RFP for Project 46: Southern Indiana Regional Climate Alliance Consulting Services

The Project 46 Steering Committee (Steering Committee) is seeking the services of a professional, qualified Consultant to serve as Project 46’s coordinator from April 2026 through the end of April 2028. The Consultant will serve as the operational backbone of Project 46, ensuring consistent progress across committees, subcommittees, partners, and community stakeholders. The Consultant will manage governance functions, develop a funding strategy, support communications, track data, and participate in onsite engagement efforts to collectively advance climate, sustainability, and resilience goals across the southern Indiana region.

The Project 46 Southern Indiana Regional Climate Alliance (Project 46) is a regional climate alliance among the communities of Bloomington, Nashville and Columbus, Indiana that aims to identify and pursue solutions that effectively address shared challenges and opportunities related to climate change.

Combustion of fossil fuels is warming Earth’s atmosphere and changing the climate, disrupting the delicate balance of Earth’s ecosystems. Climate change is already affecting Indiana communities by straining city infrastructure, adversely affecting human health, and causing disruptions to the local economy. It is important to address these climate impacts now, as climate change will become much more severe in the coming decades, contributing to additional strain on vulnerable populations, social systems, and overall community resilience.

Actions by a regional climate alliance are key to addressing climate change because many emissions are produced and can be reduced at a regional level with immediate positive impacts on regional communities' quality of life. Climate change represents an opportunity for regional communities to take this action and lower their carbon footprint through more efficient infrastructure and sustainable development. Transformation of Indiana’s energy infrastructure will be essential to meet climate goals due to the current utilization of carbon-intensive fuel sources for electricity generation. This transition towards renewable and low-carbon fuel sources represents a chance to collectively reduce regional communities' carbon footprint. Directing the community’s energy investments towards renewable sources will create a more diversified and resilient energy system, while also fostering local job creation. The promise of innovation, technological, and social change that climate action can bring represents the possibility of improved environmental, economic, and equity outcomes across the region.

Project 46 seeks to secure funding to address the impacts of climate change. This funding will provide the means necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by investing in large-scale regional projects such as solar energy, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, fleet electrification, and building electrification and energy efficiency. Project 46 will also seek funding to address the impacts of extreme weather events across the region, including (but not limited to) investing in green and gray infrastructure improvements to reduce flooding.