Who funds climate change research?

We count 1,089 funded climate change projects, active between 2009 and 2036, from 8 funders. The most came from EU · MSCA (281 projects), EU · ERC (195 projects) and EU · Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment (114 projects). The median award is $1.7M, across the 1,045 of 1,089 projects that list an amount.

Funded projects

1,089

Funders

8

Median award

$1.7M

Open calls now

14

Top funders of climate change research

Projects whose title or summary mentions climate change. Median award: of the projects that list an amount, in US dollars; “—” when fewer than 3 do.

Open climate change funding calls

14 open calls mention climate change today; the 12 most on-topic are listed.

• Climate security and civil preparedness – new ways to develop pre- and post-crisis climate-change related scenarios for a more resilient Europe
  European Commission · Horizon EuropeUp to €4,500,000Deadline: November 5, 2026 ·
• Integrating climate-related exposures into the human exposome and characterising its changes in response to climate change
  European Commission · Horizon Europe€10,000,000 – €11,000,000Deadline: February 17, 2027 ·
• Tools and technologies to support health adaptation to climate change
  European Commission · Horizon Europe€4,000,000 – €5,000,000Deadline: February 17, 2027 ·
• Assessing the performance of policy instruments to inform climate change mitigation action
  European Commission · Horizon EuropeUp to €3,000,000Deadline: March 4, 2027 ·
• Understanding and avoiding maladaptation to climate change
  European Commission · Horizon Europe€5,000,000 – €6,000,000Deadline: March 4, 2027 ·
• Environment and Climate Change Canada Atmospheric and Meteorological graduate supplement
  Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)Up to CAD 5,000Deadline: June 1, 2027 ·
• Climate Change Adaptation, Mitigation and Reversal
  National Science Foundation (SBIR/STTR)Not specifiedDeadline: July 7, 2027 ·
• Increasing riparian and coastal areas resilience to climate change, including in waterfront cities and islands.
  European Commission · Horizon Europe · EU Missions€8,000,000 – €8,925,000Deadline: September 21, 2027 ·
• Deploying innovative wastewater management, treatment and valorisation solutions in European cities and regions in the context of climate change
  European Commission · Horizon Europe · EU MissionsUp to €9,500,000Deadline: September 22, 2027 ·
• Environment and Climate Change Canada Atmospheric and Meteorological undergraduate supplement
  Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)Not specifiedDeadline: Not listed
• What Works Centre for a climate resilient UK
  UK Research and Innovation (ESRC)Up to £21,100,000Deadline: December 15, 2026 ·
  Real odds: About 1 in 5 funded (22% · Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), all funding decisions, 2024-25)
• Demonstrating transformative solutions to increase cross-border climate resilience
  European Commission · Horizon Europe · EU Missions€10,000,000 – €15,000,000Deadline: September 21, 2027 ·

Real odds

• About 1 in 5 funded · 22% · Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), all funding decisions, 2024-25 · UKRI investment and outputs data, table 2.1

Published success rates for the programs behind the open calls above: the share of applications the funder funded, program-wide, not for this topic.

Funded climate change projects

A sample, latest start first, at most three per program.

• Sustainable materials and manufacturing for zero-excess multivalent batteries
  UKRI · EPSRC · £2,152,707 · ends 2036
• Assessing the health effects and associated molecular mechanisms of non- optimal ambient temperatures in diverse populations
  Wellcome · £2,030,930 · ends 2033
• CONNECT - Cohort and environmental data integration for epidemiological innovation
  Wellcome · £2,501,393 · ends 2032
• Constructing high spatial resolution population projections and supporting the provision, access and updates of WorldPop spatial demographic datasets
  Wellcome · £5,601,734 · ends 2031
• CAREER: Algorithm-Hardware Cross-Layer Design for High-Performance Scientific Data Compression
  NSF · CISE · $595,928 · ends 2031
• WET-RISK: Basin-wide assessment of amazon wetland forests sensitivity to extreme climatic events and its ecological consequences
  UKRI · NERC · £1,077,319 · ends 2031
• Vulnerability and resilience of mesophotic coral ecosystems to climate change
  UKRI · NERC · £3,296,379 · ends 2031
• CAREER: COMPOSITION, TRANSPORT, AND FATE OF DISSOLVED AND PYROGENIC ORGANIC MATTER IN FIRE-IMPACTED SOILS
  NSF · GEO · $836,711 · ends 2030
• CAREER: Assessing Responses of Precipitation Extremes to Anthropogenic Emission Changes
  NSF · GEO · $871,505 · ends 2030
• Building the nExT generaTion of marine Eco-friendly wind faRm
  UKRI · Horizon Europe Guarantee · £535,844 · ends 2030

How we count

Funded projects come from public award records (NIH RePORTER, NSF, EU CORDIS, UKRI Gateway to Research, Wellcome, the Gates Foundation, DOE, NASA and USDA NIFA) whose title or summary matches “climate change”. NIH lists each budget year separately; one project counts once. Amounts are as the funder lists them; medians use only projects that list one, in US dollars. Open calls and forecasts are from our listings of October 28, 2026. A project can mention a topic without being mainly about it, so treat the counts as a guide to who funds the area.