Boosting the transformation towards climate-neutral cities, the net-zero economy and open strategic autonomy through Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP)

The Horizon Europe call HORIZON-MISS-2026-04-PCP-CIT-01 aims to support public authorities, particularly local governments, in transitioning to climate-neutral and smart cities through Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) actions. The focus is on enhancing the development of innovative technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Eligible applicants are consortia of public procurers, specifically local authorities from the EU Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries. Each consortium must include at least three cities from the 112 designated for the EU Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities, with one lead procurer being among these cities.

The funding type is a grant under Horizon Europe, allocated for R&D services before commercial availability, with individual funding amounts ranging from €7 million to €12 million. The total budget for this initiative is set at €37 million, with four grants expected to be awarded. The application process follows a single-stage format, with a submission deadline of January 20, 2026.

The PCP focuses on sectors essential for achieving climate neutrality, such as energy efficiency, renewable energy, sustainable mobility, and digitalization. Projects must include piloting, installation, and validation of innovative solutions, contributing to emissions reduction strategies. The call emphasizes collaboration with the Cities Mission Platform and requires participants to demonstrate plans for post-project deployment of successful solutions, which may involve financial or regulatory incentives.

There is no mandatory co-funding, but proposals should outline how the project will sustain activities beyond its lifespan. The expected success rates for applications are estimated between 10% and 39%, reflecting the high competitiveness of Horizon Europe grants.

In essence, this funding opportunity aims to drive innovation through collective procurement efforts, enabling local authorities to act as early adopters of new technologies. The initiative supports the EU's broader climate goals while fostering economic growth and strategic independence within the Union.

The HORIZON-MISS-2026-04-PCP-CIT-01 call, under the Horizon Europe program, aims to boost the transformation towards climate-neutral and smart cities, the net-zero economy, and open strategic autonomy through Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP). The call specifically targets the implementation of the Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission.

The expected outcomes of the projects funded under this call are: Public procurers stimulating the competitive development of market-ready innovative solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to the transition of local communities towards climate neutrality while strengthening EU open strategic autonomy. Public procurers leveraging PCP to bring to the market innovative solutions in sectors relevant for climate change mitigation, such as energy efficiency in buildings, production and use of renewable energy, sustainable and smart mobility, digitalisation etc., and implementing those innovative solutions in the participant cities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Public procurers driving innovation and increasing resilience in the supply chain by opening up opportunities for innovative companies established in the European Union's Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries, in particular SMEs and Startups, to access the public procurement market and scale up their business. Increased opportunities for wide market uptake and economies of scale for the supply side through increased demand for innovative solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the local level, wide publication of results and where relevant contribution to standardisation, regulation or certification. Presentation of the expected greenhouse gas emission reduction in the participating cities by 2030 and 2050, in comparison to a baseline established at the beginning of the project.

The scope of this call is to address the lack and fragmentation of public demand for innovative solutions on the road towards climate-neutral cities. It supports public procurers, specifically local authorities, to collectively implement PCPs to drive innovation from the demand side and open up wider commercialisation opportunities for companies in Europe to take or maintain international leadership in new markets for net-zero technologies that can deliver solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The aim is to leverage PCP to encourage the development and to provide a first customer reference for the piloting, installation and validation of breakthrough innovations. PCP actions target consortia of procurers with similar needs that want to procure together the development of innovative solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in cities. This topic does not provide direct funding to developers, industry or research organisations to perform R&D. They will be able to respond to the call for tenders launched by consortia of procurers funded under this call.

Continuous dialogue between demand and supply side is required for the success of PCPs, therefore the effective involvement of end users needs to be considered in the proposal. Furthermore, to stimulate dialogue with the supply side, public procurers are required to organise an open market consultation before launching the procurement and to promote the call for tenders widely across Europe to potentially interested suppliers.

Proposals should demonstrate sustainability of the action beyond the life of the project and how the project is anchored in a clear strategy to provide climate-neutral cities and enhance the economy in a sustainable way through stronger early adoption of innovative solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Activities covered should include cooperation with policy makers to reinforce the national policy frameworks and mobilise substantial additional national budgets for PCP and innovation procurement in general beyond the scope of the project.

Procurers should declare in the proposal their interest to pursue deployment of solutions resulting from the PCP in case the PCP delivers successful solutions and indicate whether they will (1) procure successful solution(s) as part of the PCP, (2) launch a separate follow-up procurement after the PCP to buy such type of solutions, (3) adopt successful solutions without the need to procure them (e.g. in case of open source solutions), (4) foresee financial or regulatory incentives for others to adopt successful solutions (e.g. in case the final end-users of the solutions are not the procurers but for example citizens). In these four cases, the procurers can implement the project as a fast-track PCP. In the first case, the procurers must foresee the budget in the proposal to purchase at least one solution during the PCP. In the second case, the procurers should include in the proposal a deliverable that prepares the follow-up procurement to purchase such type of solution(s) after the PCP. In the first and third case, the procurers must foresee sufficient time during the project to deploy and validate that the solutions function well after installation. In the fourth case, the procurers can use financial support to third parties to provide financial incentives to final end-users to adopt the solutions, with a maximum budget of EUR 200 000.

Projects funded under this topic should include at least three cities of the 112 selected ones for the EU Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities, and the lead procurer from the buyers group should be one of these 112 cities. Projects are encouraged to actively cooperate with an additional group of follower cities in the preparation and follow up of the procurement, including possibly also in the testing of solutions, to smoothen faster uptake of solutions to the wider followers group. Collaboration amongst the projects financed under this topic and with the ‘Climate-Neutral Smart cities’ Mission Platform is essential to the increase impact and coherence of the action. The collaboration with the Mission Platform must be formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding to be concluded as soon as possible after the project starting date.

The total budget for this topic is 37,000,000 EUR. The indicative number of grants is 4, with contributions ranging from 7,000,000 to 12,000,000 EUR. The call is a single-stage process, with the planned opening date on 06 May 2025 and a deadline of 20 January 2026, 17:00:00 Brussels time.

Eligible countries are described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. Specific conditions for actions with PCP/PPI procurements in section H of the General Annexes apply to grants funded under this topic. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion are 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. The indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement is described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes. Legal and financial set-up of the grants are described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Application form templates are available in the Submission System, including standard application forms for HE RIA, IA, CSA, RI, PCP, PPI, COFUND, FPA, MSCA DN, MSCA PF, MSCA SE, MSCA COFUND, ERC STG, ERC COG, ERC ADG, ERC POC, ERC SYG, EIC PATHFINDER CHALLENGES, EIC PATHFINDER OPEN, and EIC TRANSITION. Evaluation form templates will be used with the necessary adaptations, including standard evaluation forms for HE RIA, IA, CSA, PCP PPI, COFUND, FPA, MSCA, EIC PATHFINDER CHALLENGES, EIC PATHFINDER OPEN, EIC TRANSITION, and EIC Accelerator stage 1 and 2.

Guidance documents include the HE Programme Guide, Model Grant Agreements (MGA) such as HE MGA, HE Unit MGA, Lump Sum MGA, Operating Grants MGA, and Framework Partnership Agreement FPA. Additional documents include the HE Main Work Programme 2023–2025, HE Programme Guide, HE Framework Programme 2021/695, HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764, EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509, Decision authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme, 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, and Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement.

This funding opportunity, under the Horizon Europe program, is designed to encourage collaboration between cities and innovative companies to develop and implement solutions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to climate neutrality. It emphasizes pre-commercial procurement, where public authorities act as early adopters of innovative technologies, providing a crucial first customer reference for companies, particularly SMEs and startups. The program aims to foster a sustainable and resilient economy while achieving the EU's climate goals. The focus is on consortia of procurers, especially local authorities, who can collectively drive demand for innovative solutions and create wider market opportunities for European companies. The program also supports the EU's open strategic autonomy by encouraging the development and production of these solutions within the EU and associated countries.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types are consortia of public procurers, specifically local authorities, with similar needs. The lead procurer from the buyers group should be one of the 112 cities selected for the EU Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities. SMEs and Startups are mentioned as beneficiaries of the procurers' actions, but they are not direct applicants for this funding.

Funding Type: The funding type is a grant, specifically a HORIZON Pre-commercial Procurement (PCP) action. This involves public procurers funding research and development services before the solutions are commercially available.

Consortium Requirement: A consortium of multiple applicants is required. PCP actions target consortia of procurers with similar needs that want to procure together the development of innovative solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in cities.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility includes the European Union's Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries. The majority of the procured R&D activities and later commercialization/production of developed solutions should take place within these territories. Participation in the PCP procurement may be limited to economic operators established in these territories if there are sufficient operators to develop the requested solutions.

Target Sector: The program targets the following sectors: climate, energy, transport, ICT, buildings or construction, innovation, cleantech, and DeepTech. Specifically, it focuses on forward-looking procurement of R&D to bring to the market new solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in cities, covering areas like energy efficiency in buildings, production and use of renewable energy, sustainable and smart mobility, and digitalization.

Mentioned Countries: The opportunity explicitly mentions the European Union's Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries.

Project Stage: The project stage is pre-commercial procurement, which focuses on research and development services before solutions are commercially available. The aim is to encourage the development, piloting, installation, and validation of breakthrough innovations.

Funding Amount: The total budget for the topic is EUR 37,000,000. The indicative number of grants is 4, with individual contributions ranging from EUR 7,000,000 to EUR 12,000,000.

Application Type: The application type is an open call, with a single-stage submission process.

Nature of Support: The beneficiaries (consortia of public procurers) will receive money in the form of a grant to fund the pre-commercial procurement of R&D services. They may also provide financial support to third parties (up to EUR 200,000 per third party) to provide financial incentives to final end-users to adopt the solutions developed.

Application Stages: The application process is a single-stage process.

Success Rates: The success rate cannot be determined from the provided text.

Co-funding Requirement: The text does not explicitly state a co-funding requirement from the applicant. However, proposals should demonstrate sustainability of the action beyond the life of the project and mobilize substantial additional national budgets for PCP and innovation procurement in general beyond the scope of the project.

Summary: This Horizon Europe call (HORIZON-MISS-2026-04-PCP-CIT-01) aims to boost the transformation towards climate-neutral and smart cities by supporting public procurers, particularly local authorities, in implementing Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) actions. The goal is to drive innovation from the demand side, opening up commercialization opportunities for European companies, especially SMEs and Startups, in the net-zero technology market. The call targets consortia of public procurers from EU Member States and Associated Countries, focusing on developing and piloting innovative solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in cities. The selected projects must include at least three cities of the 112 selected for the EU Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities, with the lead procurer being one of these cities. The funding will support the procurement of R&D services, and projects may also provide financial support to third parties to incentivize the adoption of the developed solutions. The call emphasizes collaboration with the Cities Mission Platform and alignment with various EU policies and initiatives, such as the European Green Deal and the EU Industrial Strategy. The total budget for this call is EUR 37,000,000, with individual grants ranging from EUR 7,000,000 to EUR 12,000,000, and it is expected that approximately 4 grants will be awarded. The application process is a single-stage process, with a deadline of January 20, 2026. In essence, this opportunity is about empowering cities to become climate-neutral by fostering innovation in technologies and solutions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while also strengthening the EU's open strategic autonomy and economic competitiveness.