The ICLEI Action Fund is a granting scheme conducted by ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability with support from Google.org to foster data-driven environmental and climate action at the local level. Initially launched in May 2020, the first phase of the programme funded 2,5 million euros to six data-driven projects carried out by non-profit organisations and academic institutions in four European countries. In May 2022, the Fund launched a second call for applications offering 7 million euros to finance seven projects using climate and environmental data. The topics include sustainable mobility; sustainable and energy efficient buildings; solar energy development; climate adaptation and resilience; air quality management or projects that fall into the category environmental and climate action.
ICLEI Action Fund Greece is an initiative conducted by ICLEI with support from Google.org to foster data-driven environmental and climate action at the local level, driving tangible change in Greek cities.
The recently launched ICLEI Action Fund Greece will grant up to 275,000 EUR to projects in select Greek cities to support initiatives aimed at reducing city greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and enhancing resilience to the impacts of climate change. Through this granting scheme, we bring together projects committed to combating the impacts of climate change.
The funding scheme is targeted at cities that are part of the EU Mission for Climate Neutral and Smart Cities, or are signatories to the EU Mission for Adaptation to Climate Change. Eligible cities in Greece include: Areas of Athens (including Central Athens and Vari-Voula-Vouliagmeni), Chalkis Heraklion (Crete), Ioannina, Kalamata, Kozani, Larissa, Thessaloniki, and Trikala.
The call is open to civil society organisations, and research and academic institutions (non-profit) in Greece with a demonstrated commitment to climate action at the local level. Successful applicants should foster collaboration between local governments, contributing to a united front against the challenges posed by climate change.
Interested organisations are encouraged to explore the eligibility requirements and submit applications before 29 February 2024 using this application form. The projects submitted for consideration should align with our focus areas of environmental and climate action. Emphasising key aspects such as sustainable mobility, energy-efficient buildings, solar energy, air quality management, and climate resilience, proposals should contribute to a just transition and align with cities' climate and smart city goals.
The Action Fund Greece is a granting scheme led by ICLEI Europe, with support from Google.org. The goal is to boost the development of data-driven environmental and climate action projects in Greece. Civil society organisations, academic institutions and non-profit research institutes are invited to participate and develop innovative projects in this field. This call will provide financial support of up to 275,000 EUR to projects that use open data from different sources, including data from Google Environmental Insights Explorer (EIE), to foster inclusive environmental and climate action at the local level. Private data can also complement projects and should be focused on non-profit, charitable or educational purposes.
The call welcomes projects under the topic of environment and climate action, with an emphasis on the following fields: sustainable mobility, sustainable and energy-efficient buildings, solar energy development, climate adaptation and resilience, and air quality management. Projects should contribute to enhancing social and climate justice in the city of implementation, and be aligned with local and national policies for climate action.
Grants up to 275,000 EUR per institution/organisation, to be allocated in instalments.
Civil society organisations, academic institutions, and non-profit research institutes in the following Greek cities are invited to apply for the Action Fund Greece:
The call is open for projects focused on environmental and climate action, with an emphasis on sustainable mobility, sustainable and energy-efficient buildings, solar energy, climate adaptation and resilience, and air quality management.
The Action Fund Greece welcomes projects that use data from different sources like Google EIE or others. Such projects should foster the use of new technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, etc for enhanced local climate action.
The Action Fund Greece will grant up to 275,000 EUR per project. Even though there is no minimum funding defined, the goal is to support the implementation of real action at the local level.
The Action Fund Greece welcomes projects that use publicly available data, which may be complemented with private data. The Google Environmental Insights Explorer (EIE) tool is one example of data that can be used, although that is not mandatory. You can use as many datasets as you wish, as long as at least one of them is publicly available.
The Google EIE aims to make the process of assessing an emissions baseline and identifying reduction opportunities easier for cities. Unique Google data sources and modelling capabilities allow users to more easily produce estimates of related activity, greenhouse gas emissions, and reduction opportunities in over 40,000 cities worldwide.
The Google EIE is being updated continuously and, even though data for your city might not be publicly available in the tool, ICLEI Europe can provide you access to it. If you are interested in exploring the data further and would like more information, please contact us at actionfund@gmail.com.
Please note that in general there are two main cost categories, that can be covered by the Action Fund:
1. Costs directly linked to the action:
2. Indirect costs (fixed overheads: rent, insurance, office expenses, etc.) are also partially refundable. In addition, only reasonable and justified costs can be considered in the estimated budget of the action. To be reasonable and justified for the action planning costs must be:
Furthermore, costs that can be covered depend mainly and directly on the described action and the estimated budget.
Indirect costs are costs that are not directly linked to the action of the project, but are partially eligible for reimbursement. Indirect costs include costs frequently referred to as overhead expenses (e.g. rent and utilities) and administrative expenses (e.g. administration officers salaries, accounting department costs, etc.). In general indirect costs include administration, personnel and security costs.
In this call, a lump sum of up to 25% of the personnel costs, based on the actual and eligible* expenses can be covered by the Action Fund.
*in line with the Action Fund eligibility criteria
The organisation does not need to be based in one of the selected cities of the Action Fund Greece, but the projects need to take place in one of the selected cities and work with data from that specific city. Collaboration may be sought with a local NGO or other local non-profit organisation, to develop the project in that city. Furthermore, it is key that the project contributes to the sustainability goals of the city.
It is important that applicants demonstrate a good connection with and local knowledge of the city, either by demonstrating cooperation with local organisations or with the local government.
Yes, consortiums with for-profit organisations are allowed. However, only civil society organisations, academic institutions, and non-profit research institutes are eligible to receive funding through the Action Fund Greece. By partnering with other types of organisations or external experts, these shall, to a limited extent, be subcontracted.
No. The project can have as many partners as necessary but only one "lead organisation" that will act as project coordinator and be responsible for submitting the reports and receiving the funding and distributing it to the rest of the consortium as appropriate.
The goal of the Action Fund Greece is to implement projects and actions on the ground. If data has to be treated so that it can be used for the implementation of a specific project, costs related to making the data available may be eligible. However, a project that only focuses on making data available or analysing data, without implementing any action, is not eligible for funding.
Municipalities can get involved in local Action Fund projects as supporters, service providers, sponsors or partners, having the opportunity to receive part of the funding in case of the latter. The Fund welcomes proposals that contribute to the cities’ just transition and climate goals.
A City can be a partner in a project, but they cannot receive money directly from the Action Fund Greece. Only civil society organisations, academic institutions, and non-profit research institutes are eligible to receive funding through the Action Fund Greece. However, local governments are entitled to receive up to 15% of the total grant through the leading applicant organisation.
Organisations that are partly or fully owned by the City are eligible to receive funding through the Action Fund Greece, as long as they are 100% non-profit organisations or research institutes. If you have questions about eligibility, contact us at: actionfund@iclei.org.
The Action Fund Greece is open to supporting projects at any stage of development that might require additional or complementary funding to be completed, as long as it is well justified and there is evidence that the funding will be used for specific deliverables and results. The fund is also available for project components or phases, as long as it is properly justified in the proposal. The projects or its phases to be funded by the Action Fund Greece should have tangible results, justification of the need for finance and alignment with the Action Fund Greece call.
The ICLEI Action Fund 2.0, is a 7 million euro funding scheme supported by Google.org. The ICLEI Action Fund 2.0 supports seven civil society organisations and academic institutions in six European cities. Each project focuses on aspects such as improving environmental quality, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and enhancing climate resilience for local governments.
After a thorough round of evaluation, a team of sustainability experts selected the following projects for funding: DigiCityClimate (Stockholm, Sweden), SUN4U (Rome, Italy), GEMINOA (Glasgow, UK), Climate-Ready BCN (Barcelona, Spain), DE-CIST (Rotterdam, Netherlands), Data2Resilience (Dortmund, Germany), and CATCH4D (Dortmund, Germany).
The projects are granted 1 million euros for implementing data-driven environmental and climate actions, including energy poverty alleviation, energy-efficient buildings, renewable energy development, air quality management, and climate adaptation. Launched in 2023, these projects will continue until 2025, reinforcing our commitment to accelerate climate action and build sustainable cities through data analysis and innovation.
This marks the second edition of the ICLEI Action Fund. The first, ICLEI Action Fund 1.0, ran from 2020-2022 with a one-year extension in 2023, supported by Google.org, granting 2.5 million euros to six non-profit and academic organisations. More details on Action Fund 1.0 are available below.
Launched in 2020, the ICLEI Action Fund 1.0 encompasses six projects spread across six European cities. With grants of 2,5 million euros, the fund supported initiatives led by academic institutions and non-governmental organisations dedicated to environmental and climate action at the grassroots level.
The six selected projects were featured in an ICLEI podcast miniseries found here. During this miniseries, each of the six Action Fund Projects reflected on the innovative, data-driven solutions they used to foster environmental and climate action in their respective cities. Read more about the projects below.
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Organisation: Miljøpunkt Amager
Topic: Air Quality
Time frame: Nov. 2020 - Dec. 2021
Thrive Zone Amager investigated whether it is possible to design urban spaces where citizens can thrive in protection from harmful air pollution. Three pilot locations were installed to monitor air quality and test this theory.
Location: Birmingham, UK
Organisation: Centre for Sustainable Energy
Topic: Sustainable Energy, CO2 and Buildings
Time frame: Nov. 2020 - Nov. 2022
Project 3D established an open-source, city-wide energy dataset to deliver carbon reduction initiatives and help the largest metropolitan borough in England to reach its targets for decarbonisation.
Location: Berlin, Germany
Organisation: Deutsche Umwelthilfe
Topic: Sustainable Mobility
Time frame: Nov. 2020 - Nov. 2022
Pop-up Republic collected, processed and analysed environmental data in order to objectify discussions about sustainable mobility and traffic transition. Nine measures were implemented in eight areas of the city.
Location: Nantes, France
Organisation: Air Pays de la Loire
Topic: Air Quality and Sustainable Mobility
Time frame: Nov. 2020 - Nov. 2022
AIREAL identified and tested solutions to reduce residents' exposure to air pollution. The app NOANAIR was developed to support pedestrians and bikers who need to commute or wish to stroll or relax outdoors.
Location: Oldham, UK
Organisation: Carbon Co-op
Topic: Sustainable Energy
Time frame: Nov. 2020 - Nov. 2022
Oldham Energy Futures developed a new approach for local authorities and other energy system stakeholders to develop local area energy plans in collaboration with communities. The result was Community-Led Energy Planning (CLEP).
Location: Hamburg, Germany
Organisation: Hafencity
Topic: Sustainable Energy Planning and Urban Data Platforms
Time frame: Nov. 2020 - Nov. 2022
ANN (A New Normal) RADAR created a prototype of a decision-support system to identify urban test beds for climate mitigation action. The ANN RADAR Playbook was developed as a contextual introduction of the tool.
Thank you for your interest in the ICLEI Action Fund. For interviews and media work, contact:
Nidhi Misra
Officer, Communications & Member Relations
nidhi.misra@iclei.org
Action Fund Secretariat
Phone: +49 761 36 89 2-0
Fax: +49 761 36 89 2-19
Email: actionfund@iclei.org