Deadline: 10-Jun-21
The Environmental Damages Fund has opened a call for proposals under the Climate Action and Awareness Fund.
The Environmental Damages Fund provides a mechanism for directing funds received as a result of fines, court orders, and voluntary payments to priority projects that will benefit Canada’s natural environment.
The Environmental Damages Fund helps to ensure that environmental good follows environmental harm by supporting projects with measurable outcomes in Canadian communities.
Themes
The projects funded by this request for proposals must fall under one of the following themes:
- Theme 1: Informing carbon sink enhancements: nature-based climate solutions: Proposals should advance the quantification of, and reduce uncertainties in, the understanding of Canada’s carbon sinks to inform opportunities to employ Nature-Based Solutions to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in Canada. The results should inform the development of integrated estimates of greenhouse gas emissions and removals from Canadian ecosystems, the understanding of how direct land management actions impact ecosystem carbon cycles, or the understanding of the potential role of carbon sinks in Canada’s greenhouse gas mitigation strategy.
- Theme 2: Understanding the potential for, and implications of, negative emission technologies: Proposals should advance the understanding of the extent to which technologies to remove carbon from the atmosphere — such as Direct Air Capture and Carbon Capture and Sequestration — may contribute to the net-zero goal. Proposals could explore the efficacy of different technologies and practices (including the development and testing of measurement tools), their economic viability, the risks associated with their use, and optimal policies for scaling up these technologies/practices (e.g., carbon price, tax credits).
- Theme 3: Understanding city- and municipal-level GHG emissions and mitigation effectiveness: Proposals should contribute to improving the quantification of GHG emissions and short-lived climate forcers at the city and municipal level, and enable the application of methods to identify mitigation opportunities and evaluate their effectiveness to augment national reporting processes (e.g., advancing the use of top-down atmospheric observations or bottom-up inventory-based approaches).
- Theme 4: Understanding multiple benefits of integrated mitigation approaches for greenhouse gases and air pollutants: Proposals should improve understanding of how greenhouse gas and air pollutant mitigation strategies impact both climate and air quality, recognizing that climate forcers and air pollutants frequently share common sources and climate forcers are often air pollutants themselves.
- Theme 5: Understanding and quantifying transportation sector emissions in Canada: Proposals should improve the characterization of travel behaviour in Canada (e.g., on-road public and private, including cars, trucks, buses, etc.) and inform improved inventory reporting and targeted policies to reduce GHG and air pollutant emissions, leveraging big data analytics, telematics, and other techniques.
Funding Information
- This request for proposals will provide up to $6 million per project for a total of up to $59 million to eligible organizations over a maximum of five years.
Funding Categories
Fines directed to the EDF are used to fund projects that focus on the following four categories in order of priority:
- restoration
- environmental quality improvement
- research and development
- education and awareness
Eligible Projects
Priority is given to projects that restore the natural environment and conserve wildlife, followed by:
- environmental quality improvement initiatives
- research and development on environmental restoration and improvement
- education and awareness on issues affecting the health of the natural environment
There is no maximum project duration. The average length of a project is approximately two years.
Criteria
EDF funding is available for projects that meet the following criteria:
- address one or more of EDF’s four priority areas noted above
- satisfy all Fund Use Requirements
- are scientifically sound and technically feasible
- are cost-effective in achieving goals, objectives and results
- can measure results using EDF performance indicators
- show that the environment will benefit from the project
- demonstrate that the applicant possesses or has access to necessary partnership, experience, knowledge and skills required to undertake the project
Note: While matching funds are not required, evidence of other funding sources such as matching contributions and the respective amounts, or demonstration of the applicant’s ability to raise funds from sources other than the federal government in a past project will be considered as an asset at the proposal evaluation stage.
Eligible Project Costs
Costs related to the following types of expenses are eligible under the EDF program:
- human resource costs, including salaries and benefits
- travel costs not to exceed Treasury Board approved rates
- material and supplies costs
- printing and production costs
- communications and distribution costs
- equipment rental or purchase
- vehicle rentals and operational costs
- translation costs
- liability insurance costs that are directly attributed to carrying out the project
- a reasonable share of overhead and/or administrative costs and rent that is directly attributed to carrying out the project, as negotiated with the office in your region
- any GST/HST that is not reimbursable by Revenue Canada and any PST not reimbursable by the provinces
Geographic Location
- Projects must be undertaken within Canadian provinces and territories.
- Fund Use Requirements accompany each available fund and may include prioritized geographic regions.
Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible for funding under this request for proposals, lead applicants must be one of the following:
- universities and other academic institutions;
- not-for-profit non-government organizations (NGO, e.g., environmental community groups); or
- Indigenous organizations
Eligible Applicants
Eligible groups include:
- non-governmental organizations
- universities and academic institutions
- Indigenous organizations
- provincial, territorial and municipal governments
Note: Individuals, businesses, or other federal departments or agencies are not eligible for funding but are encouraged to partner with eligible groups to apply. Offenders are not eligible to apply directly or to partner with eligible groups, for fines or monetary payments they have made that were directed to the EDF.
Evaluation of Applications
- Your application is reviewed to verify eligibility and to assess technical and scientific merit. All project proposals are subject to the same evaluation criteria.
- If your project application is approved in principle, you will be contacted through a notification letter to negotiate a funding agreement that outlines the terms and conditions of the funding.
- Federal MPs and/or their team may be advised about the approval in principle of a project and may be provided with information provided in this Application including applicant’s name, project title, project description, project location, funding amounts and contact information.
- If your application is not approved, you will also be informed of this decision in writing.
Please Note-
- This is not a comprehensive list.
- If you are unsure about any of the examples listed above or the eligibility of your project and activities, please contact the Environment and Climate Change Canada office in your region.
- EDF funding is competitive process; please clearly explain all details and expected results.
- The level of detail provided in your application must support the complexity of your project.
- In addition, your project must include at least one of the EDF’s performance indicators.
For more information, visit https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/environmental-funding/programs/environmental-damages-fund.html