The Elsevier Foundation Challenge aims to recognize the pivotal role women play in combating climate change. UN Women reports that globally, one fourth of all economically active women are engaged in agriculture, where they must contend with climate consequences such as crop failure, and also have the disproportionate responsibilities for collecting increasingly scarce water and fuel.
The Elsevier Foundation Chemistry for Climate Action Challenge is now open for individuals and organizations whose projects use green and sustainable chemistry solutions to tackle some of the developing world’s greatest sustainability challenges.
Climate change is the most important challenge for the future of our planet, affecting every
country on every continent, and it is essential that we take action. Climate change is not
only causing rising sea levels and changing weather patterns, but is also disrupting national
economies and affecting lives.
Chemical sciences play a critical role in developing a sustainable future: whether it’s is CO2
reduction and utilization, cleaner production, energy conversion and storage, entire
lifecycles of chemical products, or waste reduction.
Benefits
- A financial award of €25,000 each.
- The Challenge award projects that use green and sustainable chemistry solutions to tackle some of the developing world’s greatest sustainability challenges – encouraging researchers to come up with new solutions. The prizes will be awarded during a special event in October 2022.
Eligibility/Criteria
Projects will be reviewed according to the following criteria:
- The proposal clearly describes the urgency of the problem. Provide a description of the project background and include a description of the broader context and highlight how the project links to the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and more particularly how the project links to SDG13 Climate Action and the sub-targets of this SDG such as: strengthening resilience to climate-related hazards, improve education and awareness, address the needs of developing countries.
- The project utilizes innovative green and sustainable chemistry and chemical sciences approach, for example:
- CO2 reduction and utilization, cleaner production, energy conversion and storage Reduces or eliminates the use or generation of one or more hazardous substances or materials
- More sustainable use of resources and cleaner low-energy production
- Increase reuse or recyclability of chemicals/product
- Designs a new business model related to circular economy.
- The project is replicable, scalable, sustainable (make sure to specify why), and sets a benchmark for innovation – new ideas or concepts in development will be given preference over more advanced projects.
- The proposal highlights the novelty of your approach and gives a short literature overview of what has been done before, both by you and others (“background”).
- The project is applicable in and suitable for developing countries. Describe the project’s social impact on local communities, including gender equality either in design or implementation.
- The project must have an impactful gender component, clearly describing the sex/gender dimensions of the research.
- Include an implementation plan of the project. Please note that if the project has been developed in a high-income country, contextually appropriate knowledge transfer to the lower income country is needed to be demonstrated, for instance through a developing country implementation or research partner(s). If the idea presented is already patented, it will not be eligible.
