R&I in Support of the Clean Industrial Deal: Decarbonisation of energy intensive industries (IA) (Processes4Planet and Clean Steel partnerships)

The Horizon Europe call titled "R&I in Support of the Clean Industrial Deal: Decarbonisation of Energy Intensive Industries" focuses on the implementation of innovative technologies to aid the decarbonization of energy-intensive sectors. It serves the broader initiative of the Clean Industrial Deal, fundamentally aiming to enhance competitiveness and sustainability in EU industries through three primary technology areas.

Eligible applicants include industry-driven consortia composed of large enterprises, SMEs, research institutions, and public-private partnerships. The program encourages participation from SMEs but primarily seeks a consortium leadership that demonstrates the capacity for industrial deployment.

The funding is categorized as an Innovation Action grant with a total budget of €125 million, allocating between €15 million and €25 million for each selected project. The application process is a single-stage submission, opening on January 12, 2027, and closing on September 15, 2027.

The geographical scope covers EU member states and associated countries, with projects expected to demonstrate their efforts at Technology Readiness Levels 6 to 7-8, indicating a focus on development, demonstration, and early commercialization.

The call emphasizes three key technology areas: managing the carbon cycle through carbon capture, utilization, and storage; augmenting clean energy use in production processes via electrification and hydrogen integration; and enhancing circularity and resource efficiency within production processes.

Proposals should show market readiness through comprehensive business plans and strategies for deployment, tackle barriers to market entry, and emphasize the environmental and sustainability impacts of their proposed solutions. Co-funding from both private and public sectors is encouraged, and the expected success rate for applications is approximately 6-10%, contingent on the total number of proposals submitted.

Overall, this funding initiative aims to accelerate the transition of the EU manufacturing sector towards a decarbonized future while establishing a competitive edge within global markets for clean technology deployment.

This is a Horizon Europe call for proposals under the program "R&I in Support of the Clean Industrial Deal" focusing on the decarbonization of energy-intensive industries, specifically through the Processes4Planet and Clean Steel partnerships. The call aims to accelerate the use of innovative technologies to decarbonize industrial processes, bring cost-effective clean products to the market, strengthen the competitiveness and sustainability of EU industries, create first-of-a-kind operational demonstrators, optimize newly installed industrial decarbonization solutions, and demonstrate market readiness via credible business plans.

The scope of the call is aligned with the Clean Industrial Deal, which seeks to establish the EU as an attractive location for manufacturing, including energy-intensive sectors, and to promote clean tech and circular business models to meet decarbonization and climate neutrality targets. The call targets the competitive decarbonization of EU industry and the production of clean technologies within the EU.

Three key technology areas are highlighted:

1. Managing the carbon cycle (CCU and/or CCUS): This involves optimizing and demonstrating solutions for capturing, utilizing, or storing CO2 and/or CO from energy-intensive industries. A significant reduction in energy input (30% target) per ton of CO2/CO is expected compared to current technologies, alongside the potential for commercializing decarbonized products based on LCA, market size, and cost.

2. Clean energy usage in production: This area focuses on electrification of processes, decarbonized production, integration of alternative clean energy carriers like hydrogen, on-site renewable energy storage, and waste heat utilization. The goal is to support major improvements in clean energy usage in energy-intensive industries by 2035.

3. Circularity and resource efficiency: This aims for a 30% improvement by 2035 in material, energy, and water efficiency of production processes compared to current industrial values, using commercially viable technological solutions. It also seeks to significantly reduce raw material consumption, energy input, freshwater intake, and emissions through circular value networks that convert industrial side-streams and end-of-use waste into new feedstock. Solutions must have a positive overall LCA and remain commercially viable under expected regulatory conditions.

Proposals should select one main technology area but can integrate a combination of these areas within an industrial sector, provided the approach is innovative and leads to low-carbon solutions. Applicants must justify their technology choices in both technological and business terms. The use of advanced, safe, and sustainable materials and processes is also encouraged.

Expected contributions from proposals include:

Demonstrating adequate integration of relevant technologies in support of the Clean Industrial Deal, either directly (e.g., reducing greenhouse emissions) or indirectly (e.g., producing new green products). Reduction or avoidance of harmful pollutants and impact on biodiversity may also be considered.

Showing industrial leadership in deployment after the project. Consortia should be industry-driven, composed of a manageable number of participants, and justify their size. SME participation is encouraged.

Including a sound and convincing business plan and market-readiness strategy in the dissemination, exploitation, and communication plan. This should address how to prepare and support the deployment of the proposed tech solution across relevant EU industrial sectors and ensure a high potential for market uptake through private/public investment. A comprehensive analysis of critical barriers (technological and non-technological) for successful market deployment and a plan to tackle them before 2030 are required.

Including a clear go/no-go moment ahead of the contracting and demonstration phase. Before this moment, detailed engineering plans, a techno-economic assessment, all necessary permits for the demonstrator, a complete business plan, and a market-readiness strategy must be delivered, clearly identifying the industrial partner(s) that will lead the deployment. A clear and credible pathway to obtaining all needed permits for the demonstration phase is also expected.

Projects are encouraged to develop synergies and coordinate with similar projects funded under related topics and European Partnerships like Processes4Planet and Clean Steel.

The page limit for Part B of the General Annexes is extended to a maximum of 60 pages to accommodate the required business plan and market-readiness strategy.

General conditions for admissibility, eligible countries, financial and operational capacity, exclusion, evaluation, award criteria, submission, evaluation processes, indicative timeline, and legal and financial setup are described in the relevant annexes of the Horizon Europe Work Programme.

Application form templates are available in the Submission System, and standard evaluation forms will be used with necessary adaptations. Guidance is provided in the HE Programme Guide, Model Grant Agreements (MGA), and call-specific instructions.

Additional documents include the HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027, EIC Work Programme 2026, ERC Work Programme 2026, HE Framework Programme 2021/695, EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509, and various guidelines and rules related to legal entity validation, financial capacity assessment, and grant agreements.

The call includes two specific topics for 2027:

HORIZON-CID-2027-01-01: With a budget of EUR 125,000,000, it aims to fund approximately 8 projects with contributions ranging from EUR 15,000,000 to EUR 25,000,000.

HORIZON-CID-2027-01-02: With a budget of EUR 140,000,000, it also aims to fund approximately 8 projects with contributions ranging from EUR 15,000,000 to EUR 25,000,000.

Both topics are HORIZON Innovation Actions (IA) and follow a single-stage submission process. The planned opening date is January 12, 2027, and the deadline for submission is September 15, 2027, at 17:00:00 Brussels time.

The call is essentially a funding opportunity under the Horizon Europe program aimed at promoting the Clean Industrial Deal by supporting research and innovation in energy-intensive industries. It focuses on decarbonization through technological advancements in carbon management, clean energy usage, and circularity. The EU is looking for projects that can demonstrate these technologies at an industrial scale, with a clear path to market and a strong business plan. The call encourages collaboration between industry, research organizations, and SMEs to drive the development and deployment of clean technologies, ultimately contributing to the EU's climate neutrality targets.

Eligible Applicant Types: The call targets a wide range of applicants, including industry, SMEs, and research organizations. The consortium should be industry-driven and composed of a manageable number of participants. The participation of SMEs is encouraged. While not explicitly stated, universities, research institutes, and other types of organizations are likely eligible if they contribute to the industry-driven focus.

Funding Type: The funding type is a grant, specifically a HORIZON Innovation Action (HORIZON-IA). The type of Model Grant Agreement (MGA) is a HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based [HORIZON-AG].

Consortium Requirement: A consortium is required. The call emphasizes that the consortium should be industry-driven and composed of a manageable number of participants.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility includes EU member states and associated countries as 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.

Target Sector: The target sector is decarbonization of energy-intensive industries. The call focuses on three technology areas: managing of carbon cycle (CCU and/or CCUS), clean energy usage in production (electrification of the processes, decarbonated production, integration of alternative clean energy carriers – e.g. hydrogen – and technologies, on-site renewable energy storage solutions, usage and upgrade of waste heat), and circularity and resource efficiency (material, energy, water) of production processes. It also involves clean tech, manufacturing, climate, and innovation.

Mentioned Countries: The call is focused on the EU, but also mentions non-EU/non-Associated Countries that have made specific provisions for funding participants in Horizon Europe projects.

Project Stage: The expected maturity of the project is demonstration. The call aims to create new innovative first-of-a-kind operational demonstrators and/or optimise newly installed industrial decarbonisation solutions in Europe. It also seeks to demonstrate the market readiness of future clean products and their innovative processes.

Funding Amount: The funding range is between €15 million and €25 million per project. For the topic HORIZON-CID-2027-01-01, the budget is €125 million with an indicative number of 8 grants. For the topic HORIZON-CID-2027-01-02, the budget is €140 million with an indicative number of 8 grants.

Application Type: The application type is a single-stage call.

Nature of Support: Beneficiaries will receive money in the form of a grant.

Application Stages: There is a single stage for the application.

Success Rates: The success rate cannot be determined from the provided text. However, the indicative number of grants (8 for each topic) provides some context when considering the likely number of applications.

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

Summary:

This Horizon Europe call, "R&I in Support of the Clean Industrial Deal: Decarbonisation of energy intensive industries (IA) (Processes4Planet and Clean Steel partnerships)," aims to accelerate the decarbonization of EU industries by promoting innovative technologies and circular business models. The call focuses on three key technology areas: managing the carbon cycle, clean energy usage in production, and circularity and resource efficiency. Projects should demonstrate the integration of relevant technologies, show industrial leadership in deployment, and include a convincing business plan and market-readiness strategy. The call encourages industry-driven consortia with SME participation. Successful projects will create first-of-a-kind operational demonstrators and optimize industrial decarbonization solutions, contributing to the EU's climate neutrality targets. The funding ranges from €15 million to €25 million per project, and the application process is a single-stage submission. Applicants should carefully review the Horizon Europe Programme Guide and related annexes for detailed eligibility and evaluation criteria. The call is structured to support the Clean Industrial Deal, which aims to secure the EU as an attractive location for manufacturing, including for energy-intensive industries, and to promote clean tech and new circular business models in order to meet Europe’s ambitious decarbonisation and climate neutrality targets. The call is implemented through the co-programmed European partnerships Processes4Planet and Clean Steel.