Pilot project: Signature initiative
ENERGY
Funding Snapshot
Grant: Up to $500,000 to cover up to 50% of eligible costs
Municipalities and municipal partners with a population of 20,000 or under may qualify for a grant of up to 80 per cent of eligible project costs under certain conditions. Contact us to find out if your municipality is eligible.
Our signature initiative funding helps Canadian cities and communities of all sizes pilot environmental projects that reduce GHG emissions and protect the air, water or land. This funding is designed to accommodate transformative, best-in-class municipal projects, meaning they’re highly innovative and impactful.
You may pilot any initiative (or compare initiatives) in any sector (or in multiple sectors). Your pilot project’s outcomes should help you decide whether to implement a full-scale, permanent version of the project. The pilot should assess whether the project has solid business case and the ability to deliver strong environmental, financial and social benefits directly to your community or through replication in other municipalities.
Your pilot project may compare several options or assess one option’s capacity to create transformative change in the energy, transportation, waste, water or land use sector (or a combination of those sectors).
Signature initiatives do not have pre-set environmental targets/thresholds because the projects are unique and evaluated on a case-by-case basis. We prefer projects that have built-in mechanisms to encourage replication and widespread adoption (e.g., innovative business models, partnership models, new financing mechanisms).
Examples of what you might pilot include, but are not limited to:
- Advanced, emerging and adaptive technologies
- Innovative financing mechanisms and business models (e.g., property assessed clean energy programs, innovative utility charges)
- Capacity building programs that generate direct environmental benefits (e.g., green job skills training)
- Projects and programs that generate environmental, economic and other benefits for the broader community
- Making it easier to implement environmental initiatives (e.g., clarifying policy change requirements; developing municipal bylaws such as a green procurement policy or private sector sustainability incentives)
- Enabling greater adoption of sustainable infrastructure (e.g., demonstrating new products such as shared electric autonomous vehicles, creating smart grid projects that enable more integration of renewable generation within the community)
Notes
We reserve the right to make changes to eligibility criteria and the types of pilot projects funded by this grant. We will re-evaluate this grant’s criteria in March 2021. If you apply before then, your application will not be affected.
How to apply
- Download and review the application guide.
- Review the prerequisites and required supporting documents.
- Complete the project workbook.
- Confirm that you’re securing other funding sources for your pilot project:
- Sample Letter Confirming Consultation with Provincial/Territorial Government (a prerequisite for all applicants, except municipal governments in Quebec)
- Sample Letter from Confirmed Funding Sources (required for each contributing organization, including the lead municipality)
- Visit the FCM funding portal to create your profile and request a PIN to access the system. Already have an FCM funding portal profile? Skip to Step 6.
- Complete the pre-application form available on the platform.
Quebec municipalities
FCM has an agreement with Quebec's Ministre des Affaires municipales et de l’Habitation (MAMH) that allows the ministry to review applications to GMF before they are submitted to FCM. Quebec municipalities applying for funding from GMF must follow the process below to submit their application to MAMH.
Once you have completed all the steps in the ‘How to apply’ section, submit your application by following the steps below. Note that the content of the links is available in French only.
- Save your application form using the appropriate file name.
- Save the application form to your local device with the following filename: FMV_ "your municipality's name"_ "date" (YYMMDD). For example: FMV_TownofABC_180228.pdf
- Log in to the Portail gouvernemental des affaires municipales et régionales using your username and password. Select the program, "MAMH - Fonds municipal vert".
- Upload and submit the application form through the portal. Note this is an external site.
- Receive confirmation from MAMH.
- MAMH assesses the applications to ensure that the projects submitted do not conflict with Quebec's government policies and directives. Once the assessment has been completed, MAMH informs the applicant of their decision and sends compliant applications to GMF for review.
- MAMH requires up to 15 working days to review the application and forward it to GMF.
- Receive approval from GMF.
- GMF will inform the applicant once they receive the application from MAMH and review the submission. If the application is approved for funding, an agreement between FCM and the applicant is prepared.
Sign up for alerts whenever a new funding opportunity is added.
Get alerted anytime a new funding opportunity is added to see if you could be eligible for more funding on your projects.
Need help to see if this is the right funding for you?
Contact our Outreach team who can answer any questions you have relating to this funding opportunity.
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