Climate Science Funding Opportunities

Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences Program (HEGS)

The objective of the NSF's Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences (HEGS) Program is to support basic scientific research about the nature, causes and/or consequences of the spatial distribution of human activity and/or environmental processes across a range of scales. Contemporary geographical research is an arena in which diverse research traditions and methodologies are valid. Recognizing the breadth of the field's contributions to science, the HEGS Program welcomes proposals for empirically grounded, theoretically engaged, and methodologically sophisticated, generalizable research in all sub-fields of geographical and spatial sciences. It is critical that research projects submitted to the HEGS Program illustrate how the proposed research questions engage human dimensions relevant and important to people and societies.  
Deadline: Third Tuesday in January (annually); third Tuesday in August (annually)

Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER)

NSF established this program in 1980 to address ecological questions that cannot be resolved with short-term observations or experiments. Two components differentiate LTER research from projects supported by other NSF programs: 1) the research is located at specific sites chosen to represent major ecosystem types or natural biomes, and 2) it emphasizes the study of ecological phenomena over long periods of time based on data collected in five core areas. Long-term studies are critical to achieve an integrated understanding of how components of ecosystems interact as well as to test ecological theory. Ongoing research at LTER sites is expected to contribute to the development and testing of fundamental ecological theories and significantly advance understanding of the long-term dynamics of populations, communities and ecosystems. It often integrates multiple disciplines and, through cross-site interactions may examine patterns or processes over broad spatial scales. Recognizing that the value of long-term data extends beyond use at any individual site, NSF requires that data collected by all LTER sites be made publicly accessible.
Deadlines: March 6, 2025

Climate Change, Sustainability and Biotechnology

NSF recognizes recent advances in microbial communities (microbiome) research and the potential to use the tools of molecular biology, synthetic biology and bioengineering to assemble synthetic microbial communities that have novel compositions, genetics, and phenotypes to use these communities to address fundamental questions in the biological sciences and to address pressing societal goals such as mitigating the effects of climate change, building a circular bio-economy, bio-degradation of recalcitrant or "forever chemicals," sustainable crop production, and correcting imbalances in microbial populations in hosts and the environment.  T his solicitation aims to support these areas of research, as they represent a convergence of biology and engineering. The three research themes in this solicitation are viewed as natural extensions of NSF's investment in basic microbial communities research, such as research that aims to define the interactions and mechanisms that control microbiome structure/function (see NSF 20-513 and NSF 21-534).
Deadline: August 1 (annually)

Paleo Perspectives on Present and Projected Climate (P4CLIMATE) 

The P4CLIMATE competition is a coordinated paleoclimate science initiative funded by the NSF Divisions of Atmospheric and GeoSpace Sciences (AGS), Earth Sciences (EAR), Ocean Sciences (OCE), and Office of Polar Programs (OPP) in the Geosciences (GEO) Directorate.  T he competition supports the scientific objectives of the NSF by fostering interdisciplinary research and synthesis of climate data. The goal of the interdisciplinary P4CLIMATE solicitation is to utilize observational and modeling studies to provide paleo perspectives addressing the two research themes: 1. Past Regional and Seasonal Climate; and 2. Past Climate Forcing, Sensitivity, and Feedbacks. 
Deadline: October 20 (annually)

Organismal Response to Climate Change (ORCC): Expanding Understanding and Improving Predictions of Life on a Warming Planet

This NSF solicitation calls for proposals that integrate the study of genomic, physiological, structural, developmental, neural, or behavioral mechanisms of organismal response to climate change (ORCC) with eco-evolutionary approaches to better manage the effects of a rapidly changing climate on earth’s living systems. Specific areas of emphasis include but are not limited to: integrating physiology and genomics into the next generation of species distribution models; mechanistic understanding of plastic responses to climate change; functional genomics of organismal response to climate change; the role biological interactions play in organismal responses to climate change; and improving our ability to predict how organisms will respond to climate change and the consequences these responses will have across biological scales. Proposals are encouraged to build on NSF’s investment in growing convergence research by developing integrative, cross-disciplinary approaches that examine the organismal mechanisms that underlie adaptive and maladaptive responses to environmental factors associated with climate change, how these responses affect fitness in changing and/or novel climates, and the genetic and evolutionary processes through which these traits originate, persist, and are transmitted across generations. Further, NSF encourages creative approaches to translate results of these investigations to better predict and manage effects of climate change on organisms across spatial and temporal scales and biological hierarchies.
Deadline: Third Tuesday in November (annually)

Division of Environmental Biology (Core Programs) (DEB)

This opportunity supports research and training on evolutionary and ecological processes acting at the level of populations, species, communities, and ecosystems. DEB encourages research that elucidates fundamental principles that identify and explain the unity and diversity of life and its interactions with the environment over space and time. Research may incorporate field, laboratory, or collection-based approaches; observational or manipulative studies; synthesis activities; phylogenetic discovery projects; or theoretical approaches involving analytical, statistical, or computational modeling. Proposals should be submitted to the core clusters (Ecosystem Science, Evolutionary Processes, Population and Community Ecology, and Systematics and Biodiversity Science). DEB also encourages interdisciplinary proposals that cross conceptual boundaries and integrate over levels of biological organization or across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Research addressing ecology and ecosystem science in the marine biome should be directed to the Biological Oceanography Program in the Division of Ocean Sciences; research addressing evolution and systematics in the marine biome should be directed to the Evolutionary Processes or Systematics and Biodiversity Science programs in DEB. All DEB programs also encourage proposals that leverage NSF-supported data networks, databases, centers, and other forms of scientific infrastructure, including but not limited to the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER), Environmental Data Initiative (EDI), and Integrated Digitized Biocollections (iDigBio).
Deadline: Full proposals accepted anytime

Long Term Research in Environmental Biology 

The Long Term Research in Environmental Biology (LTREB) Program supports the generation of extended time series of data to address important questions in evolutionary biology, ecology, and ecosystem science. Research areas include, but are not limited to, the effects of natural selection or other evolutionary processes on populations, communities, or ecosystems; the effects of interspecific interactions that vary over time and space; population or community dynamics for organisms that have extended life spans and long turnover times; feedbacks between ecological and evolutionary processes; pools of materials such as nutrients in soils that turn over at intermediate to longer time scales; and external forcing functions such as climatic cycles that operate over long return intervals.
Deadline: Full proposals accepted anytime

---

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Energy & Environment Program

This  program looks to achieve its mission by supporting research, training, networking, and dissemination efforts that shape the direction of scholarship by investigating under-explored questions that warrant further attention, advance collaborative and interdisciplinary research across the social and natural sciences, involve early career faculty and train the next generation of students, link research with practice, and partner with other funders to amplify programmatic impact. The predominant geographic focus is the United States. The goal of this program is to inform the societal transition toward low-carbon energy systems in the U.S. by investigating economic, environmental, technological, and distributional issues. Interested scholars should send a letter of inquiry of no more than two pages to energy@sloan.org.

Deadline: Letters of inquiry accepted anytime

Climate Change and Human Health Seed Grants

The Burroughs Wellcome Fund aims to stimulate the growth of new connections between scholars working in largely disconnected fields who might together change the course of climate change’s impact on human health. Over the next two years, the foundation will dedicate $1 million to supporting small, early-stage grants ($2,500 to $50,000) that work toward achieving this goal. Proposals will be accepted on a rolling basis through July 2026. A review will be conducted quarterly. 

Deadline: January 23, 2025

This Special Emphasis Notice (SEN) announces AHRQ’s interest in receiving health services r esearch grant applications that address the intersection of climate change and healthcare. Specifically, applications that address three primary areas: 1. Reducing the healthcare sector’s greenhouse gas emissions and carbon footprint; 2. Creating resilient healthcare systems and communities that can plan, prepare, respond, and adapt to climate-related threats; and 3. Addressing the inequitable impacts of climate change. Research should be guided by an equity lens that prioritizes protecting and empowering individuals and communities that face the highest risks and bear the highest burdens of environmental pollution and a changing climate. AHRQ encourages research teams to submit applications in response to this SEN using AHRQ’s standing R01, R03, R18, and R13 funding opportunities (PA-18-793,  PA-18-794,  PA-18-795, and PA-22-238). AHRQ also encourages training and education applications that propose developing health service research skills through projects that address climate change.

Deadline: See full notice (linked above) for relevant opportunities and additional information about deadlines.