King Climate Action Initiative (K-CAI)
The King Climate Action Initiative at J-PAL funds research and scale-up of evidence-based innovations addressing climate change and poverty through rigorous randomized evaluations.
Funder: Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab
Due Dates: February 13, 2025 (Spring 2025 LOI) | March 27, 2025 (Spring 2025 full proposal & K-CAI Fellows) | September 17, 2026 (Risk Valuation Measurement Top-Up LOI) | October 21, 2026 (Risk Valuation Measurement Top-Up full proposal)
Funding Amounts: Research: up to $400,000 (RCTs), $75,000 (Pilots), $10,000 (Proposal Dev.); Path-to-Scale: up to $400,000; Adapt: up to $100,000; Policy Pilot: up to $250,000; Fellowships: variable, typically one year.
Summary: Supports rigorous research and scaling of high-impact solutions at the intersection of climate change and poverty, with a focus on evidence-based policy and technology innovations.
Key Information: Requires J-PAL affiliate/invited researcher involvement; LOI mandatory for most opportunities; some awards limited to specific applicant types.
Description
The King Climate Action Initiative (K-CAI) at J-PAL funds research and scale-up projects that address the intertwined challenges of climate change and poverty. The initiative prioritizes randomized evaluations and technical assistance to design, test, and expand policy and technological innovations that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, cut pollution, build resilience to climate impacts, and expand access to affordable energy, especially in low- and middle-income countries. K-CAI emphasizes rapid, policy-relevant evidence generation, often leveraging administrative and remote sensing data, and supports projects that can inform or catalyze large-scale policy action.
