Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research Senator Kim Carr has said that the government’s $75 million Climate Ready program is open for applications.

The Climate Ready program will help Australian businesses to develop new products, processes and services to tackle climate change by providing dollar-for-dollar support for research and development, proof-of-concept and early stage commercialisation activities.

“It is vital that the Australian Government work in partnership with our innovative companies to address the challenge of climate change,” Mr Carr said.

“Innovative products and processes that help tackle global warming can also create high-wage, high-skill jobs for the future, which is in all our interests. A huge global market is developing for clean and green technologies and the Australian industry has the creativity and drive to deliver to world markets in this area,” he said.

Applicants can apply for grants ranging from $50,000 to $5 million and any company developing innovative solutions to address climate change impacts can apply.

A broad range of applications are expected for the program in areas as diverse as water recycling, waste recovery, small scale renewable energy technologies, green building materials, and other products, processes or services to monitor emissions or reduce energy use.

Australian businesses can also apply for grants involving enabling technologies – like nanotechnology and biotechnology – that address the effects of climate change on people and the environment.

Climate Ready is part of the Rudd Government’s Clean Business Australia initiative, a $240 million commitment to working in partnership with business to deliver energy and water-efficient projects with a focus on productivity and innovation.

Meanwhile, Mr Carr has also emphasised the role of science in Australia’s response to climate change at launch of The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Climate Adaptation National Research Flagship.

The research flagship will harness the experience and skills of scientists from across the CSIRO to help Australia adapt to climate change and variability.

“It will also equip us to take advantage of the many new opportunities we can expect to emerge as adaptation efforts increase globally,” Mr Carr said.

The now fully operational flagship, which will draw on the humanities, economics and the social sciences as well as the physical sciences, will see almost $30 million invested in research this financial year.

“This interdisciplinary approach will enable us to understand and measure adaptive capacity – the combination of skills, resources, technology, and relationships that make one town or company better at handling new risks than another,” he said.

The flagship will work closely with the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility which is funded by the Commonwealth and led by Griffith University.

The flagship is also setting up specific-purpose research clusters in partnership with the university sector. One cluster will look at the implications of climate change for the health of Australians, and a second will assess adaptation options for the populous and vulnerable region of southeast Queensland.

“The flagship’s effectiveness won’t just be measured by how many publications it generates. It will also be measured by how much of its research can be used to solve real-world problems,” Mr Carr said.

He said that the government is already counting on the flagship to provide the intellectual foundation for future climate adaptation initiatives. Raising the example of the $150 million Asia-Pacific climate adaptation program being led by AusAid, Mr Carr said that the program will assist Australia’s more vulnerable neighbours to develop climate adaptation plans, in part by sharing CSIRO’s knowledge and expertise in the field.

In addition to the flagship, CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology have built up a sophisticated understanding of the climate system and how it is influenced by greenhouse gas emissions.

The CSIRO is also researching and developing clean energy technologies such as large-scale solar, wind and geothermal power.