RFP- Supporting Natural Climate Solutions in the Pacific Northwest

​The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation is launching a new initiative that will invest up to $5 million in support of rigorous, place-based, and inclusive Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) projects in the Pacific Northwest (PNW).

The objective of the initiative is to deploy rigorous, place-based NCS projects in the PNW to accelerate climate change mitigation, while also providing biodiversity and human well-being co-benefits. The foundation is particularly interested in projects that are community-driven and done in partnership through collaborations between Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs), non-profit organizations, academic groups, and independent research labs or professional societies.

Definitions: NCS and IPLC

Natural climate solutions (NCS) are nature-based solutions that can provide up to 37% of the cost-effective global CO2 mitigation needed through 2030 to stabilize warming to below 2°C. In the United States, NCS have the potential to mitigate up to 21% of net annual emissions. The PNW is home to significant NCS potential – for example, improved fire management alone in the Cascades is estimated to provide 2.5 Tg CO2e year−1. In Washington state, an analysis of 11 NCS pathways found NCS could account for 4-9% of the State’s net zero goal. To be effective climate change solutions, NCS must be 1) nature-based, 2) sustainable, 3) climate-additional, 4) measurable, and 5) equitable to be effective.

Specifically, IPLC "is a term used internationally by representatives, organizations, and conventions to refer to individuals and communities who are, on the one hand, self-identified as indigenous and, on the other hand, are members of local communities that maintain inter-generational connection to place and nature through livelihood, cultural identity and worldviews, institutions and ecological knowledge.” Here, local communities are “non-indigenous communities with historical linkages to places and livelihoods characterized by long-term relationships with the natural environment, often over generations.” As such, local communities encompass socially cohesive groups that have ties to a specific geography.

NCS Pathways

What are NCS pathways? NCS pathways are deliberate human actions that protect, restore, and improve management of ecosystems to mitigate climate change. The below table provides some of the more well-established natural climate solution (NCS) pathways, their definition, and some examples of what it means in practice. There are several candidate NCS pathways, but there may be insufficient evidence (i.e., there is still high uncertainty) that these pathways provide climate change mitigation services.

Eligibility

_You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website._

• Projects must specify the proposed NCS pathway(s) and must aim to adhere to normative principles for rigorous NCS projects.
• Projects must have a plan to report baseline and endline CO2 estimates for place-based projects. Reporting may also use carbon dioxide equivalent units.
• Projects must be in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, British Columbia, and/or Alaska.
• If relevant, projects should articulate and measure any relevant human well-being and biodiversity co-benefits.
• In order to be eligible to receive funding from the foundation, the primary organization be a tax-exempt 501(c)(3), U.S. organizations; Units of state or local government; State colleges or universities; Canadian non-profit organizations registered with the Canada Revenue Agency; state or federally recognized tribal communities or tribes, as well as tribal colleges and universities, and non-profits.
• Prior to any award of funding, organizations must review and agree to the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation Grantee Code of Conduct.
• Projects up to 3 years in duration will be considered. The project period should be appropriate for the proposed work.
• As long as the project itself is located in the Pacific Northwest any eligible organization outside the PAcific Northwest may apply or be partners on an LOI and proposal. Projects where the Pacific Northwest is not the primary geography are ineligible, such as a global project where one site is situated in the Pacific Northwest.
• Projects can include advocacy for public policy.  However, the foundation cannot support any activities that attempt to influence legislation or influence the outcome of any election, as further defined under Internal Revenue Code section 4945.
• We are excited to support rigorous – or high integrity – NCS projects rather than any specific type of NCS project (e.g., agroforestry, peatland restoration, etc.). As a result, we are open to NCS projects that are in forests, peatlands, grasslands, wetlands, etc. if the project is intentionally designed to adhere to the five normative principles for rigorous NCS projects.