The European Commission (EC) is inviting proposals for Socio-economic, Climate and Environmental aspects of Paludiculture under Horizon Europe Framework Programme. Scope
Proposals should:
Take stock of the main socio-economic variables relevant for the paludiculture sector, including options for marketing of its products, and carry out socio-economic analyses, including projections and foresight;
Estimate the potential for degraded peatlands and wetlands, currently used for conventional agriculture or forestry (with drainage), to be converted to paludiculture;
Establish an observatory and databases for analytical purposes, covering the whole supply chain;
Analyse positive and negative incentives and trade-offs, including with regard to carbon farming, in particular those that relate to the policy environment and to the attitudes and values of farmers and other actors;
Explore solutions to lift possible lock-ins and speed up the development of paludiculture including with social innovation;
Support the establishment of a network of researchers and practitioners involved in paludiculture at European and global level;
Include a dedicated task, appropriate resources and a plan on how the project(s) will collaborate with project(s) supported through topic “Horizon-CL6-2024-Climate-01-3: Paludiculture: large-scale demonstrations”.
Funding Information
The check will normally be done for the coordinator if the requested grant amount is equal to or greater than EUR 500 000, except for:
public bodies (entities established as a public body under national law, including local, regional or national authorities) or international organisations; and
cases where the individual requested grant amount is not more than EUR 60 000 (lowvalue grant).
Expected Outcomes
This topic will support the European Green Deal, notably its climate objectives and the EU proposal for a nature restoration law of the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030. Earth’s natural terrestrial carbon sinks, in particular peatlands and wetlands, are expected to play a crucial role in reaching EU climate objectives thanks to the conservation and restoration of ecosystems with large potential for carbon sequestration. To reach climate goals, rewetting of 500 000 hectares will be necessary in Europe. By looking into the potential of such areas when used for paludiculture, the topic will contribute to the following impact of the Destination: “Efficient monitoring, assessment, modelling, data-driven decision-making support systems and projections related to climate change impacts, mitigation and adaptation potential in order to derive solutions for tackling emerging threats and support decision-making in climate change mitigation and adaptation policies at European and global levels, including the use of AI and other digital solutions.”
Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
Paludiculture systems and their potential to provide jobs and income, while addressing climate mitigation, environmental objectives (notably water quality) and nature conservation, are better understood;
The EU approach to carbon farming regarding wetlands and peatlands and their restoration, with the aim of reducing oxidation of the existing carbon stock and increasing the potential for carbon sequestration, is supported;
Innovative solutions to facilitate the development of paludiculture are explored.
Eligible Activities
Projects must focus exclusively on civil applications and must not:
aim at human cloning for reproductive purposes;
intend to modify the genetic heritage of human beings which could make such changes heritable (except for research relating to cancer treatment of the gonads, which may be financed);
intend to create human embryos solely for the purpose of research, or for the purpose of stem cell procurement, including by means of somatic cell nuclear transfer. Projects must, moreover, comply with EU policy interests and priorities (environment, social, security, industrial policy, etc.).
The following activities are generally eligible for grants under Horizon Europe:
Research and innovation actions (RIA): Activities that aim primarily to establish new knowledge or to explore the feasibility of a new or improved technology, product, process, service or solution. This may include basic and applied research, technology development and integration, testing, demonstration and validation of a small-scale prototype in a laboratory or simulated environment.
Innovation actions (IA): Activities that aim directly to produce plans and arrangements or designs for new, altered or improved products, processes or services. These activities may include prototyping, testing, demonstrating, piloting, large-scale product validation and market replication.
Coordination and support actions (CSA): Activities that contribute to the objectives of Horizon Europe. This excludes research and innovation (R&I) activities, except those carried out under the ‘Widening participation and spreading excellence’ component of the programme (part of ‘Widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area’).
Programme co-fund actions (CoFund): A programme of activities established or implemented by legal entities managing or funding R&I programmes, other than EU funding bodies. Such a programme of activities may support: networking and coordination; research; innovation; pilot actions; innovation and market deployment; training and mobility; awareness raising and communication; and dissemination and exploitation.
Innovation and market deployment actions (IMDA): Activities that embed an innovation action and other activities necessary to deploy an innovation on the market. This includes the scaling-up of companies and Horizon Europe blended finance.
Training and mobility actions (TMA): Activities that aim to improve the skills, knowledge and career prospects of researchers, based on mobility between countries and, if relevant, between sectors or disciplines.
Pre-commercial procurement actions (PCP): Activities that aim to help a transnational buyers’ group to strengthen the public procurement of research, development, validation and, possibly, the first deployment of new solutions that can significantly improve quality and efficiency in areas of public interest, while opening market opportunities for industry and researchers active in Europe.
Public procurement of innovative solutions actions (PPI): Activities that aim to strengthen the ability of a transnational buyers’ group to deploy innovative solutions early by overcoming the fragmentation of demand for such solutions and sharing the risks and costs of acting as early adopters, while opening market opportunities for industry.
Eligibility Criteria
Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from nonassociated third countries or international organisations (including international European research organisations) is eligible to participate (whether it is eligible for funding or not), provided that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation have been met, along with any other conditions laid down in the specific call topic.
A ‘legal entity’ means any natural or legal person created and recognised as such under national law, EU law or international law, which has legal personality and which may, acting in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity without legal personality.
To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:
the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.
the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States: Aruba (NL), Bonaire (NL), Curação (NL), French Polynesia (FR), French Southern and Antarctic Territories (FR), Greenland (DK), New Caledonia (FR), Saba (NL), Saint Barthélemy (FR), Sint Eustatius (NL), Sint Maarten (NL), St. Pierre and Miquelon (FR), Wallis and Futuna Islands (FR).
countries associated to Horizon Europe; Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine.
Specific cases:
Affiliated entities: Affiliated entities are eligible for funding if they are established in one of the countries listed above, or in a country identified in the specific call conditions.
Associated partners: Entities not eligible for funding (and therefore not able to participate as beneficiaries) may participate as associated partners, unless specified otherwise in the specific call conditions.
Coordination and Support Actions: To be eligible to participate as beneficiaries (or affiliated entities) in ‘Coordination and support’ actions, legal entities must be established in a Member State or Associated Country, unless the specific call conditions provide otherwise. Legal entities established in a non-associated third country may, however, participate in ‘Coordination and support’ actions as associated partners, unless this is explicitly excluded by the specific call conditions.
EU bodies: Legal entities created under EU law may also be eligible to receive funding, unless their basic act states otherwise.
International organisations: International European research organisations are eligible to receive funding. Unless their participation is considered essential for implementing the action by the granting authority, other international organisations are not eligible to receive funding. International organisations with headquarters in a Member State or Associated Country are eligible to receive funding for ‘Training and mobility’ actions and when provided for in the specific call conditions.
