The Environment and Development Foundation was founded by the state government in North Rhine-Westphalia in 2001. It is committed to protecting the natural livelihoods, promoting the idea of the One World, human dignity and sustainable development and wants to render a contribution towards the implementation of the Agenda 2030 of the United Nations.

The Foundation assists non-profit organizations through project consulting and financing. It supports projects on environmental education, resource conservation, climate action and environmental protection, development education and information, global learning and fair trade, as well as projects on intercultural learning, provided that they deal with the topics of environment or development. The projects must address people in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The Foundation’s funding comes from lottery surpluses and tax revenues of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. By the end of 2017, around 1,300 projects had been supported with a total of around 64 million euros. The Chairman of the Foundation’s Council is Armin Laschet, Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia. Christiane Overkamp is the Foundation’s managing Director.