The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has launched its request for applications for this year’s Energy Innovation Contest (IDEAS V 2014). The initiative is an opportunity for individuals to win up to US$200,000 for innovative projects that improve energy efficiency and increase access to renewable energy in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The contest, a collaboration between the IDB, the Mexican Sustainable Energy Fund CONACYT-SENER, the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) and the Government of South Korea, aims is to support the development of innovative projects that promote renewable energy, energy efficiency, biofuels and energy access in rural areas.
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Whilst providing an exciting opportunity for green entrepreneurs based in Latin America and the Caribbean, the contest also contributes to the SE4ALL UN global initiative, which aims to promote universal access to modern energy services, a doubling of the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix, and a doubling of the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency.
The competition is open to any organization, consortium or individual based in the countries of the LAC region 26 IDB's borrowing countries and proposals must be submitted between October 23rd and January 15th, 2015.
Global Sustainability Awards
The Energy Innovation Contest is just one of several contests worldwide that highlight the groundswell of activities underway that are moving the world towards a low-carbon, more climate resilient future.
The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) for example recognizes men and women whose actions and leadership have made a positive impact on the environment with their Champions of the Earth Award, widely regarded as the UN’s flagship environmental award.
Momentum for Change, is an initiative by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that recognizes innovative and transformative solutions that address both climate change and wider economic, social and environmental challenges.
The SEED Awards for Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Development, founded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UNEP and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an annual awards scheme designed to find the most promising, innovative and locally led start-up social and environmental enterprises in countries with developing and emerging economies.
The Sustainia Awards, is an event that takes place every autumn in Copenhagen, led by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Gro Harlem Brundtland, in which an award is given to a solution, technology or project with a significant potential to help build a more sustainable future.
The Global Landscape Forum, which will be held alongside December's UN climate meeting in Lima, Peru is an opportunity for twelve young entrepreneurs, chosen from a pool of 700, to pitch their innovative ideas to combat climate change to an audience of more than 1,000 ministers, CEOs, activists, global policy leaders and top scientists.
All these initiatives shine a light on the most practical, scalable and replicable examples of what people, businesses, governments and industries are doing to tackle climate change.