The Climate Action and Awareness Fund (CAAF) was created with an investment from the Environmental Damages Fund, largely as a result of the highest valued fine ever received by the program.
The CAAF is designed to support projects that can create middle class jobs for Canadians who work in science and technology, academia, and at the grassroots community level. Since 2020, the CAAF has been funding projects aimed at supporting youth climate awareness and community-based climate action, climate research at Canadian think tanks and in academia, and advancing climate change science and technology.
The most recent round of CAAF allocated funding, announced on June 7, 2024, will support nine projects to be carried out in four provinces and territories across Canada- three in Newfoundland, three in New Brunswick, two in Saskatchewan, and one in the Yukon.
NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR
Recipient: Ducks Unlimited Canada
Funding amount: $255,000
Wetlands for climate adaptation: Promoting the role of wetlands as nature-based solutions for Newfoundland communities: This project aims to increase local knowledge about the value of wetlands for climate change resilience and local capacity to implement nature-based solutions.
Recipient: Western Environment Centre Inc.
Funding amount: $250,000
Foods as climate action in Western Newfoundland: This project will engage residents in the rural town of Corner Brook and the surrounding region on the connections between food systems and climate change. The project will include educating communities and enhancing their ability to adopt specific and relevant methods of reducing their carbon footprints by modifying food systems and consumer habits.
Recipient: EcoSchools Canada
Funding amount: $685,470
Climate action and awareness in K-12 Newfoundland and Labrador schools: This project will activate new student-centred EcoTeams across Newfoundland and Labrador. It will motivate 10,000 students and educators to get involved or engaged in activities focusing on building capacity for climate action and increasing awareness and understanding of the need to reduce greenhouse gases.
NEW BRUNSWICK
Recipient: EOS Eco-Energy Inc.
Funding amount: $103,700
Turning awareness into action: Community-based solar education and demonstration projects in New Brunswick: This project will create various tools and build skills in relation to solar energy among youth and adults and aims to increase solar energy use at the community level and decrease power emissions.
Recipient: EcoSchools Canada
Funding amount: $353,572
Climate action and awareness in K-12 New Brunswick schools: This project, led by EcoSchools Canada, aims to leverage the EcoSchools Canada certification framework and online platform to motivate and engage 30,000 students and educators across the province as they take action for the climate, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and raise awareness of climate impacts in their communities.
Recipient: Société d'aménagement de la rivière Madawaska inc.
Funding amount: $322,500
Creating green spaces in Haut-Madawaska schoolyards to combat climate change: This project, led by the Société d'aménagement de la rivière Madawaska inc., aims to create green spaces in various schoolyards of the Haut-Madawaska area, while providing students with the opportunity to learn how their actions can contribute to the fight against climate change.
SASKATCHEWAN
Recipient: Saskatchewan Association of Watersheds Inc.
Funding amount: $450,000
Watershed stewardship for a changing climate: This project aims to provide education and awareness to communities in Saskatchewan about the impacts of climate change on watersheds. The project will promote an understanding of critical watershed services, such as transportation of water, nutrients and sediments, and support for ecosystems that capture and store carbon.
Recipient: EcoSchools Canada
Funding amount: $496,620
Climate action and awareness in K-12 Saskatchewan schools: This project will leverage the EcoSchools Canada certification framework and online platform to motivate and engage 25,000 students and educators across Saskatchewan as they take action for the climate, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and raise awareness of climate impacts in their communities.
YUKON
Recipient: Yukon University
Funding amount: $450,800
An outreach climatologist for Yukon: This project will staff and support an outreach climatologist position that will be devoted to developing and delivering learning modules that integrate into Yukon University's existing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) curriculum while supporting teachers in facilitating an understanding of the central issues in the fight to combat climate change.
