Envirolink Scheme

The Envirolink Scheme funds Crown research institutes, universities and private research organisations to provide regional councils with advice and research on environmental projects.

The aims of the Envirolink scheme 

The Envirolink scheme aims to:

  • improve science input to the environmental management activities of regional councils
  • increase the engagement of regional councils with the environmental research, science and technology sector
  • contribute to greater collective engagement between councils and the science system generally.

The funding available

Funding of $1.6 million (excluding GST) is available each year through two funding mechanisms - Advice grants and Tool Development grants. 

Advice grants

Advice grants comprise:

  • Small advice grants of up to $10,000 excluding GST. These grants aim to help identify information needs, receive advice on science techniques or meet training requirements.
  • Medium advice grants of up to $40,000 excluding GST. These grants are for more detailed advice, or to help support the second phase of an initial small grant project.
  • Large advice grants of up to $80,000 excluding GST. These grants are for consolidated advice involving more than one regional council.  

The following regional councils and unitary authorities are currently eligible to apply for Envirolink support through Advice grants:

  • Northland Regional Council
  • Gisborne District Council
  • Taranaki Regional Council
  • Hawkes Bay Regional Council
  • Horizons Regional Council
  • Nelson City Council
  • Marlborough District Council
  • Tasman District Council
  • Otago Regional Council
  • West Coast Regional Council
  • Environment Southland.

For more information on the application and assessment process for Advice grants see the Envirolink Grants webpage.

Envirolink Grants webpage(external link)

Tool Development grants

Tool Development grants provide funding to develop or adapt new and/or existing resource management tools for use by more than one council.

All regional councils and unitary authorities are eligible to apply for the Tools development grants.

Tool Development grants are initially assessed by the Envirolink governance committee. The final assessment and funding decisions are made by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

Assessment criteria

We engage external assessors to assess final Tools Development proposals against the following criteria and score them from 1 (Low quality) to 7 (High quality).

For more information on the application and assessment process for Tool Development grants see the Envirolink Grants webpage.

Envirolink Grants webpage(external link)

Last updated: 07 March 2023