King Climate Action Initiative Request for Proposals

Taking a two-track approach to informing climate policy, the King Climate Action Initiative (K-CAI) at J-PAL funds proposals to design, pilot, evaluate, and scale innovations at the nexus of climate change and poverty. The Initiative has one regular funding cycle per year. 

• K-CAI research awards fund full randomized evaluations, pilot research projects, and travel/proposal development projects to identify potentially high impact innovations and evaluate their effectiveness and cost-effectiveness.
• K-CAI Path-to-Scale awards fund technical assistance to governments, firms, and NGOs to adapt, pilot, and scale evidence-based climate change solutions with demonstrated impact.

Eligibility

J-PAL affiliates and K-CAI invited researchers are eligible to apply for all categories of research and scaling funding in collaboration with their implementing, policy, and/or other research partners. J-PAL postdoctoral fellows are eligible to apply for all types of research funding. Graduate students who have a J-PAL affiliate or K-CAI invited researcher on their thesis committee are eligible to apply for travel/proposal development grants or up to $50,000 in pilot or full-scale funding. J-PAL and IPA offices are eligible to apply for scaling funding with a J-PAL affiliate or K-CAI invited researcher as a collaborator. To be considered for K-CAI funding, all proposals are required to have submitted a letter of interest by Thursday, February 13, 2025. Path-to-scale proposals may continue to submit expressions of interest by contacting [email protected].

Four Focus Areas

Working across developing countries that will be hardest hit by climate change and high-emitting developed countries, K-CAI supports research and scaling projects across four outcome areas, prioritizing projects that have the potential to benefit people experiencing poverty:

• Climate change mitigation: Reducing carbon and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to slow the pace of climate change and its damaging effects
• Pollution reduction: Reducing harmful carbon co-pollutants and thereby improving public health, without reducing critical access to energy
• Climate change adaptation: Building people and communities’ ability to adapt to the economic, social, and environmental impacts of climate change, particularly in low- and middle-income countries
• Energy access: Increasing access to affordable, reliable energy for people experiencing poverty and encouraging shifts in energy systems towards cleaner sources 

To speed up the path from research to policy action, K-CAI will prioritize evaluations that use administrative and remote sensing data to generate results more quickly and collaborations with policy partners that can scale effective solutions.

Proposal Timeline

K-CAI is currently accepting proposals for its Spring 2025 RFP, with full applications due at 11:59 AM (noon) ET on Thursday, March 27. Please note that all applications are required to have submitted a letter of interest by the February 13 deadline. Funding decisions will be announced in June. 

For research and scaling projects facing a significant external time constraint or a time-limited policy window, K-CAI can also accept off-cycle applications for up to $75,000 on a rolling basis. If the project is eligible to receive an off-cycle award, you will be invited to submit an application. If it is not, you will still be able to apply during the regular RFP. Off-cycle proposals will be reviewed on a quarterly basis. Please email [email protected] with any questions about the off-cycle application process.

Application Instructions and Submission Links

J-PAL initiatives, including K-CAI, are changing to a new online portal named WizeHive (as of late 2024) for all proposal submissions, proposal reviews, invoice submissions, and grantee reporting. Here is the link to the online portal. Please review these instructions for applicants. 

Letter of interest: K-CAI's letter of interest form was due on February 13, 2025 at 11:59 AM ET, and is now closed. All applications are required to have submitted an LOI by this deadline in order to submit a full proposal. 

Full proposals: The K-CAI team will notify you via the portal once we have reviewed your LOI and you are clear to begin your proposal. In the interim, to facilitate your proposal development, we have hosted reference application documents below that outline in detail all required information that applicants will be asked when submitting a full proposal to K-CAI via our online portal system. You are welcome to begin drafting your proposal materials using these templates. Please, however, do not complete or submit these reference documents to K-CAI for consideration. 

If you experience any errors or technical issues, you can first check this J-PAL guide to WizeHive as well as the platform's FAQ section. For additional support during business hours, please reach out to [email protected] and CC [email protected]. For all other questions, please email [email protected].

J-PAL Air and Water Labs (AWLs): For more information on the AWL application process, visit the AWL website.