CFPs: Selection of Grant Beneficiary/ies for Implementation of A2D Facility Demonstration Projects

Purpose

• The purpose of this Call for Proposal is to identify interested and qualified entities thereby requesting them to express their interest and submit their full, detailed grant proposal inline with the requirements indicated in this CfP for the implementation of demonstration projects that accelerate the commercialization of innovative climate solutions in one or more of the following thematic areas-of-focus: critical minerals, clean hydrogen, industrial decarbonization and smart energy in developing countries (countries that are eligible to receive Official Development Assistance (ODA)

Scope of Required Services

• The A2D Facility aims to accelerate the commercialization of innovative climate solutions through implementing demonstration projects in developing countries (countries that are eligible to receive Official Development Assistance (ODA). The A2D Facility has an initial focus on four thematic areas: critical minerals, clean hydrogen, smart energy and industrial decarbonisation,
• The A2D Facility focuses on supporting the development of “lighthouse” demonstration projects of innovative climate solutions, which are projects with catalytic potential in leading to transformational impacts, particularly in meeting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 13 (climate action), 1 (no poverty) and 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure), and are in supportive enabling environments that foster scalability.
• The A2D Facility is a global developing country-focused Facility and funding for “lighthouse” demonstration projects of innovative climate solutions will range per project proposal as per the information indicated in Part B below.
• A2D Facility Activities:
  • The A2D Facility only supports activities to implement demonstration projects that are later-stage in the innovation cycle. All proposed projects must be demonstrations of innovative climate solutions and technologies and demonstrations of conventional solutions and technologies, such as those that are already commercialized in the developing country-of-focus will not be supported.
• The A2D Facility does not support projects in the planning stage or earlier-stage pilot tests. All supported demonstration projects must include the following activities as mandatory requirements, which must be appropriately budgeted for in proposals.
  • Supporting activities to implement and operate demonstration projects in developing countries, such as equipment purchases, construction, testing and operation.
  • Training and capacity building activities directly linked with implementing and operating the supported demonstration project.
  • Knowledge and dissemination activities to monitor the performance of the demonstration project, to collect data and report against the A2D Facility’s indicators, to host study tours and capacity building activities at the demonstration project, and to share lessons learned in national and international fora.
• The A2D Facility cannot support the following types of activities, and this applies to all subcomponents and sub-activities of proposed project activities. Applicants will be asked to remove any out-of-scope components from proposals if this is not adhered to.
  • Planning activities: pre-feasibility studies, feasibility studies (such as environmental, financial, social, regulatory, legal, front-end engineering design or equivalent), site identification studies or other activities related to the planning phase of a demonstration project.
  • Policy, regulatory and legislative support: supporting the design and implementation of policy roadmaps (including innovation policy roadmaps), standards or certifications for technologies or processes, regulations and laws, and capacity building activities that are primarily targeted at policy-makers, government officials or equivalent.
  • Research and development: research, analysis and other related knowledge products. However, performance data collection and activities related to mandatory dissemination, monitoring and reporting requirements against the A2D Facility indicators must be budgeted for appropriately.
  • Thematic focus: activities that are not focused on at least one of the A2D Facility’s thematic areas-of-focus: critical minerals (midstream or downstream; upstream (exploration and extraction) is out-of-scope), clean hydrogen (green or blue hydrogen), smart energy (digitalization) or industrial decarbonization (manufacturing, processing factories or hardto-abate sectors)
  • Technology and sector application: solutions linked to unabated fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas). For example, an innovative solution to improve the efficiency of a Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) production process through the integration of smart energy technologies would be out-of-scope, but testing an innovative Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage (CCUS) technology on an industrial or manufacturing site would be in-scope. A further example would be a low-to-medium percentage of blending of low carbon fuels with fossil fuels, where only a very high proportion of low carbon fuels in the innovative solution would be considered. In all proposals, the innovative solution should target the industrial/manufacturing, transport, power or buildings sectors.
  • Negative environment or social impacts: activities that are likely to infringe on the protection of critical habitats or physical cultural resources that use banned pesticides and/or chemicals, or cause involuntary resettlement, or other equivalent negative impacts that do not safeguard the environment and society, will not be supported.
• All proposals must adhere to the following requirements if they are to be considered for full evaluation by the Grants Evaluation Committee (GEC) following the qualifications review:
  • Proposed projects must adhere to the in-scope activities and mandatory requirements outlined above and must ensure that no components or individual activities within the project include activities that are in the above list of out-of-scope activities.
  • Projects must be implemented in a developing country (as defined by a country that is eligible to receive Official Development Assistance (ODA) to be eligible for support.
  • Overseas innovative solutions and local innovative solutions are both eligible for support, but the solution or technology must be innovative and at the later-stage demonstration phase of the innovation cycle in the developing country where the demonstration project is being implemented.
  • Consortium proposals are encouraged, but all proposals must formally partner with at least one local organization in the developing country where the demonstration project is being implemented as part of the proposal team. Where the lead applicant is from the developing country where the demonstration project will be implemented, this condition is met automatically. Please note that locally registered branches of international companies and organizations (= lead organization) [including where those branches are separately or independently locally registered companies] that are located in the developing country where the project will be implemented, will not be considered as meeting the requirement of a local organization in the targeted developing country, even if they are registered as a separate company or organization in the country.
  • Lead grant applicants may not submit more than one grant proposal for this CfP [on its own and/or separately as a joint venture partner/consortium member (except as a declared subcontractor)]. Furthermore, an applicant’s submission as a lead grant applicant or participation as a consortium member in more than one grant proposal will result in the disqualification of all grant proposals in which such applicant is involved. However, please note that solely co-financing/co-funding entities that are not involved in the implementation of the project and are not receiving any of the A2D Facility grant (whether directly, through a lead applicant or indirectly) may fund/provide co-financing/co-funding to more than one proposal (as evidenced through submitted MoUs, contractual agreements or equivalent). Please note that these should either be in place at the time of proposal submission and included in Annexes or at the latest submitted to UNIDO during the final evaluation stage, prior to being awarded a grant. Proposals that cannot provide signed MoU(s) prior to the awarding of the grant will not be supported/awarded. Please note that in case signed MoU(s) or similar, cannot be submitted with the proposal at the submission deadline, at the minimum, signed letters of intent or equivalent must be submitted with the proposal. The co-financiers’/co-funders’ role(s) must be made clear in the proposal.
  • Proposed demonstration projects must fit into at least one of the four thematic areas-of-focus.
  • A rating report (for example, Dun & Bradstreet), if available, should be provided with proposal. If the report is not available at the time of submission of the proposal, it is to be submitted as soon as possible after the submission of proposal. UNIDO reserves the right to independently check any such information in any means at its own discretion.
  • Lead organizations/entities, who have been awarded a Grant Agreement under the previous A2D Facility Call for Proposals are not allowed to participate on their own or as a consortium partner of another lead applicant.
  • The CfP has four submission windows (global, thematic, geographical and larger-scale projects). Proposals must only be submitted into one window. Proposals submitted into multiple windows by the lead applicant, or where the same project proposal is submitted by other consortia members, will be rejected. Lead applicants cannot submit more than one project proposal into the CfP (whether for the same or for different projects).
    • Global window (proposals of USD 1-5 million):
      • the demonstration project needs to be implemented in a country that is eligible to receive Official Development Assistance (ODA) and focused on at least one of the four thematic areas-of-focus for the call-for-proposals: critical minerals, clean hydrogen, smart energy or industrial decarbonization.
      • Under this window, the A2D Facility envisages a three-year implementation timeframe for supported activities and grant applicants must include an implementation timeframe that ensures that the A2D Facility-funded part of a demonstration project is completed no later than 14 December 2028.
    • Thematic window (proposals of USD 1-5 million):
      • proposals submitting into the thematic window must ensure that the ODA-eligible country-of-implementation for the demonstration project matches with the thematic country lists below (for example, a bidder categorizing a proposal as critical minerals and then submitting the proposal for a demonstration project in country not in the specific country list for critical minerals will not be accepted, regardless of whether or not that country is included in the country lists of another thematic area). The country lists for the thematic window are shown below.
      • Under this window, the A2D Facility envisages a three-year implementation timeframe for supported activities and grant applicants must include an implementation timeframe that ensures that the A2D Facility-funded part of a demonstration project is completed no later than 14 December 2028.
    • Geographic window (proposals of USD 1-5 million):
      • the demonstration project needs to be implemented in the following country in at least one of the four thematic areas-of-focus for the call-for-proposals (critical minerals, clean hydrogen, smart energy or industrial decarbonization): Brazil.
      • Under this window, the A2D Facility envisages a three-year implementation timeframe for supported activities and grant applicants must include an implementation timeframe that ensures that the A2D Facility-funded part of a demonstration project is completed no later than 14 December 2028.
    • Larger-scale demonstration projects window (USD 15-20 million):
      • the demonstration project should be of a near-commercial-scale and be significantly larger in size and transformational impacts compared with demonstration projects supported under the other three windows. The demonstration project needs to be in at least one of the four thematic areas-of-focus for the call-for-proposals (critical minerals, clean hydrogen, smart energy or industrial decarbonization).
      • Under this window, the A2D Facility envisages a three-year implementation timeframe for supported activities and grant applicants must include an implementation timeframe that ensures that the A2D Facility-funded part of a demonstration project is completed no later than 14 December 2028. In addition, grant applicants, may as an option, include an implementation timeframe and related other documents with a longer timeframe of four or five years. UNIDO reserves the right to decide on actual project length for this window during the evaluation process.

For more information, visit UNIDO.