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 the development of the tools that support policy coherence and the implementation of effective mitigation and adaptation solutions.

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. This includes a better understanding of society’s response and behavioural changes, 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 D ”Making Europe the first digitally led 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;
  • 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), the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) 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 should be fostered between activities supported under this destination and those under other destinations of cluster 5, as well as with other clusters of Horizon Europe.

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, this destination concentrates on activities related to climate science and modelling, whereas cluster 4 supports activities in the area of low-carbon and circular industry, and cluster 6 contributes to R&I on the implementation of climate change mitigation and adaptation solutions in the areas covered by cluster 6 (notably Intervention Area (IA) 1 on biodiversity and nature-based solutions (NBS), Earth observation, IA 4 on seas, oceans and inland waters…).

Coordination and synergies are also encouraged with the activities funded under the work programmes on the Horizon Europe missions, in particular the Mission “Adaptation to Climate Change”, the Mission “Climate Neutral and Smart Cities” and the Mission “Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030”. While this destination supports upstream research activities on climate science, the Missions focus on the testing, demonstration and scale up of solutions to address the challenges of climate change and environmental degradation.

Actions should envisage clustering activities with other relevant ongoing and selected projects for cross-projects cooperation, consultations and joint activities on crosscutting issues and share of results, as well as participating in joint meetings and communication events. To this end, proposals should foresee a dedicated work package and/or task and earmark the appropriate resources accordingly.

Synergies are also sought throughout this destination with the work of the European Space Agency (ESA), in order to ensure complementarity and mutual benefit regarding research and innovation actions conducted at the ESA.

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

Following the Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/2506, as of 16^th December 2022, no legal commitments (including the grant agreement itself as well as subcontracts, purchase contracts, financial support to third parties etc.) can be signed with Hungarian public interest trusts established under Hungarian Act IX of 2021 or any entity they maintain. Affected entities may continue to apply to calls for proposals. However, in case the Council measures are not lifted, such entities are not eligible to participate in any funded role (beneficiaries, affiliated entities, subcontractors, recipients of financial support to third parties). In this case, co-applicants will be invited to remove or replace that entity and/or to change its status into associated partner. Tasks and budget may be redistributed accordingly.

If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may additionally be used).

In order to achieve the expected outcomes and to implement the Climate Change and Biodiversity Flagship in compliance with the provisions of the Administrative Arrangement between the European Commission and the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China (MOST) on a Co-funding Mechanism for the period 2021-2024 to support Collaborative Research and Innovation projects under the “Food, Agriculture and Biotechnologies”, and the “Climate Change and Biodiversity” Joint Flagship Initiatives”, and in accordance with the requirements of the Inter-governmental Science and Technology Innovation (STI) Cooperation Special Programme of MOST.

1. Consortia must also include as associated partners at least three independent legal entities established in China.
2. Legal entities established in China can only participate as associated partners; and
3. Chinese participants must be awarded co-funding by MOST *.

*This condition will not be fulfilled if, at the time of grant agreement signature, the Chinese participants have not concluded a grant agreement with MOST.

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

Grants awarded under this topic will be linked to the specific grants awarded by the Ministry of Science and Technology, China (MOST) to the Chinese partners. The respective options of the Model Grant Agreement will be applied.

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

HE General MGA v1.0

Additional documents:

HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 1. General Introduction

HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 8. Climate, Energy and Mobility

HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 13. General Annexes

HE Programme Guide

HE Framework Programme and Rules for Participation Regulation 2021/695

HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764

EU Financial Regulation

Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment

EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement

Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual

Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions

Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement

Online Manual is your guide on the procedures from proposal submission to managing your grant.

Horizon Europe Programme Guide contains the detailed guidance to the structure, budget and political priorities of Horizon Europe.

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The European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for their recruitment – consult the general principles and requirements specifying the roles, responsibilities and entitlements of researchers, employers and funders of researchers.

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