Improved understanding of greenhouse gas fluxes and radiative forcers, including carbon dioxide removal technologies
HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions
Basic Information
- Identifier
- HORIZON-CL5-2021-D1-01-01
- Programme
- Climate sciences and responses
- Programme Period
- 2021 - 2027
- Status
- Closed (31094503)
- Opening Date
- June 23, 2021
- Deadline
- September 13, 2021
- Deadline Model
- single-stage
- Budget
- €18,000,000
- Keywords
- Climatic research
Description
Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
- Improved knowledge in the addressed areas, also through increasing the use of high quality data, leading to a better understanding of the processes driving climate change.
- Improved projections of climate change (including in relation to climate change-related extreme events).
- Improve our understanding of how innovative mitigation actions can help stabilise global temperature.
- Improved understanding from these actions should be fed into improvements in Earth system models, climate services and other forms of downstream use.
This topic aims at filling fundamental gaps in our understanding of Earth system, focussing on greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes and Earth system feedbacks, the behaviour of radiative forcers (including their pre-cursors), and efforts to stabilise global temperature through deployment of carbon dioxide (CO2) removal approaches.
Beneficiaries are encouraged to take advantage of the relevant national and/or European research infrastructures (e.g. ICOS, ACTRIS etc.).
Actions should improve scientific understanding in only one of the following areas:
a) Greenhouse gas fluxes and Earth system feedbacks
Actions should target a better understanding of key processes related to the life cycles of GHGs, other climate forcers and associated feedbacks affecting the Earth’s climate over different time horizons, including the effect of climate variability from inter-annual to multi-decadal and longer time scales. Actions should focus on elements of the climate system which have an important influence on climate change and its impacts but are not sufficiently understood by the latest science, such as terrestrial ecosystems, hydrological cycles, ocean circulation changes, atmosphere-ocean gas exchanges, coastal zones or the biogeochemical cycles.
b) Global warming contribution of different, non-CO2 radiative forcers
Actions should improve knowledge concerning the individual and cumulative contribution of short- and long-lived radiative forcers, including GHGs other than CO2 and their precursors, aerosols, refrigerants and other climate forcers, to climate change, including their impact on atmospheric and ocean circulation, as well as other environmental issues. Actions may focus on a subset of forcers, and should concentrate on those where the relationship between emissions, atmospheric lifecycle, climate system feedbacks, and global warming is least well understood. Actions should also assess the climate and non-climate impacts, over multiple time scales, of policies and measures targeting forcers other than CO2. Moreover, the action should examine the application of this knowledge in relevant sectors (such as transport, industry, agriculture and health) with a view to better understand co-benefits and trade-offs of mitigation policies with other societal benefits, including human health.
c) Climate and Earth system responses to climate neutrality and net negative emissions
Actions should improve understanding of the environmental consequences of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions to levels consistent with the aim of stopping global warming. Actions should focus on the response of global temperatures and other key properties of the Earth system to sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to net zero and below. This should include, but not be limited to, pathways consistent with the Paris Agreement goals of limiting warming to well below 2°C and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, including scenarios with and without temperature overshoot. The action should pay particular attention to climate-related challenges at different temporal scales, including potential benefits, risks and feedbacks (e.g. effects of surface albedo changes) of using carbon dioxide removal strategies, whether nature-based or technological, to stabilise global temperature. In this context, interaction with actions dedicated to carbon dioxide removal (like ongoing EU projects, NEGEM, LANDMARC and OceanNETs, as well as HORIZON-CL5-2022-D1-01-01-two-stage: Carbon Dioxide Removal approaches and Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage) is encouraged.
International cooperation on the above areas is encouraged.
Destination & Scope
Europe has been at the forefront of climate science and should retain its leadership position to support EU policies as well as international efforts for a global uptake of climate action in line with the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including biodiversity objectives. Advancing climate science and further broadening and deepening the knowledge base is essential to inform the societal transition towards a climate neutral and climate resilient society by 2050, as well as towards a more ambitious greenhouse gas reduction target by 2030. It will involve research that furthers our understanding of past, present and expected future changes in climate and its implications on ecosystems and society, closing knowledge gaps, and develops the tools that support policy coherence and the implementation of effective mitigation and adaptation solutions. Due to the inherent international character of this subject, international collaboration is encouraged for topics under this destination.
The activities implemented under this section will enable the transition to a climate-neutral and resilient society and economy through improving the knowledge of the Earth system and the ability to predict and project its changes under different natural and socio-economic drivers, including a better understanding of society’s response and behavioural changes, and allowing a better estimation of the impacts of climate change and the design and evaluation of solutions and pathways for climate change mitigation and adaptation and related social transformation.
This Destination contributes directly to the Strategic Plan’s Key Strategic Orientation C ”Making Europe the first digitally enabled circular, climate-neutral and sustainable economy through the transformation of its mobility, energy, construction and production systems” and the impact area “Climate change mitigation and adaptation”.
In line with the Strategic Plan, the overall expected impact of this Destination is to contribute to the “Transition to a climate-neutral and resilient society and economy enabled through advanced climate science, pathways and responses to climate change (mitigation and adaptation) and behavioural transformations”, notably through:
- Advancing knowledge and providing solutions in the any of following areas: Earth system science; pathways to climate neutrality; climate change adaptation including climate services; social science for climate action; and better understanding of climate-ecosystems interactions.
- Contributing substantially to key international assessments such as those of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) or the European Environment Agency (e.g. European environment state and outlook reports, SOER).
- Strengthening the European Research Area on climate change.
- Increasing the transparency, robustness, trustworthiness and practical usability of the knowledge base on climate change for use by policy makers, practitioners, other stakeholders and citizens.
Coordination and synergies between activities supported under Destination 1, as well as in other Destinations and Clusters, and in particular complementarities with Cluster 4 and Cluster 6 should be taken into account by planning for adequate resources for co-ordination and clustering activities. Following a systemic approach, Destination 1 concentrates on activities related to climate science and modelling, whereas Cluster 6 supports R&I in the areas covered by Cluster 6, notably on the implementation of climate change mitigation and adaptation solutions.
Eligibility & Conditions
General conditions
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.
4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion: described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes
- 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
Documents
Call documents:
Standard application form — call-specific application form is also 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 - Model Grant Agreement
Additional documents:
HE Main Work Programme 2021–2022 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2021–2022 – 8. Climate, Energy and Mobility
HE Main Work Programme 2021–2022 – 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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Horizon Europe Programme Guide contains the detailed guidance to the structure, budget and political priorities of Horizon Europe.
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Research Enquiry Service – ask questions about any aspect of European research in general and the EU Research Framework Programmes in particular.
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Latest Updates
The Call HORIZON-CL5-2021-D1-01 has closed on the 14 September 2021, 17:00:00 Brussels time.
67 proposals have been submitted.
The breakdown per topic is:
- HORIZON-CL5-2021-D1-01-01: 6 proposals
- HORIZON-CL5-2021-D1-01-02: 8 proposals
- HORIZON-CL5-2021-D1-01-03: 6 proposals
- HORIZON-CL5-2021-D1-01-04: 3 proposals
- HORIZON-CL5-2021-D1-01-05: 16 proposals
- HORIZON-CL5-2021-D1-01-06: 1 proposal
- HORIZON-CL5-2021-D1-01-07: 11 proposals
- HORIZON-CL5-2021-D1-01-08: 8 proposals
- HORIZON-CL5-2021-D1-01-09: 8 proposals
Evaluation results are expected to be communicated in January 2022.
Instructions for applicants:
The applicants are advised to indicate at the beginning of the abstract of their application which of the indicated areas (a, b, or c) they apply for.