and the impact of lockdown hasn’t helped matters. 73% of those surveyed have used more electricity due to increased TV viewing and computer use, and 34% of those surveyed said they have the heating on more throughout the day than ever before.

However, the research reveals that after lockdown many of us are planning to change our habits, with benefits to the environment. Walking more was top of the list (40%) and choosing to use public transport rather than a car to travel, and to holiday locally, came joint second (27%).

Our promise

Hear from our Climate Change Manager, Jo Robinson-Cheale, about our #PlanetaryPromise and take inspiration from pledges made by those that we work with: 

How to join in and make a difference

If you’re a National Lottery funded project or organisation you can get involved by posting a pledge on social media:

• Share an individual promise, such as pledging to take a refillable water bottle out with you so that you don’t buy a plastic bottle.

Or

• Share a promise on behalf of your organisation, like committing to install a compost bin on-site for food waste.

Don’t forget to:

• use the hashtags #PlanetaryPromise and #NationalLottery
• tag @lottogoodcauses and @HeritageFundUK on Twitter
• tag @NationalLotteryGoodCauses and @heritagefunduk on Instagram

Our environmental commitment

We believe that the heritage sector has an important role to play in reducing carbon emissions and tackling climate change. We’re committed to making a difference through our funding and sharing resources and best practice.

For this reason, every organisation we fund must demonstrate they are building long-term environmental sustainability into their plans.

Find out more about some of our environmental resources, research and projects we support.