Manitoba creates new fund to support water and green technology projects

The Manitoba government has created a new fund that will provide up to $600,000 for green technology projects that focus on water, climate change, or the creation of more resilient landscapes.

In alignment with the priorities and implementation of the province’s Climate and Green Plan, eligible water projects must focus on maintaining and enhancing healthy agro-ecosystems, maintaining healthy and sustainable watersheds and wetlands, forecasting and mitigating floods and droughts, or targeting clean water for drinking, habitat or economic development.

The impacts of climate change have already begun to be felt in Manitoba,as indicated by unusually severe floods in 2009, 2011, 2014 and 2020, and droughts in 2006 and 2008 in southern Manitoba.

“This fund will generate new project ideas for cleaner water, climate adaptation and low-carbon economic growth,” announced Manitoba Conservation and Climate Minister Sarah Guillemard, in a statement.

The new fund draws from Manitoba’s 2015 Climate Change and Green Economy Action Plan, which aimed to create at least 6,000 new green jobs by 2020. Nearly 100,000 Manitobans currently work in the green sector, according to provincial reports.

A driving force behind the plan’s creation was the province’s 2011 flood, estimated to have cost the government some $1.2 billion.

By 2050, Manitoba’s goal is to have halved its greenhouse gas emissions over 2005 levels. Officials hope for the province to be carbon neutral by 2080.

Under the new fund’s guidelines for climate and green technology projects, applicants must consider whether their work will foster more clean energy use, contribute to overall emissions reductions, or develop green infrastructure.

The maximum grant per applicant under the fund is $200,000. The first application intake is now live and closes July 31.