RAEng offers £150m in grants for engineers who want to scale up climate tech

ENGINEERS in the UK can bid for fellowships worth up to £3m (US$3.9m) to help scale up climate technologies under a new £150m support scheme launched by the Royal Academy of Engineering.

The Green Future Fellowships are expected to support at least 50 engineers and innovators transform their ideas and existing initiatives into scalable, commercially viable engineering solutions.

Baroness Julia King, chair of the Green Future Fellowship steering group, said: “Too often, short-term decision-making by global funders prioritises immediate solutions and so does not always support the creativity and progress needed to enable innovators to turn complementary or long-term climate ideas into action.

“These additional solutions exist, but they need the space and the time to commercialise and scale up for lasting impact. We risk letting high-impact long-term solutions to the climate crisis slip through our fingers if we do not nurture and scale them now.”

Successful applicants will receive up to £3m to develop and scale their ideas for up to a decade in a bid to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help society adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Results of a survey into public perceptions of engineering conducted on behalf of the RAEng found that 63% of respondents think the UK needs more people to become engineers to tackle the climate crisis.

The academy surveyed 2,000 people and the three areas where the public think the biggest impact can be made are the generation of a constant supply of electricity without burning fossil fuels; reusing metals and plastics more efficiently; and recovering and using waste heat such as from industrial processes.  

Applications close on 5 November.