With the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change (PCF), Canada has set an ambitious agenda to guide actions that will grow the economy while reducing emissions, protect and enhance carbon sinks and build resilience to adapt to a changing climate. Science-based information underlies the effective delivery of many climate change actions and the PCF provides a driver for a more holistic planning and delivery of climate change science for Canada.
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Health Canada (HC), and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) are partnering to strengthen collaborative efforts among federal scientists and the academic community to advance policy-relevant climate change science that supports work of the PCF.
The anticipated budget for this initiative is approximately $4.8 million and individual proposals should not exceed three years or requests beyond an average of $180,000 annually. Applicants are required to collaborate with at least one Federal Department or Agency from the Government of Canada. All project expenditures will be subject to NSERC’s Use of Grant Funds whose requirements are outlined in the Tri-Agency Financial Administration Guide. The maximum level (stacking limit) of total government assistance (federal, provincial, and municipal assistance for the same eligible expenditures) will not exceed 100 per cent of eligible expenditures.
Program objectives
Advancing Climate Change Science in Canada is intended to provide support for activities that will:
- Increase collaboration among federal scientists and policy makers and the extramural academic community to strengthen Canada’s research ecosystem;
- Enhance the ability of Canadian universities to support the objectives of the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change;
- Increase the scientific information available to support government decision-making on climate action.
Research objectives
The proposed research project must address at least one of the following research objectives:
- Heat: to help protect the health of Canadians through advancing innovation for energy efficient cooling technologies, such as the cooling potential of natural infrastructures;
- Forests: accelerates knowledge of ecosystem services in the context of climate change, such as the role of forests and trees as natural infrastructure in increasing climate resilience, mitigating climate change, human health and wellbeing, and promoting biodiversity in urban or rural landscapes;
- Carbon cycle: to improve understanding of carbon dynamics in Canadian ecosystems, with a focus on how to quantify, protect, and enhance natural carbon sinks.