Climate & Biodiversity Initiative
The research projects supported via the Climate & Biodiversity Initiative programme by BNP Paribas Foundation are selected every 3 years through a call for projects. A specific governance structure has been put in place for the projects selection process.
The Foundation is backed by a Scientific Committee made up of eminent researchers. These renowned experts are recognised by their peers and in their field of research. Their involvement means that they can bring a wealth of experience to bear on the selection of the most promising projects.
The stages of the selection process
- Application phase: a call for projects is issued to the scientific community throughout the European Economic Area (EEA)
- Evaluation and pre-selection phase by examining BNP Paribas employees and external consultants
- Drawing up of the projects shortlist by the Scientific Committee, and final decision by the BNP Paribas Foundation Executive Committee, which votes on the laureate projects
The last call for projects was launched in Europe in 2022. Its objective? To select research projects aimed at improving knowledge of the interactions between climate and biodiversity and their effects on our societies. It also encourages researchers to identify nature-based solutions to climate change and biodiversity loss.
The 2022 Call for projects in figures
49
eligible projects
40
projects submitted
by universities or research centres from 11 countries in the European Economic Area
23
shortlisted projects
A call for projects involving employees, scientific experts and members of the BNP Paribas Foundation Executive Committee
For the 2022 edition, 98 BNP Paribas employees from 11 entities and 3 countries – backed up by 3 specialist external consultants – have received specific training to enable them to examine the applications that met the eligibility criteria.
During the first evaluation stage, an application is evaluated an average of 4 times, and receives a weighted score based on a number of assessment criteria: scientific merit of the project, capacity for dissemination and exploitation, international scale, diversity of profiles in the research team, impact of the funding on the project, etc.
In the second stage of the selection process, the Scientific Committee examines the shortlisted applications. These experts and scientists in the fields of climate change and biodiversity will make the final selection, which will then be voted on by the BNP Paribas Foundation Executive Committee. This Executive Committee is made up of members of the BNP Paribas Group Executive Committee and external experts.
Membres of the 2022 Scientific Committee
- Yunne Shin – Director of Research at IRD and Honorary Research Associate at University of Cape Town
- Philippe Gillet – Geophysicist, geologist and professor, Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne
- Philippe Cury – Senior scientist at IRD (French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development)
- Jean-Pascal van Ypersele – PhD in physics, climatologist, professor at the Catholic University of Louvain, where he co-directs the environmental management master’s program. Member of the Earth and Climate Research Centre
- Franck Courchamp – CNRS Research Director at the Systematic Ecology and Evolution Laboratory (ESE-CNRS/Université Paris-Sud), 2014 laureate of the “Climate & Biodiversity Initiative”
These research projects are not just an intellectual exercise, they are also a responsible approach. The projects selected must align with citizens’ expectations. They must also open the door to solutions and political decisions. – Philippe Gillet
Former members of the Scientific Committee
- Corinne Le Quéré : Professor of Climate Change Science and Policy at the University of East Anglia, Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
- Sonia Seneviratne : Professor, Institute of Atmosphere and Climate Sciences, ETH Zurich
- Joanna Haigh : Eremitus Professor of Atmospheric Physics at Imperial College in London, co-director of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and Environment
- Thomas Stocker : Professor of climate and environmental physics at Berne University, where he chairs the Climate and Environmental Physics Department
- Riccardo Valentini : Professor of Forest Ecology at the University of Tuscia, Italy
The laureate projects
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