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European Research Executive Agency
News article22 February 2022European Research Executive Agency

311 proposals submitted for the 2022 calls on biodiversity, circular economy and zero pollution

Total amount of applications for five calls proposals exceeds three times the available budget. Evaluations have already started, and the successful projects will be communicated in May 2022.

cluster 6 call 2022

In response to the five calls for proposals, applicants submitted 311 proposals by the deadline of 15 February 2022. The available indicative budget for the five calls is €334 million.

These are the submission figures per call:

Call Available budget* Requested budget* Number of submitted proposals
Biodiversity and ecosystem services / Single stage €141 million* €336 million 52
Biodiversity and ecosystem services / Two-Stages   €105 million 21
Circular economy and bio-economy sectors / Single Stage €142 million* €311 million 61
Circular economy and bio-economy sectors / Two-Stages   €653 million 98
Clean environment and zero pollution €51 million €333 million 79
TOTAL €334 million €1.7 billion 311
*Round figures
*Budget for the single stage and two stages together

Applicants originated from 27 EU countries and from 60 non-EU countries.

They were asked to explain how their research could contribute to tackling the big EU challenges in the domains of biodiversity restoration, plastic reduction and maintaining a clean environment, to name just a few.

The funded research projects should foster green and circular cities by, for instance, working on the restoration of pollinators, the development of bio-based sectors and the protection of groundwater against pollution.

Organic crop breading, blue-bioeconomy, sustainable development of forests and nature-based solutions are some of the areas the EU wishes to strengthen with this funded research.

Next steps

The evaluation of the eligible proposals started on the 16 of February with the support of external independent evaluators drawn from the European Commission’s database of experts.

In May 2022, REA expects to inform applicants to the single-stage calls of the results of their application. The funded projects should start their research as of November 2022.

For the two-stage calls, the successful applicants to the first-step will be invited to submit a full proposal by 1 September.

Horizon Europe’s Cluster 6: Food, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture and environment

Until 2027, and with a total budget of €7.4 billion, the European Commission will launch yearly calls to fund research and innovation projects in the areas covered by Cluster 6: Food, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture and the environment.

The funded projects should help the EU deliver on its climate action goals set out under the European Green Deal

More info

Visit the Funding and Tenders portal to see the full details, including the number of proposals per topic:

Biodiversity single-stage call

Biodiversity two-stages call

Circular economy single-stage call

Circular economy two-stages call

Zero pollution call

Details

Publication date
22 February 2022
Author
European Research Executive Agency