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ASOR is pleased to announce the establishment (on a trial basis) of a Climate Impact Sustainability Fund to provide micro-grants to ASOR members working in the MENA regions. The establishment of this fund comes on the recommendations of the  Ad Hoc Committee on the Climate Impact formed by Sharon Herbert in fall of 2021. This committee was tasked at examining ASOR activities with particular attention to the Annual Meeting. The committee presented its report to the Board of Trustees at its 2022 November meeting in Boston. The committee outlined various alternatives for reducing ASOR’s carbon footprint, one of which was the establishment of a Climate Sustainability Fund.

Section 4.4.3: While existing programs and offset brokers can offer ready-made solutions for managing carbon offsets, ASOR is well-situated to take direct action in offsetting activities. As a funding organization, ASOR could seize this opportunity to establish micro-grants in support of:

1. Environmentally sustainable projects related to ASOR’s core mission in the MENA regions. Such projects should be designed to follow the best-practice criteria above and could also be subsequently submitted to Gold Standard for certification and further funding as carbon-offset programs.
2. Supporting the development and implementation of eco-friendly practices in fieldwork/research projects to reduce carbon emissions derived from archaeological fieldwork in MENA regions.

At the 2023 Spring meeting the ASOR Board of Trustees voted to establish such a fund on a trial basis. ASOR is very pleased to have received a challenge gift from an anonymous donor to match gifts to this fund 1:1 up to $20,000. The Board encourages all ASOR members and staff to consider donating either 5% or 10% of their airfare to this pilot Climate Sustainability Fund. Through the anonymous matching program, the impact of these gifts will be doubled. ASOR will thus launch a pilot mini-grants program to fund sustainability initiatives in the MENA regions—the areas where ASOR members conduct their work.

ASOR is well-situated to develop projects in MENA countries geared towards sustainability, carbon mitigation, and cultural heritage that can be funded by mini grants from this Climate Sustainability Fund. The ASOR community is invited to think about projects in the regions in which they work that might benefit from the mini-grants provided by this fund. ASOR is currently in the process of putting together a Grant Committee and establishing an application process for this Fund.