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Call key data
Strengthening the resilience of water systems and water sector to climate and global socio-economic change impacts
Funding Program
Horizon Europe: Cluster 6 - Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment
Call number
HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-CLIMATE-01-two-stage
deadlines
Opening
06.05.2025
Deadline
04.09.2025 17:00
Funding rate
70%
Call budget
€ 18,000,000.00
Estimated EU contribution per project
€ 6,000,000.00
Link to the call
Link to the submission
Call content
short description
In line with the European Green Deal, notably the EU climate adaptation strategy, the Nature Restoration Regulation, EU water legislation and the upcoming European water resilience strategy, successful proposals will contribute to the impact of this Destination on adaptation and mitigation of water systems in the context of climate change, supporting also biodiversity protection and restoration.
Call objectives
We face a triple interrelated planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. Water is at the heart of these challenges. We can no longer ignore the world’s crisis of water. The global hydrological cycle is changing. During the last three consecutive years, we have also witnessed not only worrying droughts in many regions of the EU, reaching eastern and northern countries which have been so far preserved, but also catastrophic pollution incidents and deadly floods across Europe. These events are no longer exceptional events. As scientists revealed very recently, human-caused climate change has made these episodes at least 20 times more likely. Moreover, groundwater levels sink steadily in Europe and globally, and the EU water balance is greatly perturbed. This increases tensions in agriculture, energy production and water supply and it is threatening drinking water, food and energy security, the health of ecosystems and the services they deliver, and our way of living.
These issues are highly interlinked, and they must be addressed together, under the remit of the water, energy, food, and ecosystem (WEFE) nexus. Moreover, recent JRC research shows that reduced freshwater flow of rivers into the sea can have severe impacts on coastal and marine ecosystem and their services, for example wild capture fisheries. This emphasizes the need to adopt the “from the source to the sea” approach when tackling water resilience with a support to biodiversity protection/restoration.
According to the EC communication “Managing climate risks – protecting people and prosperity”, “protecting and restoring the water cycle, promoting a water-smart EU economy and safeguarding good quality, affordable and accessible freshwater supplies to all is crucial to ensure a water-resilient Europe. [...] Water needs to be managed, and human demand needs to be adjusted to the new and more scarce supply”.
The objective of this topic is to compare and demonstrate the potential of available state of the art tools to forecast the availability of water resources at the regional and local scale, building also on JRC and other available tools developed for the European scale. It should take into consideration both the global water cycle (blue and green water) and sectoral water demands for both seasonal and long-term horizon, with an integrated water management approach. It should consider water allocation tools for different uses integrating the quality needed for each use, as well as tools for resilient urban planning and water infrastructure management allowing among others run-off control, reducing flood and drought risks, ensuring safety of citizens and infrastructures and support to biodiversity protection/restoration.
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Expected effects and impacts
Demonstrations should take place in diverse European regions on a suitable scale e.g., river basin, and should bring together a wide range of relevant stakeholders, including relevant water sectors, water managers and authorities, urban and rural planners, policy makers and the civil society. Solutions aiming at fostering and restoring natural retention measures to keep water in the landscape, mitigating drainage losses, enhancing water retention in watersheds to mitigate extreme events, including both drought and flood, should be explored. Proper attention should be given to actions aiming at overcoming the fragmentation of water monitoring and observation data by strengthening the complementarity between satellites, in situ data, participatory research and integrated assessment models. This should foster the consolidation for better-quality and higher frequency data, reducing uncertainty and increasing trust and making them responsive to end-users' needs.
Appropriate climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies and tools, such as, tools for resilient urban and rural planning to manage runoff, reduce flood risk and ensure the safety of citizens and water infrastructures, should then be developed to strengthen the resilience of the water sector. These strategies should in particular assess the following:
- strategies and technical cost-efficient and sustainable solutions for alternative water resources production adapted to the anticipated use;
- the governance of water resource management to better consider the interlinkages of various water related policies to ensure reliable allocation of water for different uses and cross-sectoral coordination;
- the suitability of current indicators to appropriately define water efficiency in various sectors and provide a harmonised methodology to increase water efficiency;
- strategies to anticipate the consequences of recurrent extreme events, including land use analysis (e.g. floods and droughts) and reduce the associated risks;
- water resilience by exploring water transfer effects for seasonal, annual and pluriannual time-horizon on ecosystems, populations, agriculture, industrial consumption;
- the suitability of solutions to support biodiversity protection/restoration with attention given to avoiding spread of invasive alien species and to ensuring enough water for entire ecosystems (all species and their populations in healthy state).
Moreover, the economic foundation of the current water management systems, including water pricing and trade policies, in the context of changing climate should be reviewed to provide elements for a new economic framework helping to better structure the cost of building/operating/monitoring the water infrastructures, increase demand for innovative solutions and strengthen private investments for large scale deployment of these solutions in the water sector.
Proposals should avoid duplication with related ongoing work of the JRC and other EU funded projects, while strengthening complementarities with relevant EU Missions and Partnerships (e.g. Water4All, Biodiversa+). Proposals should build on the assessment reports of the Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), particularly the forthcoming IPBES nexus assessment. Where relevant, proposals should build on or further enhance existing hydrological modelling tools and water relevant tools and datasets of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service, Climate Change and Land Monitoring Services and leverage products and services offered by the from Destination Earth initiatives. Proposals should build synergies and complementarities with other related Horizon Europe projects. To this end, proposals should plan the necessary budget to cover related cluster activities.
This action should bring together a wide range of relevant stakeholders, i.e, researchers, technology providers, water utilities, business representatives, investors, policy makers and other water users and citizens to maximise impact. When engaging stakeholders, gender and other social categories (disability, age, socioeconomic status, ethnic and / or cultural origins, sexual orientation, etc.), and their intersections, need to be considered. The possible participation of the JRC would ensure that the assessment of available state of the art tools to forecast the availability of water adequately integrates the existing JRC related work.
Due to the strong socio-economic dimension of water management, the integration of SSH, including gender studies, and Citizen Social Science approach expertise are also needed to ensure the proposed climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies are socially accepted and no one is left behind.
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Expected results
Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
- assessing and managing better the changing hydrological cycle, also at fine spatial scales, to reduce water risks amplified by climate change, including floods and droughts, by fostering further development of innovative observing systems to monitor trends in the atmospheric hydrological cycle; by fostering water resilient land use, management and planning and natural water cycle restoration, also contributing to support biodiversity protection/restoration; and by enhancing cross-sectoral and transboundary catchment cooperation between various water use sectors and complementarity between water related policies;
- increasing water use efficiency in all sectors at basin level, balancing better water demand and supply, helping to transform the economics and restructuring the governance of water;
- helping policy makers to prepare for better water infrastructure management and planning allowing among others fair access to drinking water and other essential uses.
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Eligibility Criteria
Regions / countries for funding
Moldova (Moldova), Albania (Shqipëria), Armenia (Հայաստան), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosna i Hercegovina / Босна и Херцеговина), Canada, Faeroes (Føroyar / Færøerne), Georgia (საქართველო), Iceland (Ísland), Israel (ישראל / إِسْرَائِيل), Kosovo (Kosova/Kosovë / Косово), Montenegro (Црна Гора), New Zealand (Aotearoa), North Macedonia (Северна Македонија), Norway (Norge), Serbia (Srbija/Сpбија), Tunisia (تونس /Tūnis), Türkiye, Ukraine (Україна), United Kingdom
eligible entities
EU Body, Education and training institution, Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) / Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Other, Private institution, incl. private company (private for profit), Public Body (national, regional and local; incl. EGTCs), Research Institution incl. University, Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME)
Mandatory partnership
Yes
Project Partnership
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
- the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States
- countries associated to Horizon Europe - see list of particpating countries
Only legal entities forming a consortium are eligible to participate in actions provided that the consortium includes, as beneficiaries, three legal entities independent from each other and each established in a different country as follows:
- at least one independent legal entity established in a Member State; and
- at least two other independent legal entities, each established in different Member States or Associated Countries.
Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from non-associated 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.
other eligibility criteria
Specific cases:
- Affiliated entities (i.e. entities with a legal or capital link to a beneficiary which participate in the action with similar rights and obligations to the beneficiaries, but which do not sign the grant agreement and therefore do not become beneficiaries themselves) are allowed, if they are eligible for participation and funding.
- Associated partners (i.e. entities which participate in the action without signing the grant agreement, and without the right to charge costs or claim contributions) are allowed, subject to any conditions regarding associated partners set out in the specific call conditions.
- Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees to protect the EU’s financial interests equivalent to those offered by legal persons.
- Legal entities created under EU law (EU bodies) including decentralised agencies may be part of the consortium, unless provided for otherwise in their basic act.
- International European research organisations are 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 or when provided for in the specific call/topic conditions. Other international organisations are not eligible to receive funding, unless provided for in the specific call/topic conditions, or if their participation is considered essential for implementing the action by the granting authority.
- Joint Research Centre (JRC)— Where provided for in the specific call conditions, applicants may include in their proposals the possible contribution of the JRC but the JRC will not participate in the preparation and submission of the proposal. Applicants will indicate the contribution that the JRC could bring to the project based on the scope of the topic text. After the evaluation process, the JRC and the consortium selected for funding may come to an agreement on the specific terms of the participation of the JRC. If an agreement is found, the JRC may accede to the grant agreement as beneficiary requesting zero funding or participate as an associated partner, and would accede to the consortium as a member.
- Associations and interest groupings — Entities composed of members (e.g. European research infrastructure consortia (ERICs)) may participate as ‘sole beneficiaries’ or ‘beneficiaries without legal personality’. However, if the action is in practice implemented by the individual members, those members should also participate (either as beneficiaries or as affiliated entities, otherwise their costs will NOT be eligible.
- EU restrictive measures — Entities subject to EU restrictive measures under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU) as well as Article 75 TFEU, are not eligible to participate in any capacity, including as beneficiaries, affiliated entities, associated partners, third parties giving in-kind contributions, subcontractors or recipients of financial support to third parties (if any).
- Legal entities established in Russia, Belarus, or in non-government controlled territories of Ukraine — Given the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the involvement of Belarus, there is currently no appropriate context allowing the implementation of the actions foreseen in this programme with legal entities established in Russia, Belarus, or in non-government controlled territories of Ukraine. Therefore, even where such entities are not subject to EU restrictive measures, such legal entities are not eligible to participate in any capacity. This includes participation as beneficiaries, affiliated entities, associated partners, third parties giving in-kind contributions, subcontractors or recipients of financial support to third parties (if any). Exceptions may be granted on a case-by-case basis for justified reasons.
With specific regard to measures addressed to Russia, following the adoption of the Council Regulation (EU) 2024/1745 of 24 June 2024 (amending Council Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 of 31 July 2014) concerning restrictive measures in view of Russia’s actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine, legal entities established outside Russia but whose proprietary rights are directly or indirectly owned for more than 50% by a legal person, entity or body established in Russia are also not eligible to participate in any capacity. - Measures for the protection of the Union budget against breaches of the principles of the rule of law in Hungary — Following the Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/2506, as of 16 December 2022, no legal commitments can be entered into with Hungarian public interest trusts established under the Hungarian Act IX of 2021 or any entity they maintain. Affected entities may continue to apply to calls for proposals and can participate without receiving EU funding, as associated partners, if allowed by the call conditions. However, as long as the Council measures are not lifted, such entities are not eligible to participate in any funded role (beneficiaries, affiliated entities, subcontractors, recipients of financial support to third parties, etc.).In case of multi-beneficiary grant calls, applicants will be invited to remove or replace that entity in any funded role and/or to change its status into associated partner. Tasks and budget may be redistributed accordingly.
Additional information
Topics
Relevance for EU Macro-Region
EUSDR - EU Strategy for the Danube Region, EUSBSR - EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, EUSALP - EU Strategy for the Alpine Space, EUSAIR - EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region
UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs)
Additional Information
Applications must be submitted electronically via the Funders & Tenders Portal electronic submission system (accessible via the topic page in the Search Funding & Tenders section). Paper submissions are NOT possible.
Applications must be submitted using the forms provided inside the electronic submission system (not the templates available on the topic page, which are only for information). The structure and presentation must correspond to the instructions given in the forms.
Applications must be complete and contain all parts and mandatory annexes and supporting documents.
The application form will have two parts:
- Part A (to be filled in directly online) contains administrative information about the applicant organisations (future coordinator and beneficiaries and affiliated entities), the summarised budget for the proposal and call-specific questions;
- Part B (to be downloaded from the Portal submission system, completed and then assembled and re-uploaded as a PDF in the system) contains the technical description of the project.
Annexes and supporting documents will be directly available in the submission system and must be uploaded as PDF files (or other formats allowed by the system).
The page limit for the Part B for the first stage of the 2-stage call is 10 pages.
This topic is part of the blind evaluation pilot under which first stage proposals will be evaluated blindly. Applicants submitting a proposal under the blind evaluation pilot must not disclose their organisation names, acronyms, logos nor names of personnel in the proposal abstract and Part B of their first-stage application.
Activities are expected to achieve TRL 6-7 by the end of the project.
Call documents
Horizon Europe Work Programme 2025 Cluster 6 - Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and EnvironmentHorizon Europe Work Programme 2025 Cluster 6 - Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment(2474kB)
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