Research Newsletter - Issue 57: Spotlight

The European Green Deal Call – Horizon 2020

Kick starting a massive transition for Europe and our planet”.

This was how John Bell, Director Healthy Planet Directorate - DG RTD, launched the information session on the Green Deal Call during the recent Research and Innovation Days in Brussels. The call, still under the current European funding programme Horizon 2020, is part of the Commission Green Deal action plan, which aims to take immediate and drastic actions to provide concrete solutions to fight climate change and make Europe climate-neutral by 2050.

Launched on the 18th of September 2020, the call closes on the 26th of January 2021. The main information is summarized in this handy Factsheet, and the full text is included in the 2018-2020 Work Programme on Cross-Cutting issues (from p62 onwards).

Although some ongoing EU-funded research projects are already producing results that will help deliver on the European Green Deal challenges, this new call differs in its strong focus on impact and its aims to provide tangible and visible results in a relatively short timeframe.

With areas ranging from energy, food production, transport, environmental disasters management and the circular economy, the call offers cross-disciplinary opportunities for participants in disciplines ranging from Physics, Life Sciences, Business and Humanities and Social Sciences.

With an overall budget of the order of EUR 1 billion, the call is organized in 8 thematic areas (shown below) matching the 8 policy areas of the European Green Deal, and 2 additional horizontal areas offering a longer-term perspective in achieving the transformations. In total 20 topics are available, focusing largely on pilot applications and demonstration projects, as well as innovative products, experiments and approaches. The additional horizontal areas aim to strengthen knowledge capacity and lead to social innovation for new ways to engage citizens and empower consumers, in-line with the Commission’s commitment to the United Nations 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development in the EU, “leaving no-one behind”.

European Green Deal

Projects funded under this Green Deal Call will be large, multi-stakeholder and multidisciplinary collaborations, which should help Europe reach its ambitious climate target for 55% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, on its pathway to climate neutrality by 2050.

The next European Research funding programme Horizon Europe, due to start January 2021, will continue to address the Green Deal action plan challenges through some of its future calls. But as John Bell mentioned in his Research and Innovation Days presentation: “We cannot wait for another year to get started”.

For more information or queries on any aspect of the Green Deal call please contact the EU Research Development Officer, Liana Drummond (liana.drummond@dcu.ie).