In 2016, the BNP Paribas Foundation is launching a new call for projects in Europe, with the aim of selecting 4-7 research projects that will increase our understanding about the climate, climate change and their consequences for our environment and human societies.
Projects will be selected through a rigorous process conducted by a scientific committee made up of people who are well known within their area of research:
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Philippe Gillet, Vice-Chairman of Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. Mr Gillet leads the scientific committee and is a member of the BNP Paribas Foundation's executive committee.
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Joanna Haigh, Professor of Atmospheric Physics at Imperial College London, Co-Director of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and Environment.
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Jean-Pascal Van Ypersele, Professor of Climatology and Environmental Sciences at the Université Catholique de Louvain, where he co-directs the Master programme in Science and Management of the Environment. He was Vice-Chairman of the IPCC until 2015.
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Thomas Stocker, Professor and Head of the Climate and Environmental Physics Department at the University of Bern.
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Riccardo Valentini, Professor of Forest Ecology at the University of Tuscia, Italy.
- Corinne Le Quéré, Professor of Climate Change Science and Policy at the University of East Anglia, Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research.
The selection process will take place between 1 March and 30 November 2016, and will consist of two stages:
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candidate teams must submit a concept note between 1 March and 2 May 2016
- pre-selected teams must submit full applications between 1 July and 15 September 2016
The selection criteria and details of how to take part in the call for projects are available at Climate Initiative
A few of the selection criteria
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The project must be a scientific research project (fundamental and/or applied research) and its subject must be the climate, climate change, the impact of climate change on our environment, or the adaptation of ecosystems and communities around the world. It may therefore address one or more research themes including climatology, physics, geology, oceanography, marine or terrestrial biology, glaciology, hydrology, atmospheric sciences, volcanology and economic and social sciences.
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The public-interest organisation under which the project will take place must be non-profit-making and based in a European Union country, Iceland or Norway, although it may work in collaboration with laboratories that are not located in those countries.
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The project must have scientific merit in terms of its degree of innovation, potential for advancing further in understanding the subject concerned, and interest in the subject among the international scientific community.
- Another selection criterion relates to publicising and developing interest in the project: quality of planned educational initiatives, potential for communicating with the general public regarding the project, and the innovative nature of initiatives planned in this area.
About the Climate Initiative
The call for projects is taking place as part of the Climate Initiative, a BNP Paribas Foundation corporate philanthropy programme with a budget of €3 million over the three-year period from 2017 to 2019. Since 2010, the Climate Initiative has already enabled ten international research teams to study various themes related to the climate and climate change: past climates, the risk of invasion by certain insect species, ocean acidification, permafrost thawing and the carbon cycle.
In 2012, the BNP Paribas Foundation received the jury's special prize in the corporate philanthropy awards organised by France's Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy.
All funded projects are presented on the BNP Paribas Foundation website and on YouTube.
About the BNP Paribas Foundation
Under the aegis of the Fondation de France, the BNP Paribas Foundation has been playing a key role in corporate philanthropy for 30 years. It is also encouraging and contributing to the BNP Paribas’ philanthropic policy growth in all parts of the world where the Group does business.
The BNP Paribas Foundation’s activities are aimed at promoting innovative projects dedicated to the Arts, Solidarity and the Environment. It provides optimal support to its partners, through a long-term commitment. Since 1984, it is more than 300 cultural projects, 40 research programs and a thousand of social and educational initiatives which profited from its support, in France and all over the world.