PICS’ new Opportunity Projects Program is funding research into climate education, decarbonizing of BC’s energy system and much more.
Assessing different approaches to alternate sources of electricity so BC can meet its GHG-reduction targets and updating the province’s education curriculum to better integrate climate education into teaching and learning are among the newest research being funded by the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions’ Opportunity Projects Program (OPP).
The Solution Seekers behind the OPP projects represent First Nations, government and private industry while Research Partners come from the University of Victoria, UBC and SFU. The various projects will receive a combined $763,000 over three years.
In OPP, PICS encourages research teams to take risks in pursuit of high-impact results. The program aims to deliver climate-mitigation or -adaptation solutions within the relatively near-term by unleashing emerging leaders in their fields.
The successful OPP projects from the 2021 competition are:
- Decarbonization of BC’s Energy System (principal investigator: Taco Niet, SFU);
- Turning the Tide: Exploring Clean Marine Propulsion in Coastal Indigenous Communities (Clifford Atleo, SFU);
- Drought and Deluge: Informed Water Allocation Decision Making in a World of Intensifying Hydrologic Extremes (Diana Allen, SFU);
- Infusing Climate Education into the BC Curriculum (David Zandvliet, SFU); and
- Trash is Cash: Optimization and Benefit Quantification of Input-Output Biomass-to-Bioproduct Conversion Processes (Yankai Cao, UBC).
Non-academic research partners in the projects include Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, Skidegate Band Council, Renewable Hydrogen Canada Corp., BC Hydro and various BC government ministries and agencies.
The 2022 OPP is open to submissions starting April 28 and the deadline is Aug. 3. Notification of adjudication decisions will be issued in December and projects will start in 2023.
For more information, email picsopp@uvic.ca.