Zero-emission e-commerce and freight delivery and return choices by retailers, consumers and local authorities
HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions
Basic Information
- Identifier
- HORIZON-CL5-2023-D6-01-06
- Programme
- Safe, Resilient Transport and Smart Mobility services for passengers and goods
- Programme Period
- 2021 - 2027
- Status
- Closed (31094503)
- Opening Date
- May 4, 2023
- Deadline
- September 5, 2023
- Deadline Model
- single-stage
- Budget
- €8,000,000
- Min Grant Amount
- €4,000,000
- Max Grant Amount
- €4,000,000
- Expected Number of Grants
- 2
- Keywords
- HORIZON-CL5-2023-D6-01-06HORIZON-CL5-2023-D6-01Freight and logisticsSustainable transport - general
Description
Projects are expected to contribute to all of the following outcomes:
- Better understanding of customers’ willingness and motivations to choose more sustainable delivery and return options, possibly including also social sustainability (e.g. adequate working conditions for drivers/delivery personnel).
- Retailers and logistics operators support relevant processes by providing information on the implications of delivery solutions.
- Consumers are aware and committed in using delivery and return strategies to reduce emissions and traffic congestion.
- Information on environmental footprint of deliveries and returns are provided transparently and in an understandable way by the retailers (in collaboration with logistics operators and transport system providers) to consumers.
- A wider range of zero-emission delivery and return options and related incentive schemes (at least comparable to the existing ones e.g. in terms of price and convenience) are co-designed with customers and proposed by retailers, incentivised by customers’ growing demand for greener choices and cities’ regulations.
- At least 50% of the delivery and return options/processes adopted by the retailers and logistics operators involved in the action and available to their customers are zero-emissions.
- Better understanding of local authorities’ ability to influence greener choices of delivery and return options by consumers.
- Recommendations proposed to local authorities and the EU on the impact of relevant policy levers and possible regulations to influence greener choices of delivery and return options.
To support changing retailers and customers’ behaviours towards zero-emission freight delivery and return choices, the research actions will have to develop co-created actions able to increase transparency and consumers’ awareness of greenhouse gas emissions and other impacts (considering also socio-economic ones) of e-commerce, deliveries and returns. They will have also to propose zero-emission delivery solutions and develop supporting incentive schemes to encourage customers to make sustainable choices, still in accordance with their preferences and in combination with competitive and sustainable retail value propositions. The research actions will have to take into account and build on existing methods and standards to compare the emission in the transport value chain of B2C e-commerce, and to be developed in line with the Commission’s initiative on EU framework for harmonised measurement of transport and logistics emissions – ‘CountEmissions EU’[1].
Proposals will have to address all of the following points:
- Taking stock of existing studies, assess which conditions would make zero-emission delivery and return options attractive to consumers and which motivations and options would incentivise consumers to change their behaviour towards greener choices. Integrate an intersectional analysis of consumers’ gender, age, and socioeconomic status to account better for the customers’ variety of expectations and motivations and develop solutions which cater for all social groups.
- Co-designing with and engaging consumers and retailers, and taking into account the assessed motivations and incentives, develop a set of zero-emission delivery and return options, which are at least comparable with existing delivery offering and account for the different consumer groups’ needs and motivations to change their behaviour. Identify which options would be more suitable to the customers’ group or groups more motivated to change their behaviours and act as frontrunners, thus leading to a more rapid adoption.
- Actively involve consumers (e.g. through consumer organisations) and retailers in the development of guidelines and best practices for retailers to raise awareness and communicate transparently and in an understandable way on the greenhouse gas emission footprint of deliveries and returns’ modes and options.
- Define scalable and generic processes and requirements for the retailers to adopt the zero-emission logistics processes in practice.
- Develop and analyse different scenarios that implement measures towards both more transparent communication and implementation of cleaner and zero-emission e-commerce last mile deliveries to assess reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution.
- Test with selected retailers and representative customers, and in collaboration with relevant local authorities, the proposed guidelines to visualise the advanced information on emissions and the zero-emission delivery and return options towards consumers. Assess their attractiveness to consumers, the potential impact on consumers’ behaviours (including e.g. same-day delivery, returns and physical store pick up options) and their possible buy-in into more sustainable offering. In an iterative process develop and implement recommendations for improvement.
- Demonstrate solutions and propose recommendations to support and incentivise the uptake of greener choices by consumers and retailers.
- Define indicators to measure and evaluate the successful communication and the implementation by the retailers as well as the adoption by the consumers of zero-emission delivery and return options.
- Develop recommendations and a toolset with and for local authorities to accelerate the adoption of zero-emission delivery and return options and choices.
- Strengthen the coordination and collaboration between e-commerce companies, industrial logistics stakeholders and cities, companies, research and civil society, in Europe and internationally, to give input to the project as well as disseminate and exploit results.
- Cooperation with the network of cities CIVITAS[2] should be planned as appropriate.
If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries are expected to clearly describe if and how the use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS are incorporated in the proposed solutions. In addition, if the activities proposed involve the use and/or development of AI-based systems and/or techniques, the technical and social robustness of the proposed systems has to be described in the proposal.
[1] Commission’s CountEmissions EU initiative (https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/13217-Count-your-transport-emissions-%E2%80%98Coun tEmissions-EU%E2%80%99_en –
[2] https://civitas.eu/
Destination & Scope
This Destination includes activities addressing safe and smart mobility services for passengers and goods.
Europe needs to manage the transformation of supply-based transport into safe, resilient and sustainable transport and demand-driven, smart mobility services for passengers and goods. Suitable research and innovation will enable significant safety, environmental, economic and social benefits by reducing accidents caused by human error, decreasing traffic congestion, reducing energy consumption and emissions of vehicles, increasing efficiency and productivity of freight transport operations. To succeed in this transformation, Europe’s ageing (and not always sustainable) transport infrastructure needs to be prepared for enabling cleaner and smarter operations.
Europe needs also to maintain a high-level of transport safety for its citizens. Resilience should be built in the transport systems to prevent, mitigate and recover from disruptions. Research and innovation will underpin the three safety pillars: technologies, regulations and human factors.
This Destination contributes to the following Strategic Plan’s Key Strategic Orientations (KSO):
- C: Making Europe the first digitally enabled circular, climate-neutral and sustainable economy through the transformation of its mobility, energy, construction and production systems;
- A: Promoting an open strategic autonomy[1] by leading the development of key digital, enabling and emerging technologies, sectors and value chains to accelerate and steer the digital and green transitions through human-centred technologies and innovations.
It covers the following impact areas:
- Industrial leadership in key and emerging technologies that work for people;
- Smart and sustainable transport.
The expected impact, in line with the Strategic Plan, is to contribute to “Safe, seamless, smart, inclusive, resilient and sustainable mobility systems for people and goods thanks to user-centric technologies and services including digital technologies and advanced satellite navigation services”, notably through:
- Accelerating the implementation of innovative connected, cooperative and automated mobility (CCAM) technologies and systems for passengers and goods (more detailed information below).
- Further developing a multimodal transport system through sustainable and smart long-haul and urban freight transport and logistics, upgraded and resilient physical and digital infrastructures for smarter vehicles and operations, for optimised system-wide network efficiency (more detailed information below).
- Drastically decreasing the number of transport accidents, incidents and fatalities towards the EU’s long-term goal of moving close to zero fatalities and serious injuries by 2050 even in road transportation (Vision Zero) and increase the resilience of transport systems (more detailed information below).
Connected, Cooperative and Automated Mobility (CCAM)
Joint actions are foreseen between the “Cooperative Connected and Automated Mobility” (CCAM) partnership, the “2ZERO” Partnership and the Mission on “Climate Neutral and Smart Cities”, in particular the Joint topic “Co-designed smart systems and services for user-centred shared zero-emission mobility of people and goods in urban areas (see work programme of the Cities’ Mission 2023).
To test CCAM solutions, applicants can seek possibilities of involving the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) in order to valorise the relevant expertise and physical facilities of JRC in demonstrating and testing energy and mobility applications of the JRC Living Lab for Future Urban Ecosystems https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/research-facility/living-labs-at-the-jrc
Main expected impacts:
- Seamless, affordable and user oriented CCAM based solutions with particular focus on shared, smart and zero emission mobility and goods deliveries for all and high public buy-in of these solutions.
- Validated safety and security, improved robustness and resilience of CCAM technologies and systems.
- Vehicle technologies and solutions which optimise the on-board and off-board experience in terms of well-being, security and privacy.
- Comprehensive set of verification, validation and rating procedures of CCAM systems
- Secure and trustworthy interaction between road users, CCAM and “conventional” vehicles, physical and digital infrastructure and services to achieve safer and more efficient transport flows (people and goods) and better use of infrastructure capacity.
- Clear understanding of societal needs and impacts of CCAM (including ethics, employment, socio-economic impacts) at individual and collective level, to ensure a more tailored, resilient and sustainable deployment of CCAM solutions.
- Better coordination of public and private R&I actions, large-scale testing and implementation plans in Europe towards harmonisation and standardisation.
Multimodal and sustainable transport systems for passengers and goods
Main expected impacts:
- Upgraded and resilient physical and digital infrastructures for clean, accessible and affordable multimodal mobility.
- Sustainable and smart long-haul and regional (including links to urban) freight transport and logistics, through increased efficiency and improved interconnectivity.
- Reduced external costs (e.g. congestion, traffic jams, emissions, air and noise pollution, road collisions) of passenger mobility and freight transport, as well as optimised system-wide network efficiency and resilience.
- Enhanced local and/or regional capacity for governance and innovation in passenger mobility and freight transport.
Safety and resilience - per mode and across all transport modes
Main expected impacts:
Safety in Urban Areas / Road Transport Safety
- Drastic reduction in serious injuries and fatalities in road crashes by 2030 and establishing a framework to improve traffic safety culture in the EU.
- Avoiding risks, collisions and finding new ways of reducing long term consequences of road crashes.
- Minimising the effects of disruptive changes on transport safety and improving the resilience of transport systems by design.
- Better infrastructure safety on urban and secondary rural roads throughout a combination of adaptable monitoring and maintenance solutions.
Waterborne Safety and Resilience
- Ensure safe and secure exploitation of technologies like digitalisation, Internet of Things, and sensors
Aviation Safety and Resilience
- Ensure safety through aviation transformation (from green/digital technologies uptake up to independent certification).
[1] ‘Open strategic autonomy’ refers to the term ‘strategic autonomy while preserving an open economy’, as reflected in the conclusions of the European Council 1 – 2 October 2020.
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.
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).
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
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Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes
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Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual
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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
Documents
Call documents:
Standard application form — call-specific application form is available in the Submission System
Standard application form (HE RIA, IA)
Standard application form (HE RIA IA Stage 1)
Standard application form (HE CSA)
Standard application form (HE CSA Stage 1)
Standard evaluation form — will be used with the necessary adaptations
Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)
Standard evaluation form (HE CSA)
Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA and CSA Stage 1)
MGA
Call-specific instructions
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 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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Latest Updates
The call for proposals HORIZON-CL5-2023-D6-01 closed on 05/09/2023. 133 proposals were submitted to the call. The breakdown per topic is:
HORIZON-CL5-2023-D6-01-01 (RIA): 16 proposals
HORIZON-CL5-2023-D6-01-02 (RIA): 3 proposals
HORIZON-CL5-2023-D6-01-03 (IA): 10 proposals
HORIZON-CL5-2023-D6-01-04 (RIA): 7 proposals
HORIZON-CL5-2023-D6-01-05 (RIA): 6 proposal
HORIZON-CL5-2023-D6-01-06 (RIA): 29 proposal
HORIZON-CL5-2023-D6-01-07 (RIA): 13 proposals
HORIZON-CL5-2023-D6-01-08 (CSA): 3 proposals
HORIZON-CL5-2023-D6-01-09 (IA): 7 proposals
HORIZON-CL5-2023-D6-01-10 (RIA): 21 proposals
HORIZON-CL5-2023-D6-01-11 (RIA): 11 proposals
HORIZON-CL5-2023-D6-01-12 (RIA): 6 proposals
HORIZON-CL5-2023-D6-01-13 (CSA): 1 proposal