Optimal combination of low embodied carbon construction products, technical building systems and circularity principles for climate neutral buildings (Built4People Partnership)

This EU funding opportunity targets the optimal combination of low embodied carbon construction products, technical building systems, and circularity principles for climate-neutral buildings under the Built4People Partnership, specifically through the HORIZON Research and Innovation Action program. The call, identified as HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D4-05, includes a single-stage open call with applications accepted from 16 September 2025 to 17 February 2026.

Eligible applicants typically consist of consortia that may include universities, research institutes, SMEs, large enterprises, and potentially other organizations. The geographic eligibility encompasses EU member states, associated countries, and provisions for some non-EU/non-associated countries. The primary target sectors involve sustainable construction and renovation, focusing on minimizing whole life carbon emissions in buildings by innovating around materials and processes.

The initiative emphasizes developing solutions that achieve minimal life cycle environmental impacts, enable adaptive reuse of structures, and validate these solutions in various climatic conditions across at least three countries. Funding amounts for projects range and could typically vary from a minimum of €5 million to over €5 million per grant, as lump-sum contributions, facilitating simplification in financial management.

The application process involves a single stage and requires no explicit co-funding, although Horizon Europe grants may sometimes necessitate it. The project's expected outcomes include measurable reductions in carbon emissions, better integration of circularity in building practices, and contributions to European standards.

Selected projects may engage the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) for added expertise in circular design solutions. Admissibility conditions and criteria for evaluation, including submission formats and content guidelines, are specified in detailed annexes and are crucial for potential applicants.

Overall, this initiative aims to foster innovation and collaboration among various stakeholders to achieve a sustainable and climate-neutral built environment within Europe, promoting practices that reduce environmental impact while enhancing the resilience and adaptability of buildings.

This EU funding opportunity focuses on achieving an optimal combination of low embodied carbon construction products, technical building systems, and circularity principles for climate-neutral buildings, as part of the Built4People Partnership. The call, HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D4-05, falls under the Horizon Europe (HORIZON) program, specifically Cluster 5 Call 02-2026 (WP 2025) (HORIZON-CL5-2026-02). It is a HORIZON Research and Innovation Action (HORIZON-RIA) with a HORIZON Lump Sum Grant [HORIZON-AG-LS] type of Model Grant Agreement (MGA). The deadline model is single-stage, with a planned opening date of 16 September 2025 and a deadline of 17 February 2026, 17:00:00 Brussels time.

The expected outcomes of projects funded under this opportunity include: Measurable reduction in whole life carbon emissions and uptake of carbon removals in buildings; Increased integration of circular approaches for building construction and renovation works, with the aim of minimizing lifecycle impacts; Availability of more accurate benchmarks and calculations of typical buildings’ whole life carbon emissions and carbon removals, based on Level(s) and consistent with the life-cycle global warming potential provisions under the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.

The scope of the projects should address the following: Develop solutions that facilitate optimal combinations of construction products and systems with minimal life cycle environmental impacts at the level of the building. The optimal combinations of products and systems must also account for relevant aspects of performance such as structural integrity, thermal, acoustic and hygrometric, durability, potential for deconstruction and preparation for reuse at end of life, and potential for automated or industrialised installation. The solutions should cover, among others, the design and construction phases of work; Develop decision-related processes and strategies for adaptive reuse of existing structures, such as repurposing buildings as opposed to demolish and rebuild, considering the whole life carbon emissions; Validate the solutions, processes and strategies in a relevant environment in at least three countries, with different climatic conditions and building stock characteristics; Research the whole life carbon emissions of the developed solutions on typical building typologies in the chosen countries and contribute to whole life carbon benchmarking efforts; Consider the cost effectiveness of the developed solutions including relevant business models taking into consideration end-user needs; Contribute to the development of European standards, where relevant; Contribute to the objectives of the Built4People partnership and to the Built4People network of innovation clusters.

Selected proposals could consider the involvement of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) whose contribution could consist of providing added value on circular design and building solutions that reduce life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions, and enable carbon removals, as well as performing experimental research for validating those solutions on full-scale prototype buildings.

This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership on ‘People-centric sustainable built environment’ (Built4People). As such, projects resulting from this topic will be expected to report on results to the European Partnership ‘People-centric sustainable built environment’ (Built4People) in support of the monitoring of its KPIs.

Admissibility conditions require adherence to proposal page limits 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 are detailed in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes, with specific provisions for non-EU/non-Associated Countries outlined in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide. The Joint Research Centre (JRC) is eligible to participate as a member of the consortium. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion criteria are detailed in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes. Evaluation and award criteria, scoring, and thresholds are described in Annex D, while submission and evaluation processes are in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual. The indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement is also in Annex F. Legal and financial aspects of the grants are governed by the lump sum provisions defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021, with eligible costs taking the form of a lump sum as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021 authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme and described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes. Specific conditions are described in the specific topic of the Work Programme.

Application forms are available in the Submission System, with standard application (HE RIA, IA) and evaluation form templates (HE RIA, IA) provided. Guidance is available in the HE Programme Guide, Lump Sum MGA, detailed budget table (HE LS), and guidance on lump sums. Additional documents include HE Main Work Programmes for 2025 and 2023-2025, the HE Programme Guide, HE Framework Programme 2021/695, HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764, EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509, the Decision authorising lump sum contributions, rules for legal entity validation, LEAR appointment, financial capacity assessment, EU Grants AGA, and the Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual, Terms and Conditions, and Privacy Statement.

The budget overview lists several HORIZON Innovation Actions (HORIZON-IA), HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions (HORIZON-RIA), HORIZON Pre-commercial Procurement (HORIZON-PCP), and HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions (HORIZON-CSA) topics, each with its own budget, opening date (2025-09-16), deadline (2026-02-17), contributions, and indicative number of grants.

Partner search announcements can be viewed and edited by LEARs, Account Administrators, or self-registrants after logging into the Portal. The submission system is planned to open on the date stated in the topic header.

This funding opportunity aims to drive innovation and research in the construction sector to significantly reduce the environmental impact of buildings. It encourages projects that develop and validate solutions for combining low-carbon materials and circular economy principles in building design and construction. The goal is to create buildings that not only have lower carbon footprints but also promote resource efficiency and adaptability. The call seeks to foster collaboration among researchers, industry stakeholders, and policymakers to achieve a sustainable and climate-neutral built environment in Europe. The funding mechanism is based on lump sum grants, simplifying the financial management of projects.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types are not explicitly stated, but the call is open to consortia including the Joint Research Centre (JRC). Based on the Horizon Europe framework, eligible applicants typically include universities, research institutes, SMEs, large enterprises, and other organizations. The specific eligibility criteria are detailed in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.

Funding Type: The funding type is primarily grant-based, specifically HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions (HORIZON-RIA), HORIZON Innovation Actions (HORIZON-IA), HORIZON Pre-commercial Procurement (HORIZON-PCP) and HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions (HORIZON-CSA) under the Horizon Europe Programme. The eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum.

Consortium Requirement: A consortium is required, as indicated by the eligibility condition that the Joint Research Centre (JRC) may participate as a member of the consortium selected for funding.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility includes EU member states and associated countries, with specific provisions for non-EU/non-associated countries as detailed in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.

Target Sector: The target sector is the built environment, focusing on sustainable construction and renovation, climate neutrality, circularity, and reduction of whole life carbon emissions in buildings. This includes materials, construction products, technical building systems, and design choices related to building performance.

Mentioned Countries: The opportunity mentions "three countries, with different climatic conditions and building stock characteristics" where solutions, processes and strategies should be validated. It also refers to EU and non-EU associated countries.

Project Stage: The project stage spans from development to validation, with an emphasis on demonstrating solutions in relevant environments. This includes research, development, and validation of solutions, processes, and strategies.

Funding Amount: The funding amounts vary by topic, ranging from €6,000,000 to €33,000,000. The indicative number of grants per topic ranges from 1 to 3.

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 lump sum grants to cover eligible costs.

Application Stages: The application process involves a single stage.

Success Rates: The success rates can be inferred from the "Indicative number of grants" relative to the overall budget for each topic, but the exact success rates are not explicitly stated.

Co-funding Requirement: The need for co-funding is not explicitly mentioned, but as a Horizon Europe action, it is possible that co-funding may be part of the grant agreement.

Summary:

This Horizon Europe funding opportunity, under Cluster 5 and the Built4People Partnership, aims to drive innovation and research in the construction and renovation sectors to achieve climate neutrality and sustainability. The focus is on reducing whole life carbon emissions in buildings through optimal combinations of low embodied carbon construction products, technical building systems, and circularity principles. Projects are expected to develop and validate solutions in diverse climatic and building stock conditions across at least three countries. The funding is provided as lump sum grants, and consortia are required, with the Joint Research Centre (JRC) potentially participating. The geographic scope includes EU member states, associated countries, and potentially non-EU/non-associated countries with specific provisions. The application process is a single-stage open call, with varying funding amounts and indicative numbers of grants per topic. This opportunity targets entities involved in building construction, renovation, materials research, and sustainable building practices, encouraging the development and implementation of innovative solutions for a people-centric sustainable built environment.