Opinion: Consider challenge prizes not grants to drive climate action

From climate change to disease, to war, energy crisis, and inflation, we are at a critical juncture in history. Government leaders and funders alike need to be light on their toes and open to new ways of problem-solving that deliver immediate solutions in the face of the climate emergency we are facing.

Now is the time to act boldly and direct resources toward stimulating unexpected innovations that are commercially viable and capable of transforming business-as-usual approaches. Challenges facing food, energy, water, and urban systems require a suite of interconnected solutions; solutions that work in tandem to tackle problems from different angles.

To meet the urgency of the climate crisis, funders — whether public, nongovernmental, or private and philanthropic — must take a courageous approach not only to what but to how they fund. The ways in which innovation is funded today — from government tenders to philanthropic grant-making and corporate CSR initiatives — haven’t changed since the post-World War II era.

Take tenders. When these are issued, applicants share their proposals for fixing a given problem, and, ultimately, a contract is awarded. With grants, the problem is less tightly defined with applicants having greater room to propose and define the objective they are aiming for. These are both well-established processes and, yet, all too often they don’t deliver the leaps in innovation that we need.

This is because these processes are based on a promise of delivery rather than on actual results. Moreover, the contracts or grants involved tend to go to big-name incumbents — who seem a less risky bet at the outset — promising proposals that they know can be delivered to a fixed and itemized budget. This system squeezes out the more original or dynamic ideas.

This 1950s approach to funding is freezing out unknown and untested social innovators, startups, and entrepreneurs, regardless of the quality of their ideas and their commitment to climate action.

If we are truly going to scale-up global access to clean, reliable, and affordable electricity or develop ways to grow exponentially more food and do so sustainably, then funders have both the responsibility and the privilege to act differently.

With the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties just a few short months away, they must explore less traditional ways of identifying pathways to solutions that address the big issues disproportionately impacting the global south. Without this shift in mindset, we’re simply continuing to waste talent, time, and money in pursuit of siloed and incremental solutions.

From our experience of delivering incentive challenge prizes for innovation, we know that solving complex environmental problems is possible — especially when you focus on diversity from start to finish. The world shouldn’t need to double back on environmental commitments; there are ways to make progress without causing harm. What’s more, in economically uncertain times, we should celebrate that there are some “quick” innovation wins out there that would have a significant impact if funded and delivered at scale.

Our Million Cool Roofs Challenge, for example, accelerated access to affordable, sustainable cooling by working out how to rapidly deploy the best cool roof materials from Senegal to Mexico and Bangladesh. As temperatures reach unbearable levels, low-cost innovations such as painting the roofs of hospitals with light-reflecting paint can have a multitude of impacts: from keeping medical centers cool enough to store vaccines to reducing reliance on energy-based cooling.

Real change can also be achieved surprisingly quickly when you focus on mobilizing grassroots innovators — good ideas can come from anywhere, and that’s why using challenges is an effective tool for progress.

For example, the Afri-Plastics Challenge, in progress right now, is seeking the creation of campaigns, schemes, tools, and other creative interventions that will change both the behavior of individuals and communities around plastic waste in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as contribute to the empowerment of women and girls. Grounded in the challenge prize methodology, this initiative is anticipated to catalyze not just one solution but a whole raft of solutions along the way too.

Ultimately, if we want to do more with less, we must embrace new ways of identifying innovation and new financing models to scale them for success. We need to look beyond the “usual suspects” for ideas and action. We know from new data — released to mark the 10th anniversary of Challenge Works — that 82% of British innovators say we need more people from all different sectors working to address the climate crisis, while 76% said they believe the technology solutions to the climate crisis already exist but that they need greater support to scale.

There’s never been a greater need to carefully balance the essential and urgent fire-fighting response to today’s immediate crises with long-term prevention of crises we know are ahead. The data, like the science, is clear: We must accelerate innovation to meet our emissions targets while building global communities’ resilience to the worst consequences of a changing climate.

Will world leaders and their backers be bold enough to change?