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European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency
  • News article
  • 20 December 2023
  • European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency
  • 3 min read

34 projects selected for grants under Horizon Europe Mission calls

After three months of rigorous assessment, the European Climate, Infrastructure, and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) has successfully concluded the evaluation of three calls for proposals supporting three Horizon Europe Missions

Horizon Europe Mission calls evaluation results
© CINEA

These calls closed on 20 September and received a total of 133 project applications, requesting a total budget of EUR 295.7 million.

Each proposal is presented by a consortium of different partners coming from different countries that are associated to the EU's Horizon Europe programme for research and innovation. The evaluation was carried out by over 100 independent evaluators across various panels, each including an observer responsible for overseeing the procedure.

Mission Restore Our Ocean and Waters by 2030

A total of 76 proposals were submitted for the call HORIZON-MISS-2023-OCEAN-01 - Actions for the implementation of the Mission Restore our ocean and waters by 2030. They were evaluated by 64 experts across eleven evaluation panels. As a result of the evaluation process, 52 proposals scored above the threshold, and 23 will be funded. Spain, Germany, and Norway were the top three countries with the highest number of applicants.

Climate Resilience Solutions for Adaptation to Climate Change Mission

The call for proposals HORIZON-MISS-2023-CLIMA-01 – Demonstration of climate resilience solutions in support of the implementation of the Adaptation to Climate Change Mission – received 53 proposals that were scrutinised by three evaluation panels, involving 36 experts. Out of the submitted proposals, 25 scored above the threshold, and 10 will be funded. The top three countries in terms of applicants were Spain, Italy, and France.

Integrated Approach for Climate Adaptation, Ocean & Waters, and Soil Deal for Europe

Lastly, four proposals competed for the call for proposals HORIZON-MISS-2023-CLIMA-OCEAN-SOIL-01 - Mission Climate adaptation, Mission Ocean & waters and Mission Soil Deal for Europe – Joint demonstration of an integrated approach to increasing landscape water retention capacity at regional scale. Three of these proposals underwent evaluation by a single panel consisting of five experts, with one of those being selected for funding. The top three countries in terms of applicants were Greece, Germany, and France.

All applicants from the calls received formal notifications of the outcomes of their proposals on 18 December 2023.

Next steps

Over the next months, CINEA will work closely with the selected project consortia to prepare the grant agreements. These should be signed by mid-March 2024, with the projects starting as soon as possible afterwards.

Background: Horizon Europe EU Missions

Goals

Established under the Horizon Europe programme for the years 2021-2027, EU Missions are a new way to bring tangible solutions to some of society's greatest challenges. They have ambitious goals and will deliver concrete results by 2030. EU Missions align with Commission priorities like the European Green Deal.

  • The Mission on “Adaptation to Climate Change focuses on supporting EU regions, cities and local authorities in building resilience against the impacts of climate change.
  • The Mission on “Restore our Ocean and Waters, with a 2030 target, aims to protect and restore the health of our ocean and waters through research and innovation, citizen engagement and 'blue' investments. This Mission takes a holistic approach to addressing both ocean and waters challenges to contribute to achieving climate neutrality and restoring nature.
  • The goal of the Mission on “A Soil Deal for Europeis to establish 100 living labs and ‘lighthouses’ that will lead the transition towards healthy soils by 2030. A living lab is a place to experiment on the ground with involvement from multiple partners like researchers, farmers and land managers, whereas a lighthouse is a single site, like a farm or a park, for demonstration and peer-to-peer learning.

CINEA's role

The European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA)  manages and implements three of the five missions under the Horizon Europe framework programme: Adaptation to Climate Change, Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030, as well as the 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart cities by 2030 (not included in these calls).

Details