Horizon Europe: EUR 98 million available for new Cities Mission call

The EU Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities (Cities Mission) is supporting 100 cities from the 27 EU Member States, and 12 cities from countries associated, or with the potential of being associated to Horizon Europe, in their transformation towards climate neutrality by 2030. A total of EUR 98 million is available under this new call for project applications, with a deadline of 11 February 2025. The call covers four topics:

• Rethinking urban spaces towards climate neutrality
• Zero-pollution cities
• Mobility management plans and behavioural change
• Integrated peri-urban areas in the transition towards climate neutrality

See the table below for more details about the calls and where to apply:

How to apply?

• All funding information and details on how to apply are on the Funding and Tenders portal. You can also find useful information on the dedicated Horizon Europe page.  
• The Online Manual is your guide on the procedures from proposal submission to managing your grant.
• The Horizon Europe Programme Guide contains detailed guidance on the structure, budget and political priorities of the programme.
• Find the answers to most frequently asked questions on submission of proposals, evaluation and grant management via the Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ 
• For questions about any aspect of European research in general and the EU Research Framework Programmes in particular contact the Research Enquiry Service.

What are the requirements for applying?

• The requirements for submitting a project proposal are detailed in the relevant documents published on individual call page. 
• After the call for applications for funding has closed, the process moves to the evaluation phase. Here, the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) organises panels of independent experts to evaluate the proposals, drawn from the European Commission's database of external evaluators. The experts are independent specialists from the relevant field who peer-review and evaluate each proposal against a set of pre-defined criteria by the European Commission. 

Types of projects

Horizon Europe funds different types of collaborative projects including, for example: 

• Research and innovation action (RIA) that establishes new knowledge and/or explores a new or improved technology, product, process, service or solution. The EU funding covers up to 100% of the project costs. 
• Innovation action (IA) that produces plans or designs for new or improved products, processes or services including prototyping, testing, demonstrating, piloting, large-scale product validation and market replication. The EU funding covers up to 70% of the project costs. 
• Coordination and support action (CSA) that improve cooperation between legal entities from the EU and associated countries to strengthen the European Research Area including, for example, standardisation, dissemination, awareness-raising, communication and networking activities, policy dialogues, mutual learning or studies. The EU funding covers up to 100% of the project costs. 
• Programme co-fund action (COFUND) that provides multi-annual co-funding for European partnerships bringing together public and private partners. The EU funding covers between 30% and 70% of the project costs. 

Background information

Horizon Europe is the EU framework programme for research and innovation, which succeeds Horizon 2020. EU Missions were introduced into the Horizon Europe programme for the funding period 2021-2027. The five Missions - Adaptation to Climate Change; Cancer; Oceans and Waters; Cities and Soil - are a coordinated effort by the Commission to pool resources in terms of funding programmes, policies and regulations. Each mission operates as a portfolio of actions – such as research projects, policy measures or even legislative initiatives - to achieve a measurable goal that could not be achieved through individual actions.

The European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) is managing and implementing three of the five missions under the Horizon Europe framework programme. These missions are: Adaptation to Climate Change; Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030; and 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart cities by 2030.