RFPs: Accelerating the Transition to an Equitable, Resource-Efficient, Low-Carbon Economy (Canada)

This RfP uniquely builds upon recent work by a partnership led by the Smart Prosperity Institute (SPI) on the material needs of decarbonization, and is designed to feed into emerging policy-oriented research needs on a clean-energy transition that ensures Canada’s continued prosperity in a low-carbon future.

Topics of Interest

Topics of particular interest for this funding opportunity include:

• Policy, regulatory, and governance challenges for low-carbon, circular transitions.
  • What policies or regulatory changes are needed to better integrate resource efficiency or other circular economy objectives into project approval, siting, construction, maintenance, and decommissioning decisions for low-carbon energy production, storage, or infrastructure projects?  What are the potential costs and benefits of this integration?
  • What regulatory innovations are required to accelerate new project approvals to support a low-carbon energy transition (e.g. new critical mineral extraction or refining, or new renewable energy infrastructure) while also driving improved performance on environmental and social outcomes?
  • What evidence or data exists from theory, practice, modelling, or case studies about how circular policy approaches can complement existing climate policy frameworks in accelerating an economy-wide low-carbon transition, or within specific sectors?  How cost-effective are these approaches?
• Advancing Reconciliation and/or equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) outcomes within a low-carbon, circular transition.
  • What innovative regulatory, institutional, governance, or finance reforms are needed to align the material needs of decarbonization with Reconciliation and/or EDI goals?
  • What are the impacts (positive or negative) of circular policies or approaches to drive resource efficiency and lower environmental footprints of material sourcing for a low-carbon transition on Indigenous Peoples, equity-deserving groups, or low-income Canadians?
• Supporting greater coordination between national, regional, and local efforts for low-carbon, circular transitions.
  • What challenges exist for local and regional governments in the establishment of circular, clean energy value chains and how can local/regional efforts inform federal policy design for greater resource efficiency?
  • How can multi-scale or multi-jurisdictional collaboration for low-carbon solutions and greater circularity be facilitated, and how should existing regional or federal policy frameworks be shifted to accommodate new solutions at each level of government?  Is there any evidence on what approaches tend to be most successful?
• Data, metrics, and indicators for a low-carbon, circular economy.
  • What new metrics or indicators are needed to inform decision-making, set targets, and track progress on climate, environmental, sustainability, reconciliation, and social goals in the context of a transition toward a circular, low-carbon economy?  Are there opportunities for big data to support these objectives?
  • What new data or indicators (or better integration of existing data and indicators) are needed to track the environmental or climate footprint of products from upstream material sourcing through downstream primary, secondary, tertiary, etc., markets?

Funding Information

• Proposals describing full research projects (i.e. original research, data analysis, case studies) or research development work (i.e. literature synthesis, dataset development) will be considered for funding.
• Research development activities can apply for up to one year of funding, with proposals generally not exceeding CAD$10,000, for research scoping work to be completed no later than March 31, 2025.
• Full research projects can apply for up to two years of funding, with funding for Year 2 conditional on the successful completion of Year 1 deliverables. The maximum funding available is CAD$30,000 over two years, with projects to be completed by March 31, 2026. Note that the funding request does not need to be balanced between years, but no more than CAD$20,000 will be awarded for any given fiscal year.

Eligibility Criteria

• Proposals should be focused on Canada and can be submitted by faculty, graduate students, or post-doctoral fellows.

For more information, visit Smart Prosperity Institute (SPI).