Metcalf is pleased to announce the first cohort of grantees in our Environment Program’s Climate Blueprints funding stream. The goal of Climate Blueprints is to produce implementable policy reports – accessible, well-researched, and balanced – that act as guides for achieving climate commitments at the provincial and/or national levels.

The first deadline for Climate Blueprints was March 29, 2018 and we were substantially oversubscribed. Applications were reviewed by the Foundation’s staff, assisted by an Advisory Committee with knowledge of the sector. In June, Metcalf’s Board approved the following five grants to be co-funded in partnership with Echo Foundation:

• $60,000 for David Suzuki Foundation to identify policy options for expanding British Columbia’s carbon tax to include fugitive methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. Their research will also provide credible policy recommendations on methane measurement and mitigation with a goal to have these implemented within B.C.’s three-year fiscal plan.
• $57,000 for Pembina Foundation to identify policy and program options for the implementation of existing climate commitments related to heavy-duty vehicles, evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each option using relevant criteria, and generate a list of preferred policy and program pathways with clear steps for implementation and identification of a lead agency.
• $75,000 for Pembina Foundation to analyze the gap between Alberta, British Columbia, and the federal commitments to methane emissions-reduction targets and offer feasible and effective policy options that would ensure stringent implementation of methane reduction actions in both the short- and long-term.
• $30,000 for ­­­­­Clean Energy Canada to outline a series of recommendations to strengthen federal, provincial, and municipal capacity to invest in low-carbon infrastructure in the built environment. Clean Energy Canada’s goal is to have their recommendations adopted to guide the 2019 federal budget allocations for infrastructure spending.
• $40,000 for York University’s Professor Mark Winfield, alongside some of Canada’s foremost researchers in the field of energy efficiency, to assess economic, institutional, and organizational models that are available to realize the full potential for energy efficiency in Canada. The project will establish a set of guidelines and best practices for energy efficiency implementation and make recommendations for a national strategy on energy efficiency to Canadian governments.

Future Climate Blueprints Deadlines

The Foundation had originally planned to have a second Climate Blueprints deadline in the fall but in light of the overwhelming demand in our March round and the high calibre of applications received, we have made the tough decision to cancel the October deadline. New 2019 funding deadlines for Climate Blueprints will be announced in late 2018.