Climate Innovation Grant Program

Overarching or Foundational

1. Groups trying to advance actual climate solutions run into unexpected roadblocks. Projects in this category will address systemic, regulatory, and/or policy barriers to the deployment of low carbon products, technologies or processes.
   Project example: Reducing the additional costs incurred when developing large scale solar project; addressing social and technical barriers to enable heat pump installations.

Building Better and Retrofitting Wiser

1. Our current building stock must be retrofitted rapidly and the performance of new buildings must improve faster than what energy codes currently mandate. Projects in this category will increase capacity or advance efforts to build and retrofit residential and commercial buildings on a pathway to emission neutral standards.
   Project example: Home Performance Stakeholder Council (HPSC) in British Columbia.
2. Considering the whole life cycle of a building, including the embodied carbon - the greenhouse gas emissions arising from the manufacturing, transportation, installation, maintenance, and disposal of building materials - provides an opportunity for further reductions beyond targeting the operations of a building. Projects in this category will explore the impact of considering embodied carbon in the construction and retrofitting of buildings. 
   Project example: BEAM - Building Emissions Accounting for Materials estimator tool for assessing the carbon footprint of building materials.

Moving on Mobility

1. Active transportation, as an alternative to single occupancy vehicles, can be encouraged in numerous ways that doesn't always involve large scale changes to existing infrastructure. Projects in this category will identify practical, tangible, or low-cost improvements, such as minor infrastructure changes, adoption of software, tools, or new systems, to encourage active mobility.
   Project example: Software solutions addressing accessible routes for those who wouldn’t normally consider active transportation, neighborhood-level infrastructure improvements for cycling.
   
2. To support the transition to zero emissions vehicles, we will require a robust public charging network. Projects in this category will accelerate publicly accessible fast-charging infrastructure for zero emissions vehicles.
   Project example: Deployment of strategic publicly accessible fast-charging stations
   
3. Vehicles that drive a lot, such as taxis and delivery vans, have a bigger impact when they are replaced with low emissions options. Projects in this category will deploy tactics or tools to decarbonize urban freight and/or vehicle for hire activity.
   Project examples: Demonstrating the efficacy of electric-cargo bikes or low emissions vehicles as a last-kilometer solution.

Decarbonization and Renewable Energy

1. As we electrify our buildings and transportation sector, reducing the usage of emissions intensive fuels and minimizing the strain on our electricity grid will be necessary. Projects in this category will enable electrification at the building or neighborhood scale, while minimizing the strain on the grid and/or enable alternative low emissions fuels to move towards emissions neutral neighborhoods, buildings and transportation.
   Project examples: SunAlta Power Inc. project on distributed generation, Passive House Alberta’s exploration of load sharing devices
   
2. Modeling suggests that removing carbon from the atmosphere is necessary to reach net zero emissions. Projects in this category will remove and sequester carbon in urban centers via technology solutions. 
   Project examples: Alberta Ecotrust Foundation's Carbon Capture for Nonprofits pilot in partnership with Clean O2.

Calgary

$550,000 is available for projects that benefit Calgary.

Edmonton

$400,000 is available for projects that benefit Edmonton.

January 29-February 26: Expression of Interest Stage

The application portal will open on January 29, 2024 at 9 a.m. MST. Expressions of Interest must be submitted by February 26, 2024 by 6 p.m. MST. We strongly encourage you to meet with our program team to discuss your project prior to submitting an Expression of Interest.

During the call, staff will:

• Get to know your organization and project objectives and work directly with you to ensure your project fits within the Climate Innovation funding focus areas.

• Connect you with additional resources and partners, if applicable.

• Build a relationship with you and help you improve the quality of your application.

Book a 30-minute call with Stefanie for Edmonton based projects or book a call with Adil for Calgary based projects. 

February 27-March 13: EOI Screen

• Our team will screen all Expressions of Interest, utilizing the evaluative criteria detailed in the Application Scorecard. 

• Then we will invite a short list of applicants to submit full proposals.

• We’ll offer direct feedback to unsuccessful applicants.

April 1-April 30: Full Applications

• Our team will work closely with those invited to apply. We will assist you in technical and financial due diligence, providing feedback and direction from the Expression of Interest stage.

May-July: Decision Making

• Our Grant Review Committee will decide which projects to fund. Whether or not you are successful, we will reach out to you to confirm and discuss.

August-September: Feedback

• All unsuccessful applicants will be offered feedback regarding the decision and their project from AEF staff.