Nature Smart Climate Solutions Fund

• Application Form
• Supplementary Information Workbook
• Relevant supporting documents

Who is eligible?

• Non-profit organizations, including charities, volunteer groups, professional associations, and NGOs.
• Indigenous organizations and authorities, including non-profit and for-profit entities.
• Governments and public agencies at the provincial, territorial, municipal, and local levels.
• Research, teaching, and educational institutions.
• For-profit organizations, including small businesses with fewer than 500 employees.
• Local community, senior, youth, and philanthropic groups.

Eligible expenses

• Costs associated with projects that reduce the loss, restore, or improve the management of ecosystems
• Expenses related to halting or reducing the conversion of carbon-rich ecosystems to less carbon-rich ecosystems
• Costs for restoring carbon storage and biodiversity in converted or degraded ecosystems
• Expenses for reducing GHG emissions caused by natural resource use through implementing new forest harvesting management practices
• Costs related to developing policies, programs, or tools with key actors in priority sectors to reduce GHG emissions and improve biodiversity
• Costs for measuring and reporting on GHG outcomes from natural climate solutions
• Expenses associated with providing biodiversity and human well-being co-benefits
• Costs related to advancing science and knowledge on natural climate solutions in Canada

Ineligible Costs and Activities

• Projects required by law, regulation, or policy.
• Projects funded by other Government of Canada programs for tree planting or agricultural climate solutions.
• Projects without proven cost-effectiveness or with excessive uncertainty.

Eligible geographic areas

• Canadian provinces.
• Canadian territories.

• Team expertise and capacity to manage the project.
• Clear and detailed project description, work plan, and budget.
• Reasonable timeline and budget.
• Support from key partners.
• Likelihood of delivering concrete, additional, and permanent emissions reductions by 2030 and beyond 2050.

• Step 1: Contact your regional Canadian Wildlife Service office
  • Request access to the application documents.
  • Discuss your project idea if needed.
• Step 2: Prepare the application
  • Complete the Application Form and the Supplementary Information Workbook.
  • Gather the required supporting documents.
• Step 3: Submit to the regional office
  • Send the completed application package to your regional CWS office.
  • Submit only a complete application package.

• Applications are reviewed for completeness before being dated.
• Incomplete applications may be returned for revision and resubmission.
• Review time can take 4 to 6 weeks.
• If recommended for approval, the approval process can take up to 3 months.

Here are additional relevant details for this grant:

• The application process is ongoing until funds are exhausted for the fiscal year 2025-26, which means early submissions have a potential advantage.
• The funding provided can range from a minimum of $75,000 to a maximum of $50 million, emphasizing the wide range of project scales supported.
• For projects involving Indigenous applicants, encouraging but not requiring matching funds acknowledges the diverse financial contexts.
• Applicants must not only demonstrate a project's potential in reducing emissions but also handling biodiversity, Indigenous reconciliation, and human well-being co-benefits, highlighting a holistic approach to environmental solutions.
• Projects have to demonstrate and provide evidence for a 1:1 matching fund from non-federal sources to be favorably evaluated, pointing to a preference for collaborative funding structures.