Barcelona is present in international initiatives against climate change. The background of Google.org, ICLEI Action Fund, has officially opened a new call for applications. It is open to non-profit and civil society organizations, which can receive a maximum funding of one million euros to implement data-driven actions that help cities reduce their emissions and improve their resilience to change. climate. The deadline for submitting proposals is July 24, 2022.
In Europe, this Google.org fund has an endowment of seven million euros, which for the time being will go to projects in the cities of Barcelona, Berlin, Stockholm, Glasgow, Helsinki, Malmö, Rome and Rotterdam. Other cities will be added to this list in the coming weeks.
The call is addressed to environmental action projects and climate, with special emphasis on mobility, buildings, solar energy, air quality management and climate resilience. The Fund is open to proposals that contribute to an inclusive transition of cities and the fulfillment of climate objectives.
This announcement builds on our efforts announced in 2020, when we provided funding to 6 projects from 6 different cities that used data to test new strategies to reduce emissions and improve air quality in European cities.
Fair access to renewable energy
As explained by Wolfgang Teubner, regional director of ICLEI in Europe, «ICLEI Action Fund has the vocation to support innovative projects that help cities to provide their inhabitants with fair and equitable access to renewable energy, sustainable mobility alternatives and greener and healthier public spaces. In view of the success of the first round of grants, we are confident that we will receive high-quality proposals from organizations that meet the eligibility criteria, with intensive use of relevant data sources and green technologies to foster smart and sustainable actions at scale. local”.
ICLEI Action Fund is a grant program created by the ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability network with the support of Google.org, with the aim of promoting environmental and climate projects that make meaningful use of data from private and public sources. Its ICLEI Action Fund 1.0 European tranche kicked off in May 2020, awarding €2.5 million to six academic institutions and non-profit organizations in Copenhagen (Denmark), Berlin and Hamburg (Germany), Nantes ( France), Birmingham and Oldham (UK).
This new call (“ICLEI Action Fund 2.0”) endorses a shared commitment of ICLEI Europe and Google.org: to accelerate climate action to build more sustainable cities with the help of technology and innovation. Google.org has contributed another €2.8 million to ICLEI USA, totaling nearly €10 million in support of data-driven environmental projects.
In the words of Rowan Barnett, Director of Google.org for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, “Google is committed to helping more than 500 cities reduce their carbon emissions by one gigaton by 2030 by giving city councils better access to data and technology. We also want to encourage greater collaboration with civil society, which will be essential to achieve this goal. With this new call we want to continue the success of our first ICLEI Action Fund, and continue contributing to the design, construction and operation of more sustainable cities with a greater capacity for regeneration”.
