Emmanuel Macron unveiled the 'Make our Planet Great Again' grants after President Donald Trump in June said he was pulling the United States out of an international accord to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that was brokered in Paris in 2015.
President Macron repeatedly tried to persuade the US leader to reverse his decision.
The name of the grant program is a spin on Trump's 'Make America Great Again' campaign slogan - and a part of Mr Macron's efforts to respond to President Trump's policy actions on climate change.
In a statement, the Elysee Palace said 13 of the initial 18 grants would be awarded to scientists based in the United States.
The research of the grant recipients will be on pollution, hurricanes and clouds.
Candidates would need to complete a thesis and oversee a project taking between three and five years.
Winner Camille Parmesan from the University of Texas at Austin said she is excited to carry out her research on how human-made climate change is affecting wildlife.
She said it is a relief to not have to hide her work because of the hostile attitude towards climate research in the United States.
"[It] gave me such a psychological boost, to have that kind of support, to have the head of state saying I value what you do," she told the AP news agency.
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Donald Trump has previously said he has doubts about global warming and believes the Paris accord would damage the US economy by forcing businesses to reduce emissions.
Mr Macron told winners his funding program would "be there to replace" the US funding of climate research.
"If we want to prepare for the changes of tomorrow, we need science," he said.
A majority of the winners of the grant - 13 out of the 18 - are based in the United States, although more than 5,000 people applied across 100 countries.
Trump not invited
The grants announcement came ahead of a two-day climate summit aimed at giving new impetus to the Paris accord and finding new funding to help governments and businesses meet its goals.
More than 50 world leaders have been invited to Paris for the "One Planet Summit," co-hosted by the UN and the World Bank. President Trump was not invited.
Other attendees include Arnold Schwarzenegger, who took a spin on a Parisian electric bike on Monday to call attention to health problems caused by pollution.
The Hollywood star and former California governor argued that Trump's rejection of the Paris climate accord doesn't matter, because companies, scientists and other governments can "pick up the slack" to reduce global emissions.
Arnold Schwarzenegger arrives on bicycle to meet Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo (AP/AAP) Source: AP
Macron to push wealthy nations, private sector to do more
At Tuesday's summit, Macron will urge wealthy nations to increase climate financing and urge investors to turn their backs on polluters in a bid to accelerate efforts to combat global warming.
French state-controlled utility EDF on Monday said it would invest 25 billion euros to develop 30 gigawatt of solar capacity in France between 2020 an 2035. Daily Newspaper Les Echos quoted the chief executive of Engie, Isabelle Kocher, as saying her company would invest one billion euros to improve the energy efficiency of buildings.
Separately, nine European energy companies including EDF, Italy's Enel, Spain's Iberdrola and Britain's SSE said they would include green bonds in their financing policies.
Developing nations say that the rich are not on track with a broader commitment in the Paris accord for wealthy economies to provide $100 billion a year by 2020 - from public and private sources alike - to help developing countries switch from fossil fuels to greener energy sources and adapt to the effects of climate change.
Oxfam estimated that there was only between $4-$8 billion available for adaptation and that recent estimates showed the cost of helping emerging nations deal with rising sea levels, droughts, flooding and other effects of global warming could add up to $140 to 300 billion per year by 2030.
"Right now, the world's poorest people are getting only a tiny fraction of the help they desperately need to survive," Oxfam said in a statement.
"This year's barrage of climate disasters showed that poor communities are often completely unprepared to deal with extreme weather."
- with Reuters
