Call for Research Proposals: Targeting Diagnoses and Policy Interventions

Deadline: 28-Feb-23

The Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID) has announced a call for research papers to deepen knowledge on trade and the environment in LAC, in order to generate relevant information and analysis for decision-making in the public and private sectors of countries in the region.

Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) faces major challenges related to environmental issues and trade. Indeed, flows abroad represent between 19.8% and 26.5% of the region’s total emissions, depending on whether or not household emissions and land use are included in the denominator (Mesquita Moreira and Dolabella, 2022). In addition, climate change is already affecting the regional exportable supply (droughts and extreme natural events), impacting harvests, yields and agricultural/ livestock production. Thus, environmental issues must be actively addressed, seeking to reconcile the need to grow in a sustainable and inclusive manner and to integrate into the world, with the need to adapt to and mitigate the negative climatic/productive effects.

Objectives

• Select research papers that will make it possible to generate diagnoses and proposals for specific interventions in different aspects related to international trade and the environment in Latin America and the Caribbean.
• Analyze the challenges and identify opportunities for the region’s exports in the face of the need to mitigate the effects of climate change and achieve the objectives of sustainable development.
• Identify actions that can be taken by the public and private sectors to support competitive adaptation and take advantage of the region’s export potential.

Themes

In this regard, it will be encouraged the presentation of proposals focused on the following thematic areas, which may be based on specific cases of sectoral, country or subregional experiences. For each topic, some sub-areas in which the proposals could be concentrated are included as a guideline.

• Energy transition and international insertion
  • Export potential of renewable energies (wind, solar, hydro) in the region
  • Green hydrogen as a possible vector for integration into the world
  • Biomass production and global insertion
  • Lithium and its incorporation into the global value chain
  • Inputs, machinery and technologies for the generation and distribution of renewable energies: effects on imports and local development/exports
• Trade policy and environmental bias
  • Environmental rules and border adjustment mechanisms
  • Tariff and para-tariff structure and environmental impact
  • Trade agreements, environmental clauses and the coordination of joint actions
  • Environmental requirements (e.g. certifications and private standards) and technical barriers to trade
  • Environmental agreements that impact trade
• Environmental goods and services and production/export supply
  • Current and potential export supply
  • Environmental policy, sectoral competitive adaptation and international insertion.
  • Circular economy and the use of currently unused resources
  • Export potential of organic production, agroecological and/or agroforestry models
  • New green niches in the international market
  • Complexity of green exports and the possibility of regional and global value chains.
  • Environmental services and carbon credits markets
  • Clean trade and gender
  • Inputs, machinery and technologies for the supply of environmental goods and services.

Funding Information

• A budget of USD 8,000 is available for each of the selected proposals. Up to 6 proposals will be selected and at least 2 of them will come from young researchers (between 18 and 35 years of age).
• Payment schedule: 50% following delivery and approval of the preliminary version. 50% upon delivery and approval of the final version.

Eligibility Criteria

• The call is open to researchers and teams from universities, research centers and think tanks in from the IDB’s 48 member countries. Proposals may adress one country, several countries, a sub-region (e.g. CAN, MERCOSUR, CARICOM, SICA) or LAC as a whole.
• Research proposals are expected to be developed in a short period of time (see below the timetable) and to result in short papers (maximum 30 pages including bibliography), where the objectives, research hypothesis, methodology, data sources, diagnosis of the problem/opportunity and suggested intervention proposals are presented in a concise and clear manner.

Selection Criteria

• The potential ability to produce valid diagnoses in a short time frame and suggest concrete, replicable and feasible policy interventions/initiatives for implementation. It will be valued that the intervention proposals resulting from the research be as specific and concrete as possible.
• The relevance of the issues addressed by the proposals and the expected impacts of the resulting policy interventions.
• The soundness of the methodologies intended to be used.
• The experience and capabilities of the researchers/research teams (both general and specific to the area of work of the proposal submitted).

For more information, visit BID.