NO. The BNP Paribas Foundation will only subsidize the projects that will be selected by the Scientific Committee at the end of this Call for Projects.

NO. There is simply a maximum amount of € 800,000 per project over 3 years. In addition, the grant from the BNP Paribas Foundation must be between 25 and 60% of the total budget of the project.

NO. The grant may be used to cover all types of expenses, including wages, equipment, consumables, travel expenses, event costs etc. However, as the objective is to give most of the funds for research purpose, it is not the intention of the BNP Paribas Foundation to help finance a major proportion of management/administrative fees (typical overhead supported by BNP Paribas Foundation is about 7%)

YES. For legal reasons, BNP Paribas Foundation can only transfer the grant to a non-profit entity based in the European Economic Area and that has been established since at least 3 years. The reallocation of funds between the project member organisations (e.g. to cover the expenses of the partners involved) must be detailed and managed by the non-profit entity itself. 

YES. In-kind resources such as the salary cost of permanent staff (researchers, ...) may be included in the project budget and those costs treated as co-funding. The Foundation does however require that the breakdown of the various costs attributed to the project should be balanced and consistent.

The BNP Paribas Foundation guarantees that information about every research project candidate will be treated in strict confidentiality. Only the relevant people involved in the selection process will have access to the information provided through forms submitted via the website. At the end of each stage, all information concerning non-selected projects will be deleted entirely from the databases.

Since 2010, four calls for projects have been issued as part of the Climate & Biodiversity Initiative. In 2019, 61 elligible projects were put forward for the first stage, 27 projects were selected to go forward to the second stage and 9 projects finally received a Foundation grant.

YES. But the principal investigator must not have already benefited from the support of the BNP Paribas Foundation for a project they coordinated. On the other hand, they can be attached to a laboratory that has already received a grant or participated in a project already supported.

YES. Different projects led by the same institution may be submitted. One scientist could be involved in various submitted research projects.

YES. The funding scale indicated in the documents concerning the proportion of philanthropy funding should be understood as follows: the BNP Paribas Foundation aims to contribute significantly to the project’s funding (25% up 60% maximum), but does not wish to be the exclusive funder. However, projects that do not yet have any other committed funders are not excluded. It is therefore permitted for a candidate to apply, even if some other funding requests have not yet been finalized (for example other calls for projects).

YES. The proposed start date will then correspond to either the actual start date of the project or the start date of a new characteristic phase of an initiative that has already started. In this case, the presentation of the project must include a presentation of the actions already carried out, even if the BNP Paribas Foundation will not have contributed to the financing of these actions. However, since the funding of the BNP Paribas Foundation lasts three years, it is necessary that the project takes place at least until 2025.

NO. The Foundation does not fund such projects and does not provide scholarships under this Program.

NO. The “Climate & Biodiversity Initiative” call for projects is not intended to finance only this type of action. It will only finance concrete projects implemented in the planned intervention zones. However, communication events (lectures, exhibitions, etc.) should be planned throughout the implementation of the project as dissemination & outreach are important criteria of selection.

YES. Young researchers with no permanent position (junior scientist, postdocs, etc.) may respond to this call on the behalf of their university or laboratory. Young researchers are welcome and diversity in age and/or experience will be regarded as a positive asset during the assessment process.

NO. There is no precise expectation regarding the minimum or maximum number of partners involved. The number of partners will naturally depend on the type of scientific research undertaken and the range of expertise required to run the project. A grant-approved project will receive the funding directly via the administrative supporting entity (which must meet the eligibility criteria: see the terms of the call for projects document and the related question above. It is entirely a matter for the partners to decide how the grant is distributed.

YES. A deliberate decision was taken not to restrict the eligible research themes. However, the research project must be scientific and related to climate change and biodiversity issues. If, at the end of the first stage, some of the projects pre-selected by the BNP Paribas Foundation deal with scientific issues that are not within the scope of the Scientific Committee members’ expertise, specific experts will be appointed to help the Foundation assess these projects.

NO. The research project has to focus on both climate and biodiversity. However, it can have a major on either subject, as long as it delves into the issue of the interactions between climate and biodiversity. For example: impacts of climate change on biodiversity, contributions of biodiversity to climate regulation, biodiversity adaptation to climate change, nature-based solutions for mitigating and adapting to climate change, including the role of biodiversity on terrestrial and marine carbon stocks, solutions and challenges at the climate-biodiversity-society interface for achieving transformative change, ….

NO. Forests, urban biodiversity, agricultural biodiversity, coastal ecosystems, deserts, oceans, water, tropical lands, poles... : any kind of ecosystem, fauna, flora, in any part of the world, at any scale, can be eligible to the 'Climate & Biodiversity Initiative', as long as it is studied with regard to climate-related stakes.

NO. Any aspect of the climate science is eligible to the Initiative, as long as it is studied with regard to biodiversity-related at stakes. Although not being part of the climate system as such, ocean acidification is also eligible as a consequence of the modification to the carbon cycle.

NO. The website works on any browsers: Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari...

YES. Changes can be made any time before the deadline. All applications shall be submitted before 20 April at midnight (Paris time).

The difference can be the invisible characters accidentally or automatically copied from Microsoft Word and pasted on the website.