Rice Straw Biogas Hub

DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY

Rice is the number 1 food crop globally: 91% of it is produced and consumed in Asia and it is the staple for more than half the world's population. However, for every kilogram of rice we eat, a kilo of straw is also produced. Not to be confused with husks, which cover the grains and are taken to a mill, the stems and leaves of the rice plant are left in the fields after harvest. Rice straw is difficult to remove from paddy fields, which are often flooded and in remote areas. It is high in silica, making it a poor fuel or animal feed. It is also not suitable to incorporate into flooded rice fields due to slow degradation and high greenhouse gas emissions, so burning is farmers' main option for clearing fields. Across Asia, a staggering 300 million tonnes of rice straw go up in smoke every year, releasing a lethal cocktail of gases and black carbon that triple risks of increased respiratory diseases and accelerate climate change. Rice is responsible for 48% of global crop emissions: more CO2e than the whole global aviation industry combined. A recent IFPRI study calculated the health costs of crop residue burning to be $30 billion annually in North India alone, rising to $190 billion in five years. To address this crisis a British SME, Straw Innovations Ltd, was started in 2016 as a spin-out from pioneering international research on the subject. The company's founder, Craig Jamieson, assembled consortia and secured Energy Catalyst co-funding to establish an industrial pilot plant in the Philippines, collecting rice straw and fermenting it to produce clean-burning methane gas. The whole system had to be specially designed since no existing technologies were suitable for the purpose. The plant is now operational, with many techno-economic breakthroughs. Local farmers strongly support it and are waiting for scale-up so they can benefit from its efficient, clean energy services. Rice is known as a "Poverty Crop" because farmers often struggle to afford energy-intensive equipment that could improve their yields add value to their crop. Therefore, this project will demonstrate a complete system of 500ha harvesting, straw removal, biogas-powered rice drying and storage plus efficient milling. The "Rice Straw Biogas Hub" will offer these as affordable, value-adding commercial services to the rice farmers, avoiding their need to buy and maintain expensive equipment, and enabling them to triple incomes whilst protecting the environment.

Enstorel-Bathal - mobile power for an island nation

DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY

Our Enstorel based ZE-Gen project will develop a highly innovative yet simple to use cleantech system for the Philippines that we expect to become a compelling alternative to fossil fuel generators - a solution that can apply anywhere across the Islands. It will offer reliable access to noise-free, pollution-free electricity in places the Grid may not be able to reach and at a cost to users which the Grid might never be able to match. Enstorel is a safe and robust electricity collection, storage and delivery device with exciting potential in many diverse applications. For this application Enstorels will be smart-combined with Grid outlets and/or renewable sources through a proprietary system controller which will make investing in community projects for renewable energy generation far more attractive than today, especially in places where Grid connections are patchy or impractical.

Project RICE (Renewable, Inclusive, Carbon-positive Energy)

DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY

PROBLEM Modern agriculture is so critically dependent on fossil fuel inputs that they often outweigh energy outputs from the food produced. Hence modern farming has been described as "the use of land to convert oil into food". Undoubtedly, diesel-powered mechanisation has greatly reduced backbreaking drudgery for countless millions of farmers, and conversion of natural-gas into ammonia/nitrogen fertilisers is currently feeding a third of humanity. Nevertheless, the downsides are painfully obvious: Input Costs: Centralised production/distribution of fossil fuels mean farmers in remote areas across Africa and Asia often pay more than double for diesel-fuel/N-fertilisers. Those who cannot afford them are stuck in cycles of hard labour/low-yields/poverty. Those who can afford them lose around 60% at point-of-use(waste-heat from engines, or leaching/volatilisation from N-fertilisers). Food Prices: Food uses around a third of all energy globally, so when fossil-fuel prices rise, food prices follow, creating political instability and hardship for the world's most vulnerable(urban-poor and farmers in developing countries). Greenhouse Gas(GHG) Emissions: Agricultural emissions continue to rise, accelerating climate change, disproportionately impacting farmers in developing countries. VISION Development of efficient agricultural technologies powered by renewable energy to lower emissions whilst increasing farmer productivity and profitability in developing countries. Our focus is on the world's number 1 food crop: rice. Known as a "Poverty Crop"(low-margins for smallholder-farmers). Responsible for 48% of all crop GHG emissions. 91% of rice is produced/consumed in Asia. Straw Innovations("SI") (British SME operating in the Philippines) has pioneered a suite of technologies for collecting rice straw at harvest-time, avoiding field-burning/rotting that accounts for almost half of rice emissions. In this project, they will convert their "straw-catcher" machine to run on solar-PV electricity/batteries instead of diesel. Takachar(multi-award-winning Indian SME) has developed a cost-effective mobile biochar production unit that can transform rice straw from a major pollutant into a vast carbon sink. They will make a 10x scaled-up version and send it to SI, who will tap the waste process heat for the first time to dry rice, instead of diesel/kerosene. The char will then be returned to the farmers' fields as a more efficient fertiliser/soil-amendment, incorporated by the same SI electric "rice/straw-collectors" that harvested it. SI will also send their machines from the Philippines to India mid-project and the two countries will test out different business models for farmer adoption/benefit. Aston University(home of SUPERGEN Bioenergy Hub) leading sustainability specialists will invite stakeholder feedback and also calculate GHG savings from the new system.

Darwin Initiative Round 26

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

The Darwin Initiative is a UK government grants scheme that helps to protect biodiversity and the natural environment through locally based projects worldwide. The initiative funds projects that help countries rich in biodiversity but poor in financial resources to meet their objectives under one or more of the biodiversity conventions. The objective is to to address threats to biodiversity such as: - habitat loss or degradation - climate change - invasive species - over-exploitation - pollution and eutrophication

Land Degradation Neutrality Fund

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

The LDN Fund invests in projects which reduce or reverse land degradation and thereby contribute to ‘Land Degradation Neutrality’. The LDN Fund is co-promoted by the Global Mechanism of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and Mirova. It is a public-private partnership using public money to increase private sector investment in sustainable development. The fund invests in sustainable agriculture, forestry and other land uses globally. The Fund was launched at the UNCCD’s COP 13 in China in 2017.

Darwin Initiative Round 23

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

The Darwin Initiative is a UK government grants scheme that helps to protect biodiversity and the natural environment through locally based projects worldwide. The initiative funds projects that help countries rich in biodiversity but poor in financial resources to meet their objectives under one or more of the biodiversity conventions. The objective is to to address threats to biodiversity such as: - habitat loss or degradation - climate change - invasive species - over-exploitation - pollution and eutrophication.

Darwin Initiative

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

The Darwin Initiative is the UK’s flagship international challenge fund for biodiversity conversation and poverty reduction, established at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. The Darwin Initiative is a grant scheme working on projects that aim to slow, halt, or reverse the rates of biodiversity loss and degradation, with associated reductions in multidimensional poverty. To date, the Darwin Initiative has awarded more than £195m to over 1,280 projects in 159 countries to enhance the capability and capacity of national and local stakeholders to deliver biodiversity conservation and multidimensional poverty reduction outcomes in low and middle-income countries. More information at https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/the-darwin-initiative and https://www.darwininitiative.org.uk/

A contribution to Financial Sector Deepening Africa (FSDA) the United Nations Development Programme Biodiversity Finance Initiative (Biofin) to support delivery of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

The programme will support low and lower-middle income countries to grow their economies in ways that help to protect and restore their natural capital and so drive sustainable economic development. It is designed to provide practical support to governments, businesses, and financial institutions to integrate nature into their economic and financial decision-making, understand and manage nature-related risks, and capitalise on growing opportunities to invest in their natural assets. As such, it will support low and lower-middle income countries to transition to nature positive, net zero economies and so protect the poorest communities. Through an integrated set of activities, the programme will deliver the following outcomes: • Private Sector Disclosure Readiness: private sector actors in low and lower-middle income countries – including financial institutions, businesses, and policy-makers - will have the tools they need to understand and manage nature-related financial risk. In particular, the programme will ensure that key institutions have the tools and capacity to respond to growing demand to disclose nature-related financial risk. • Integrating nature at country level: governmental and regulatory decision-makers in low and lower-middle income countries will have the knowledge, skills and data to design and implement policies and programmes that will help to manage nature-related risks, unlock new nature markets, and rebuild natural capital. • Action Plans for Nature: partner governments will develop clear and comprehensive plans to finance the protection and restoration of nature. These plans will act as platforms to mobilise and guide both public and private financial flows. • Evidence Sharing Mechanisms on Nature: better evidence will be available to, and used by, decision makers in low and lower middle-income countries to guide their work. The programme will help to build the evidence about how to best integrate consideration of the natural environment into economic and financial decision making. It will also help decision-makers in governments and the private sector to access and use that evidence easily by building communities of practice and robust approaches to sharing knowledge and information. The outcomes will support the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), agreed at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meeting COP15. As protection and restoration of critical ecosystems is also critical to tackling climate change, it will also support the UK goal to keep global temperature rises within 1.5c degrees.

Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund Round 7

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

Illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is a widespread and lucrative criminal activity causing major global environmental and social harm. The IWT has been estimated to be worth up to £17 billion a year. Nearly 6,000 different species of fauna and flora are impacted, with almost every country in the world playing a role in the illicit trade.

• Developing sustainable livelihoods to benefit people directly affected by IWT,

• Strengthening law enforcement,

• Ensuring effective legal frameworks,

• Reducing demand for IWT products.

By 2023 over £51 million has been committed to 157 projects since the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund was established in 2013. This round of funding includes the following projects: IWT086 to IWT107. Further information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/illegal-wildlife-trade-challenge-fund-iwtcf (Language: English)

Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund Round 9

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

Illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is a widespread and lucrative criminal activity causing major global environmental and social harm. The IWT has been estimated to be worth up to £17 billion a year. Nearly 6,000 different species of fauna and flora are impacted, with almost every country in the world playing a role in the illicit trade.

• Developing sustainable livelihoods to benefit people directly affected by IWT,

• Strengthening law enforcement,

• Ensuring effective legal frameworks,

• Reducing demand for IWT products.

By 2023 over £51 million has been committed to 157 projects since the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund was established in 2013. This round of funding includes the following projects: IWTEX002-003, IWTEV009-018, IWT121-129. Further information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/illegal-wildlife-trade-challenge-fund-iwtcf (Language: English)

Philippines - Researcher Links Workshop Grants

DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY

Philippines - Researcher Links Workshop Grants is funded through the UK Government’s Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Newton Fund and delivered on the UK side by the British Council. This activity contributes to the Newton Fund’s work in building research and innovation partnerships with countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America to support economic development and social welfare, tackle global challenges and develop talent and careers.

Philippines - PhD Placements

DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY

Philippines - PhD Placements is funded through the UK Government’s Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Newton Fund and delivered on the UK side by the British Council. This activity contributes to the Newton Fund’s work in building research and innovation partnerships with countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America to support economic development and social welfare, tackle global challenges and develop talent and careers.

Philippines - Institutional Links

DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY

Philippines - Institutional Links is funded through the UK Government’s Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Newton Fund and delivered on the UK side by the British Council. This activity contributes to the Newton Fund’s work in building research and innovation partnerships with countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America to support economic development and social welfare, tackle global challenges and develop talent and careers.

DfE NI - GCRF QR funding

DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY

Grant to Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland to enable Northern Irish higher education institutes to carry out pre-agreed ODA-eligible activities in line with their institutional strategies. For Queen’s University Belfast in FY2019/20 this included: workshops in Cambodia, Vietnam, South Africa, and Uganda about health and education; 11 pilot projects spanning 16 eligible countries (Angola, Burundi, China, Colombia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Kosovo, Malaysia, Nigeria, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam and Zimbabwe); and additional support to GCRF and NF-funded activities. For Ulster University in FY2019/20 funding supported six pump-priming projects on: LMIC maternal, neonatal and child health; PTSD in Rwanda; Decision-Making in Policy Making in Africa and Central Asia; and hearing impairment and dementia in China.

HEFCW - GCRF QR funding

DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY

Additional GCRF funding to the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales to support Welsh higher education institutes (HEIs) to carry out ODA-eligible activities in line with their institutional strategies. ODA research grants do not represent the full economic cost of research and therefore additional funding is provided to Welsh HEIs in line with their research council grant income. In FY19/20 funding was allocated to Aberystwyth University, Bangor University, Cardiff University and Swansea University. In FY19/20, the funding was used to fund: the full economic cost of existing ODA eligible activities (e.g. already funded by GCRF); small ODA-eligible projects; fellowships to ODA-eligible researchers; and to increase collaboration and impact. 53 ODA-eligible countries have been reported as benefiting from the funded work, with Brazil and India the most frequently mentioned. By region, the largest number of projects were based in the LDC’s (Least Developed Countries) in Asia, South America, and East Africa, with only a few projects in the middle-income countries such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Georgia.

ODA BEIS analysts - cross-cutting for both ODA funds

DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY

ODA BEIS analysts. For the monitoring and evaluation and learning for NF and GCRF

SFC - GCRF QR funding

DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY

Formula GCRF funding to the Scottish Funding Council to support Scottish higher education institutes (HEIs) to carry out ODA-eligible activities in line with their three-year institutional strategies. ODA research grants do not represent the full economic cost of research and therefore additional funding is provided to Scottish HEIs in proportion to their Research Excellence Grant (REG). In FY19/20 funding was allocated to 18 Scottish higher education institutes to support existing ODA grant funding and small projects. GCRF has now supported more than 800 projects at Scottish institutions, involving over 80 developing country partners.

Global Challenges Research Fund Evaluation

DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY

The overall purpose of the GCRF evaluation is to assess the extent to which GCRF has achieved its objectives and contributed to its intended impacts.

Transformation Project - ODA Reporting Tool (ODART)

DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY

The Reporting ODA Digital Service (RODA) is the data submission, processing, reporting repository system for data on BEIS R&I ODA Eligible Programmes delivered by Delivery Partners

UUKi Delivery Support

DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY

These are delivery cost for shared learning workshops/training and best practice (for current and future applicants) on ODA assurance, eligibility, reporting and partnership working through either the NF and GCRF