The climate imperative and its impact on democratic governance
HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions
Basic Information
- Identifier
- HORIZON-CL2-2023-DEMOCRACY-01-05
- Programme
- Standing up for democracy
- Programme Period
- 2021 - 2027
- Status
- Closed (31094503)
- Opening Date
- December 14, 2022
- Deadline
- March 14, 2023
- Deadline Model
- single-stage
- Budget
- €9,000,000
- Min Grant Amount
- €2,000,000
- Max Grant Amount
- €3,000,000
- Expected Number of Grants
- 3
- Keywords
- Global and transnational governance, internationalEnvironmental change and societySocietal EngagementEnvironmental regulations and climate negotiationsSocial sciences and humanitiesSocial InnovationPublic governanceHORIZON-CL2-2023-DEMOCRACY-01-05climate transitioncivic participationglobal governance
Description
Projects should contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
- Enhance the ability of democratic governance to address complex and long-term challenges, through better understanding of the socio-political dimension of the climate crisis (including climate movements) and its impact on democratic governance, participation and social cohesion; the impact of the green transition on public governance and democratic practices, their legitimacy and responsiveness; and the increasing role of non-majoritarian institutions in decision-making.
- Enhance the capacity of democratic governance to mobilise and engage citizens through participation, and better-informed decision-making and communication to citizens on climate related policies, based on learnings from the management of the COVID-19 pandemic, disaster and end-time scenarios analysis, and other historic examples for such political and societal imperatives.
- Improve policymaking approaches at all levels of government through recommendations to address the climate imperative in a democratic manner supported by citizens, balancing it with other policy imperatives, including the role of education in fostering climate literacy.
- Encourage international cooperation through better understanding of the supranational challenges of the climate crisis, and of the consequences of climate crisis scenarios on demand for democratic structures, international politics and citizen engagement.
Climate movements have highlighted the question of whether urgent climate goals can be met while respecting democratic processes, maintaining trust, legitimacy and efficiency of democratic institutions. A large segment of society, on the other hand, perceives the changes on their personal lifestyle needed to mitigate or adapt to climate change as too burdensome, or focuses on other priorities, e.g. policy imperatives linked to financial or security issues. Policies adopted under the climate transition will not be pain-free, increasing the difficulty for democratic governments seeking re-election to legislate effectively to meet the demands of the climate crisis. Social inequalities increase the risk that the less advantaged segments of society will be more negatively impacted by the climate crisis and policies made for the climate transition. The common global goals for the climate transition also highlight the deficiencies of governance on supranational issues.
At the same time, the climate imperative also opens up avenues for innovative civic participation in an existential policy area.
Thus, proposals under this topic should help reinvigorate democratic governance by suggesting pathways for improved effectiveness of rule-of-law based institutions and policies, notably pathways for open government practices that enable active civic participation throughout the policymaking process. They should help strengthen social and economic resilience and sustainability through a better understanding of the relationship between democratic governance and the climate imperative.
Proposals should use the lessons of history as well as analysis of the current situation and best practices to make policy recommendations for the future. In the light of existing tensions between democratic governance and climate imperatives, proposals should examine how societies have dealt with bottom-up participation in the past, whether more inclusive and politically democratic societies are better able to develop prevention and mitigation policies, and what new structures we need to tackle the climate imperative, to effectively address its complexity, urgency, and long-term impacts. Proposals are encouraged to consider social innovation activities to stimulate social change, new social practices, social ownership or market uptake. Gender and intersectional aspects (e.g. ethnicity, socioeconomic background) should be considered, particularly regarding citizen engagement, civic participation, and climate literacy.
Proposals should seek synergies and complementarity with other clusters, partnerships and missions of the Horizon Europe Programme, notably the Clean Energy Transition Partnerships, as well as with other EU programmes and financing instruments to maximise its impact in the long term. Proposals within this call can be the needed link to get the project outcomes out of partnerships to the policymakers who can directly implement them for maximum effective results. Clustering and cooperation with other selected projects under this topic and other relevant projects are strongly encouraged.
Destination & Scope
The invasion of Ukraine by Russia, which unfolds ominously while this work programme is prepared, has deep and extraordinary consequences on European security, international relations, as well as trust in democratic systems and in the media. However, it cannot be seen as an isolated event. It is part of an accelerated and ever intensifying movement of rejection and challenge of democracy and of the liberal international order. Indexes and reports measuring the overall situation of democracies in the world confirm their increased fragility and vulnerability over the last years: a process labelled as a “long democratic recession”, a shift in the nature of “autocratisation” or a “global expansion of authoritarian rule”, which quantitatively translates into the increase of the number of countries moving towards authoritarianism and the overall decline of the quality of democracies. [[ Cfr. the latest reports from Freedom House or the V-Dem Institute:
https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2021/democracy-under-siege;
https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2022/global-expansion-authoritarian-rule
http://www.v-dem.net/static/website/files/dr/dr_2021.pdf;
https://v-dem.net/media/publications/dr_2022.pdf]]
Interdisciplinary research on the past and present challenges to and facilitators of democracy can help to understand them better, with a view to strengthen their resilience and stability. It will also help to counter the shift from governance based on expertise, rules-based multilateralism and consensual policymaking towards majoritarianism, unilateralism, nationalism, populism and polarisation. It will foster democracy’s further development with a view to enhancing representation, participation, openness, pluralism, tolerance, the effectiveness of public policy, non-discrimination, civic engagement, the protection of fundamental rights and the rule of law. These reflect the European Union’s values as defined in Article 2 of the EU Treaty[[ Consolidated version of the Treaty on European Union, Title 1 “Common Provisions”, Article 2: “The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. These values are common to the Member States in a society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men prevail”.]].
Expected impact:
Proposals for topics under this destination should set out a credible pathway to contributing to the following expected impacts of the Horizon Europe Strategic Plan:
- Democratic governance is reinvigorated by improving the accountability, transparency, effectiveness and trustworthiness of rule-of-law based institutions and policies and through the expansion of active and inclusive citizenship empowered by the safeguarding of fundamental rights.
The implementation of the research activities of the destination will assist in the re-invigoration and modernisation of democratic governance. The aim is to develop evidence-based innovations, policies and policy recommendations, as well as institutional frameworks that expand political participation, social dialogue, civic engagement, gender equality and inclusiveness. Activities will also contribute to enhancing the transparency, effectiveness, accountability and legitimacy of public policymaking. They will help improving trust in democratic institutions, safeguarding liberties and the rule of law and protecting democracy from multidimensional threats. Rich historical, cultural and philosophical perspectives, including a comparative dimension, will set the frame for soundly understanding present developments and help to map future pathways. In the medium to long term, the knowledge, data, scientifically robust recommendations and innovations generated will enhance decision-making on all aspects relevant to democratic governance. As the Destination aims directly at citizen engagement and at producing lasting change, it is of particular importance that the research and innovation actions promote the highest standards of transparency and openness. When applicable, it is encouraged to open up the process, criteria, methodologies and data to civil society in the course of the research.
Eligibility & Conditions
General conditions
1. Admissibility conditions: described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes
Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System
2. Eligible countries: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.
3. Other eligibility conditions: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes
4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion: described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes
5. Evaluation and award:
-
Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes
-
Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual
-
Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement: described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes
6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants: described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes
Specific conditions
7. Specific conditions: described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme]
Documents
Call documents:
Standard application form — call-specific application form is available in the Submission System
Standard application form (HE RIA, IA)
Standard evaluation form — will be used with the necessary adaptations
Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)
MGA
Additional documents:
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 5. Culture, creativity and inclusive society
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 12. Missions
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 13. General Annexes
HE Framework Programme and Rules for Participation Regulation 2021/695
HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment
EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual
Support & Resources
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Latest Updates
EVALUATION results
HORIZON-CL2-2023-DEMOCRACY-01
Published: 07.12.2022
Deadline: 14.03.2023
Available budget: EUR 75 000 000
The results of the evaluation are as follows:
Number of proposals submitted (including proposals transferred from or to other calls): 97
Number of inadmissible proposals: 2
Number of ineligible proposals: 0
Number of above-threshold proposals: 58
Total budget requested for above-threshold proposals: EUR 184 724 528,25
We recently informed the applicants about the evaluation results for their proposals.
For questions, please contact the Research Enquiry Service.
The call HORIZON-CL2-2023-DEMOCRACY-01 has closed on 14.03.2023.
97 proposals have been submitted.
The breakdown per topic is:
- HORIZON-CL2-2023-DEMOCRACY-01-01: 10 proposals
- HORIZON-CL2-2023-DEMOCRACY-01-02: 5 proposals
- HORIZON-CL2-2023-DEMOCRACY-01-03: 4 proposals
- HORIZON-CL2-2023-DEMOCRACY-01-04: 24 proposals
- HORIZON-CL2-2023-DEMOCRACY-01-05: 11 proposals
- HORIZON-CL2-2023-DEMOCRACY-01-06: 7 proposals
- HORIZON-CL2-2023-DEMOCRACY-01-07: 19 proposals
- HORIZON-CL2-2023-DEMOCRACY-01-08: 17 proposals
Evaluation results are expected to be communicated in July 2023.