Exploring options to resolve land and sea use competition

This grant opportunity is part of Horizon Europe Cluster 6 and focuses on addressing competition between land and sea use. It specifically aims to develop integrated tools for bioeconomy assessments and effective policy-making. Applicants eligible for this funding include universities, research institutes, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and other relevant organizations from EU member states, associated countries, and potentially some non-associated countries.

The funding type is a HORIZON Lump Sum Grant, with project budgets typically ranging from €3 million to €16 million. The call is a single-stage open application, with submissions due by September 24, 2025, at 17:00 Brussels time. Projects must target research, development, and innovation actions, particularly in the sectors of bioeconomy, environmental management, agriculture, and spatial planning.

The expected outcomes include developing tools for policymakers to assess the integrated use of land and sea resources strategically, promoting sustainable biomass usage, and identifying trade-offs between economic, environmental, and social objectives. Successful proposals are anticipated to link with ongoing initiatives, particularly those involving the Joint Research Centre (JRC), which is encouraged to participate in the projects.

The call emphasizes achieving synergies with other EU programs and using findings from relevant research reports, such as the Global Resources Outlook. It also outlines conditions for admissibility and eligibility, focusing on comprehensive evaluations and the effective collaboration required in project proposals.

Overall, the grant seeks to support a sustainable bioeconomy, improve land and sea resource management, and aid in achieving EU environmental and climate targets.

This is a Horizon Europe (HORIZON) Cluster 6 Call 03, a single-stage call, with the call identifier HORIZON-CL6-2025-03. The call focuses on exploring options to resolve land and sea use competition. The type of action is HORIZON-RIA (Research and Innovation Actions) and the Model Grant Agreement (MGA) type is HORIZON Lump Sum Grant [HORIZON-AG-LS]. The call opened for submission on 06 May 2025, and the deadline for submission is 24 September 2025 at 17:00:00 Brussels time.

The expected outcome of the call is to contribute to the impact of the Destination on effective policy mixes and multi-level governance to enable a just sustainable transition for all, in line with the European Green Deal, the EU’s climate and biodiversity targets for 2030 and 2050, and the bioeconomy strategy vision. Project results are expected to contribute to: identifying direct and indirect implications of current and future regional, national and EU policies and targets on land and sea and biomass use; furthering knowledge of existing and emerging trade-offs across environmental objectives and between social and economic objectives; and further developing deliberation tools that will support better-informed policy- and decision-making processes.

The scope of the call is to address the increasing competition of biomass use between food, materials, and energy, which indicates a potential sustainable biomass gap in Europe. The call aims to develop holistic and coherent policy packages on biomass and land and sea uses, and requires tools that can inform policy makers how environmental, economic and social objectives can be met based on the available sustainable biomass. The Joint Research Centre (JRC) is working on a deliberation tool on 'Integrated Bioeconomy Land Use Assessment' (IBLUA) at the European level, and this topic is encouraged to build upon the JRC’s tools to improve context-specific deliberation tools.

Successful proposals are expected to: develop tools for national and regional policy- and decision-makers to carry out integrated bioeconomy land and sea assessments; assess and develop integrated and coherent policy objectives to improve land and sea biomass use in national and regional contexts; and demonstrate how the deliberation tool could be implemented in a network of regions to improve just and sustainable land/sea management, food security and circular biomass uses. The participation of the JRC in the project is encouraged. Proposals should include a dedicated task, appropriate resources and a plan on how they will collaborate with other projects funded under this topic and ensure complementarities with relevant activities carried out under other initiatives in Horizon Europe, including the Horizon Europe Mission “A Soil Deal for Europe”, and seek synergies with other EU programmes and funding instruments. Proposals should build on the findings of the “Global Resources Outlook” 2024 from the International Resource Panel. Proposals are encouraged to consider, where relevant, the services offered by European research infrastructures.

The general conditions include: Admissibility Conditions regarding proposal page limit and layout as described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes and Part B of the Application Form; Eligible Countries as described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes, with specific provisions for non-EU/non-Associated Countries; Other Eligible Conditions, including the possibility of the JRC participating as a member of the consortium; Financial and operational capacity and exclusion as described in Annex C; Evaluation and award criteria, scoring and thresholds as described in Annex D; Submission and evaluation processes as described in Annex F and the Online Manual; and Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement as described in Annex F. Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021.

The specific conditions are described in the specific topic of the Work Programme. Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA) are available in the Submission System. Additional documents include the HE Main Work Programme 2023–2025, the HE Programme Guide, the HE Framework Programme 2021/695, the HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764, the EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509, Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment, the EU Grants AGA, the Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual, and the Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions and Privacy Statement.

The budget overview lists 14 topics under HORIZON-CL6-2025-03-GOVERNANCE, each with varying budgets and indicative numbers of grants. The topics range from HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) to HORIZON Innovation Actions (IA) and HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions (CSA), with budgets ranging from 3,000,000 EUR to 16,000,000 EUR. The opening date for all topics is 2025-05-06 and the deadline is 2025-09-24.

There are 10 partner search announcements available. LEARs, Account Administrators or self-registrants can publish partner requests for open and forthcoming topics.

This Horizon Europe call aims to foster a sustainable and circular bioeconomy by addressing the competition for biomass resources and promoting effective policy-making at regional and national levels. It seeks to develop tools and methodologies that enable integrated assessments of land and sea use, considering environmental, economic, and social objectives. The call encourages collaboration with the Joint Research Centre (JRC) and alignment with other Horizon Europe initiatives, such as the “A Soil Deal for Europe” mission. Ultimately, this call aims to support a just and sustainable transition by providing policy makers with the necessary tools to make informed decisions about land and sea management, food security, and circular biomass use.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types are not explicitly stated, but based on the nature of Horizon Europe calls, they typically include universities, research institutes, SMEs, large enterprises, and other relevant organizations. The Joint Research Centre (JRC) may participate as a member of the consortium.

Funding Type: The funding type is primarily a grant, specifically a HORIZON Lump Sum Grant. There are also HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) and HORIZON Innovation Actions (IA) and HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions (CSA).

Consortium Requirement: The opportunity appears to require a consortium, as the Joint Research Centre (JRC) may participate as a member of the consortium.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The primary geographic eligibility is for EU member states and associated countries. Non-EU/non-Associated Countries may also be eligible if they have specific provisions for funding participants in Horizon Europe projects.

Target Sector: The target sectors are food, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture, and environment, with a focus on sustainable and circular bioeconomy, land and sea use, biomass, biodiversity, ecosystem services, climate mitigation and adaptation, and policy development.

Mentioned Countries: The opportunity mentions the EU and associated countries, as well as non-EU/non-associated countries with specific funding provisions.

Project Stage: The project stage appears to target research, development, and innovation actions, as well as coordination and support actions, suggesting a range from research to demonstration and implementation.

Funding Amount: The funding amounts vary by topic, ranging from €3,000,000 to €16,000,000. The indicative number of grants also varies, with some topics expected to fund one project and others expected to fund two.

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

Nature of Support: The beneficiaries will receive money in the form of a lump sum grant.

Application Stages: The application process involves a single stage.

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

Co-funding Requirement: The text does not explicitly mention a co-funding requirement.

Summary:

This Horizon Europe call focuses on "Exploring options to resolve land and sea use competition" within the context of the European Green Deal and the bioeconomy strategy. The call aims to fund projects that can develop tools and methodologies for national and regional policy- and decision-makers to carry out integrated bioeconomy land and sea assessments. The goal is to minimize the land/sea footprint, promote sustainable biomass use, and address trade-offs between environmental, social, and economic objectives.

The call includes various topics with different types of actions (RIA, IA, CSA) and funding levels, ranging from €3 million to €16 million. Eligible applicants typically include universities, research institutes, SMEs, and other relevant organizations from EU member states, associated countries, and potentially non-EU/non-associated countries with specific funding arrangements.

Successful projects are expected to contribute to identifying policy implications, enhancing knowledge of trade-offs, and developing deliberation tools to support informed decision-making related to land, sea, and biomass use. The Joint Research Centre (JRC) is encouraged to participate in projects to ensure compatibility with existing EU bioeconomy assessment tools and methodologies. The application process involves a single-stage submission, and eligible costs will be covered as a lump sum grant.