Space4Climate Market Breakthrough Funding

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Background

The message from this summer’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) was clear: 1.5°C of warming will be reached by 2040 in all scenarios. Without transformational, urgent and collaborative change, across the world, we will be subject to the most extreme heat, flooding and supply-chain climate impacts. The satellite Earth Observation climate community has long been researching, innovating and supporting advancement of climate science however the need of the hour remains the slow uptake of powerful insights and analysis provided by satellite-derived data sets and services across commercial sectors. At Space4Climate one of our core missions is to enable a seamless supply chain of trusted climate data from space to support end user adoption for climate action.

Our community is well aware of the common barriers to adoption of satellite Earth Observation data and we have seen adoption rates increase thanks to technological advancements of satellites, cloud computing and partly thanks to innovative business models. However, there still continues to be high barriers to adoption across the public and private sectors which are imperative to address and to proliferate rapid uptake of climate data and services for global climate and Net Zero action.

With over 60 UK member organisations working across the satellite climate data value chain, Space4Climate is committed to making the path easier for our community and the wider sector that will benefit from the impact. To this end, we have allocated funding for organisations across the space and non-space sectors to collaborate to find solutions to the toughest market challenges faced by the UK satellite climate EO community, with input from external organisations around the world with relevant expertise.

This activity will be a starting point towards our initiative. We aim to build on the recommendations/solutions through the Space4Climate programme so the UK satellite EO climate sector can learn and act across the four sectors. Our call builds on the community values of Space4Climate and will not be a competition but a collaboration. Space4Climate urges interested entities to work together in one project team for each theme, working collectively towards a common solution and mission.

Funding type: Procurement

Project size and funding: A total of up to £300,000, inclusive of VAT, is allocated for the four themes at a maximum cost of £75,000, inclusive of VAT, per theme.
Project Duration:
Minimum 12 months and maximum 15 months (projects will need to be completed by December 2024)

Who can apply

Project eligibility

• 1 consortium submission per theme
• Start by 1^st September 2023
• End no later than December 31^st, 2024
• Must be a minimum of 12 months
• Have maximum total costs of up to £75,000, inclusive of VAT

Project team / consortium

1. Led by a UK-registered entity of any size.
2. Form a collaborative project team with others from business, research organisations and/or sector end users worldwide.
3. Purchase order for the project and subsequent milestone payments will be placed only to a single entity (the lead organisation) which will be considered as the main contractor and the collaborating organisations part of the team, as sub-contractors.
4. Space4Climate will not prepare any contracts for the work and the lead entity will have to enter into an MoU or collaboration agreement with the consortium.

Scope

The aim of this collaboration funding is to speed up the rate of adoption of satellite-based climate services. Four teams will collaborate to provide market validated recommendations of solutions across four climate critical sectors –

1. Sustainable Finance – adoption across the climate finance landscape and its respective stakeholder which includes but is not limited to ESG, financial disclosures (TCFD and TNFD) and climate risk analysis.
2. GHG Emissions – adoption of existing satellite-based GHG data sets and data products across industries for reporting and verification.
3. Net zero 1: Agriculture – adoption of satellite climate services to better Agriculture/Agro-business practices to reduce emissions and lower transition risks.
4. Net zero 2: Energy – adoption of satellite climate services in identifying and providing transparency of energy consumption and waste across the urban and industrial sectors for corrective action.

Each theme will be championed by an expert from the sector, to provide guidance and support when required to the project team. Champions will be announced in August.

Please access the theme information sheet for more information on theme scope.

Your project must:

• Demonstrate significant support and engagement from relevant sector end users or customers.
• Address sector specific barriers and be backed by relevant literature or end user statements.
• Provide a clear market solution or recommendations to 1 or more key barriers that benefit both research and industry. Some examples could be – reports, workshops, framework design …
• Outputs must show potential for positive economic and societal impact.
• Outputs must address any regulatory issues and constraints.

Important dates

• 7^th July 2023 – Online briefing and fund launch
• 11^th July 2023 – Lead organisation selection communicated to Space4Climate
• 26^th July 2023 – Consortia submit Expression of Interest
• 31^st July 2023 – Space4Climate panel feeds back on EoI to the 4 project teams
• 16^th August 2023 – Final proposal submission
• 1^st September 2023 – Projects start
• End of October (date TBC) – COP28 showcase milestone
• 2024/2025 (date TBC) – Final presentations

How to apply

By submitting an application, you agree to the terms set out in the Terms & Conditions document. Once successful, Space4Climate and the University of Reading will place the master Purchase Order confirmation to kickstart the project and it will need to be signed and returned by the lead entity.

As the lead entity applying you will be responsible for:

• Submitting the main application.
• Collecting information for your application.
• Complying with efforts to onboard your entity as an approved vendor with University of Reading.
• Setting up a collaboration agreement or MoU between you and your consortium.
• Acting as the main point of contact on all matters with Space4Climate/ University of Reading.
• Representing your team in leading the project if your application is successful.

Application key steps:

1. Individual/organisation interested to lead the project must notify Space4Climate by July 11^th 2023
2. Project team submits an Expression of Interest by July 26^th 2023
3. Final proposal as per the Application Form to be submitted by August 16^th 2023

What happens next

A panel of Space4Climate board members (members from commercial organisations will not be part of the panel) will review, feedback and confirm project acceptance. Since this is not a competition, if the panel decides there is not a suitable proposal for a theme to progress, that project will not be approved and therefore that theme will not be addressed at this stage.

Supporting information

For those who could not attend the event briefing and networking session but are interested to join a project team, please email us at space4climate@reading.ac.uk.

If you need more information about the call or how to apply, email space4climate@reading.ac.uk  or call 07785358776.

Slides from the Webinar