Monitoring of secondary raw materials (CSA)

HORIZON-CL4 is a forthcoming Horizon Europe grant opportunity focusing on “Monitoring of Secondary Raw Materials” under the Coordination and Support Action (CSA). This initiative aims to enhance the EU's knowledge base and promote the commercial use of secondary raw materials. The total funding for this call is €4,000,000, with one grant expected to be awarded. Applications will be accepted from January 6, 2026, with a submission deadline of April 21, 2026. Eligible applicants must be legal entities established in EU Member States, associated countries, OECD countries, African Union Member States, MERCOSUR, CARIFORUM, Andean Community countries, and countries with strategic partnerships on raw materials with the EU, including Ukraine. Participation is restricted for entities controlled by non-eligible countries. The grant will provide a lump sum, simplifying budget management without the need for detailed cost justification. While a consortium is encouraged for collaborative purposes, the data does not strictly mandate multiple partners, indicating a potential for single applicants. The focus areas of this grant include secondary raw material monitoring, particularly related to waste batteries, WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment), mining waste, slags, ashes, and construction and demolition waste. The project will support the EU's goals of transitioning to a climate-neutral, circular economy, improving biodiversity management, and enhancing strategic autonomy in resource supply chains. Success in this highly competitive opportunity requires robust proposals demonstrating clear plans for data collection, monitoring methodologies, and foresight analyses. The application process is streamlined, allowing for a straightforward proposal submission. Given that only one grant is likely to be awarded from the budget, applicants face significant competition. Overall, this Horizon Europe call emphasizes the importance of secondary raw materials in enhancing the EU's sustainability and resilience, encouraging active international collaboration and innovative approaches to resource management.

This is a Horizon Europe call for proposals, specifically topic HORIZON-CL4, titled "Monitoring of secondary raw materials (CSA)". It falls under the INDUSTRY (HORIZON-CL4-2026-01) call and aims to enhance the knowledge base and promote the commercial exploitation of secondary raw materials within the EU, while also improving EU raw materials intelligence and strategic planning. The action type is a HORIZON Coordination and Support Action (HORIZON-CSA), utilizing a HORIZON Lump Sum Grant [HORIZON-AG-LS] Model Grant Agreement.

The call is forthcoming with a single-stage deadline model. The planned opening date is 06 January 2026, and the deadline for submission is 21 April 2026 at 17:00:00 Brussels time. The total budget for the topic is €4,000,000, and it is expected that one grant will be awarded, with a contribution of around €4,000,000.

The expected outcomes of this call include:

Enhanced knowledge base of secondary raw materials in the EU and third countries, including their potential, resource estimation, production, refining processes and biodiversity footprint.

Accelerated development of projects leading to commercial exploitation of secondary raw materials in the EU.

Developed reports analyzing future trends in raw materials markets.

Identified supply and demand bottlenecks of future secondary raw materials supply.

Improved EU raw materials intelligence, strategic planning and foresight capacity.

The scope of the call is as follows:

The call addresses the need for a secure supply of raw materials to support the EU's transition to a climate-neutral, biodiversity-friendly, circular, and digitised economy. It aims to strengthen EU autonomy and reduce over-dependency by boosting domestic sourcing of both primary and secondary raw materials.

Actions should be based on a common understanding of relevant terms and codes, and develop an understanding of anthropogenic resources and derive the needed aspects for classification of recovery projects and to develop criteria for a transparent, consistent and objective classification, needed to establish a comprehensive resource classification approach.

Projects should include the biodiversity footprint of primary and secondary raw materials in the expected reports and foresights, using natural capital accounting frameworks.

Actions should acquire new data on secondary raw materials via in situ sampling from different regions across the EU, collect existing data and present in a harmonised UNFC format. The monitoring should focus on countries where the waste goes into European recycling industrial ecosystems. The monitoring must cover the statistics of wastes exported from Europe as well as waste flows between Member States.

The action could build on and advance further the work of UNECE UNFC expert group on Anthropogenic resources regarding the classification of secondary raw materials and the work of Horizon Europe project FUTURAM regarding collection of data and information on secondary raw materials. Projects could build on the knowledge and models from projects funded under HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-01-15, as well as the UN WCMC natural capital accounting frameworks.

The action should develop a proposal for EU statistics for secondary raw materials.

The action should focus on the following streams of secondary raw materials, with particular attention to critical raw materials: waste batteries, WEEE, mining waste, slags and ashes, and construction and demolition waste. The action should also anticipate the evolution of WEEE directive.

All the data and information generated through these actions should be shared in open formats on a free of charge basis with the European Commission, for its own use and for publication.

The action should envisage clustering activities with other relevant selected projects for cross-projects co-operation, consultations and joint activities on cross-cutting issues and share of results as well as participating in joint meetings and communication events.

International cooperation is encouraged with countries with which the EU has signed Strategic Partnerships on raw materials, especially with Ukraine.

The general conditions for this call include:

Admissibility Conditions:Proposal page limit and layout are described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes and Part B of the Application Form.

Eligible Countries:Described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. Specific provisions may apply to non-EU/non-Associated Countries, as detailed in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.

Other Eligible Conditions:Participation is limited to legal entities established in Member States, associated countries, OECD countries, African Union Member States, MERCOSUR, CARIFORUM, Andean Community and countries with which the EU has concluded strategic partnerships on raw materials as well as trade agreements containing raw materials cooperation provisions. Proposals including legal entities not established in these countries will be ineligible. Entities controlled by non-eligible countries or entities are also ineligible.

Financial and operational capacity and exclusion:Described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.

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. 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:The granting authority may object to a transfer of ownership or exclusive licensing of results for up to 4 years after the action's end. Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum, as defined in the relevant decision authorizing the use of lump sum contributions.

Specific conditions are described in the specific topic of the Work Programme.

The application and evaluation forms, as well as the model grant agreement (MGA), can be found in the Submission System. The standard application form is HE CSA, and the standard evaluation form is HE CSA.

Additional guidance and documents include:

HE Programme Guide

Lump Sum MGA, Operating Grants MGA, and Framework Partnership Agreement FPA

Call-specific instructions and a detailed budget table (HE LS)

Information on financial support to third parties (HE) and clinical studies (HE)

Guidance:"Lump sums - what do I need to know?"

HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 (General Introduction, Digital, Industry and Space, Horizontal Activities, and General Annexes)

HE Framework Programme 2021/695 and 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, Terms and Conditions, and Privacy Statement

This funding opportunity is focused on enhancing the EU's capacity to monitor and utilize secondary raw materials. It seeks to improve the understanding of these resources, promote their commercial use, and develop better strategies for raw material management. The call encourages international cooperation, particularly with countries that have strategic partnerships with the EU on raw materials. The funding is provided as a lump sum, and the call is open to a range of entities from EU member states, associated countries, and other specified nations. The overall goal is to strengthen the EU's resilience in raw material supply chains and support the transition to a more sustainable and circular economy.

Eligible Applicant Types:The eligible applicant types for this opportunity are legal entities established in Member States, associated countries, OECD countries, African Union Member States, MERCOSUR, CARIFORUM, Andean Community, and countries with which the EU has concluded strategic partnerships on raw materials, as well as trade agreements (or association/economic partnership or equivalent agreements, including the new Clean Trade and Investment Partnerships) containing raw materials cooperation provisions (i.e. Energy and Raw materials chapters). Entities established in an eligible country but directly or indirectly controlled by a non-eligible country or entity are not allowed to participate.

Funding Type:The funding type is a grant, specifically a HORIZON Coordination and Support Action (HORIZON-CSA) with a HORIZON Lump Sum Grant [HORIZON-AG-LS] Model Grant Agreement (MGA).

Consortium Requirement:The opportunity appears to require a consortium, as it encourages clustering activities with other relevant selected projects for cross-projects co-operation, consultations and joint activities. However, the text does not explicitly exclude single applicants.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility):The geographic eligibility includes EU Member States, associated countries, OECD countries, African Union Member States, MERCOSUR, CARIFORUM, Andean Community, and countries with which the EU has concluded strategic partnerships on raw materials, as well as trade agreements (or association/economic partnership or equivalent agreements, including the new Clean Trade and Investment Partnerships) containing raw materials cooperation provisions (i.e. Energy and Raw materials chapters).

Target Sector:The target sector is raw materials, specifically focusing on secondary raw materials, circular economy, climate-neutral economy, biodiversity, and digitization. The specific streams of secondary raw materials include waste batteries, WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment), mining waste, slags and ashes, and construction and demolition waste.

Mentioned Countries:The countries explicitly mentioned are EU Member States, OECD countries, African Union Member States, Ukraine, and countries within MERCOSUR, CARIFORUM, and the Andean Community.

Project Stage:The expected maturity of the project is focused on coordination and support actions, which implies a stage of development where the aim is to enhance knowledge, accelerate development, and improve strategic planning rather than basic research or initial idea development.

Funding Amount:The funding amount for the specific topic HORIZON-CL4 is around €4,000,000. Other related topics under the same call (INDUSTRY HORIZON-CL4-2026-01) have varying budgets and contributions, ranging from €800,000 to €13,000,000.

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

Nature of Support: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 are not explicitly mentioned, but the indicative number of grants for each topic provides some insight. For HORIZON-CL4, only one grant is expected.

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

Summary:This Horizon Europe call (INDUSTRY HORIZON-CL4-2026-01) focuses on enhancing the EU's resilience in raw materials supply chains by promoting the sustainable and responsible sourcing of both primary and secondary raw materials. The specific topic HORIZON-CL4, "Monitoring of secondary raw materials (CSA)", aims to improve the knowledge base and strategic planning related to secondary raw materials within the EU and in collaboration with third countries. The call encourages international cooperation, particularly with countries having strategic partnerships with the EU on raw materials, such as Ukraine. Eligible applicants include legal entities from EU Member States, associated countries, OECD countries, African Union Member States, MERCOSUR, CARIFORUM, Andean Community, and countries with strategic partnerships or trade agreements with the EU. The funding is provided as a lump sum grant, and the application process involves a single stage. The projects should focus on data acquisition, monitoring waste streams (waste batteries, WEEE, mining waste, slags and ashes, and construction and demolition waste), developing EU statistics for secondary raw materials, and fostering collaboration among related projects. The ultimate goal is to support the transition to a climate-neutral, biodiversity-friendly, circular, and digitized EU economy by ensuring a secure and sustainable supply of raw materials.