The U.S. Department of State is pleased to announce the winners of the third annual Resilience Innovation Grant, a part of the Greening Diplomacy Initiative (GDI) Awards. Sponsored by the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO), the grant provides nearly $1 million to help U.S. embassies and consulates address emerging environmental risks for their operations with innovative solutions. Selected projects positively impact the communities the Department operates in and provides tangible examples of sustainability and resilience technology and interventions. This has taken on even more importance this year as President Biden has directed all agencies to lead by example on climate change through Executive Order 14008 on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad.
Incorporating a variety of technologies and spanning every region in the world, the thirteen winning projects ranged in size from $1,500 to $266,708. Water security emerged as a theme, with winning projects focusing on water bottle-filling stations, rainwater harvesting, water wells, and a water treatment and recycling system. The winning posts will receive guidance from OBO and the Office of Management Strategy and Solutions (M/SS) on implementation.
Winning diplomatic posts include Embassy Vientiane, Embassy Nur-Sultan, Embassy Madrid, Embassy Dili, Embassy Abidjan, Embassy Seoul, Embassy Skopje, and Consulate General Hermosillo which received grants for projects to improve their water management. Embassy Managua, Embassy Manila, Embassy Dili, and Embassy Beijing received grants to improve their energy consumption. Embassy Amman received a grant aimed at improving its ability to support electric vehicles (EVs).
