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Call key data
Innovative solutions for resilient and climate-adapted coastal communities in the Atlantic
Funding Program
Horizon Europe: Cluster 6 - Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment
Call number
HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-COMMUNITIES-03
deadlines
Opening
06.05.2025
Deadline
16.09.2025 17:00
Funding rate
70%
Call budget
€ 6,000,000.00
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 2030 biodiversity strategy, the European Ocean Pact and EU policies to protect Europe’s ocean, seas and coasts, a successful proposal will contribute to the impacts of this Destination related to coastal communities.
Call objectives
Approximately 1 billion people around the globe inhabit vulnerable low-lying coastal areas facing multiple environmental threats, such as extreme weather events, sea-level rise, saltwater intrusion into coastal ecosystems, increased water temperatures and ocean acidification. The latest IPCC report warns of further intensification of these threats, projecting a tenfold increase in coastal flood damage by the end of the 21st century and potential damage to coastal ecosystems, infrastructure, economic sectors, livelihoods, and human health. An urgent, coordinated effort to increase coastal resilience has therefore become imperative.
The need to develop outcome-oriented science to enhance the resilience of coastal communities was recently prioritised by AAORIA, a science diplomacy initiative focusing on ocean research and innovation. AAORIA partners have a wealth of already existing innovative ideas, knowledge and solutions for enhanced coastal resilience which could be used by coastal communities to create tangible change.
The European Commission, together with an AAORIA’s coordination and support action OKEANO, has started to collect this knowledge and make it available to communities around the Atlantic. But considerable effort is still needed to further develop and expand the range of solutions and services to be made accessible to and co-created with the communities.
This topic contributes to the implementation of the updated Action Plan for a sustainable, resilient and competitive blue economy in the European Union Atlantic area.
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Expected effects and impacts
Proposals should address all of the following:
- engage with Atlantic coastal communities to understand their unique challenges, concerns, current strategies for adaptation to climate change, and traditional environmental knowledge, and to gather valuable insights into the specific needs and priorities of these communities in the context of coastal resilience;
- work towards enhancing coastal resilience in the Atlantic by building and testing a comprehensive toolbox of scientific outputs and traditional knowledge addressing the community needs for increased coastal resilience, building on the work undertaken by OKEANO project. The toolbox should include knowledge and solutions for various aspects of coastal resilience, including measures to protect and restore coastal ecosystems as nature-based solutions. As part of the toolbox, the proposals should consider and, where needed, develop methods and tools that would allow the communities to anticipate the diverse impacts of adaptation actions and measures, including on their most vulnerable members, and thus to avoid climate maladaptation risks. In this context, proposals should consider the gender dimension and other social categories and their intersections in disaster preparedness and capacity-building. A dynamic system for regular updates and refinement of the toolbox should be designed, based on emerging research and feedback from communities. An ongoing collaboration between scientists, policymakers, and community representatives should be fostered to ensure the relevance and effectiveness of the solutions included in the toolbox;
- to improve the production, access, and use of the knowledge responding to local community needs, and to support and complement the activities of the living labs, proposals should develop an interface enabling communities to choose a tailor-made mix of coastal resilience solutions uniquely responding to their needs, in a way that increases societal buy-in and acceptance of the solutions while avoiding maladaptation risks;
- for the digital element of the interface, proposals should design an online platform connecting available coastal resilience knowledge and solutions with community needs in a user-friendly manner, and produce interoperable, tailor-made digital applications. Proposals should consider complementarities with other platforms that already exist, such as those of the Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters and Mission Adaptation to Climate Change. The platform should allow for easy integration with existing digital decision-making, mapping and planning tools, for instance, by offering API (Application Programming Interfaces) integration which enables the platform to connect with existing digital tools and systems, allowing for the seamless exchange of data and functionality between systems;
- the toolbox and interface should be tested and piloted in living labs based on a systematic user co-creation approach in real life communities and settings. Proposals should create the living labs in a diverse set of Atlantic communities, such as coastal cities, regions and islands (including small island developing states), from different parts of the Atlantic, and other relevant communities living at the intersection of marine, coastal and freshwater areas, with a particular attention to those that are highly vulnerable to the risks of climate change. These living labs could also serve as centres for knowledge dissemination, training, community engagement, and collaborative problem-solving. Using the results of relevant projects, proposals should select appropriate participatory processes or develop new ones that would involve a broad range of stakeholders from the local communities where the toolbox and interface would be used;
- To empower local coastal communities to make evidence-based decisions in response to environmental change within their territories, proposals should promote innovation and enhance human capacity through the establishment of learning spaces, knowledge exchange, training, participatory process of visioning and skills development, based on the contents of the toolbox. Attention should be given to securing the long-term sustainability of these activities.
Proposals must implement the multi-actor approach, to ensure an adequate involvement of researchers and relevant stakeholders (e.g. regional and local authorities, citizens, youth, NGOs, local businesses, private investors, social innovators, etc) from the target communities. They should also integrate SSH disciplines, including gender studies and citizen social science where relevant.
International cooperation is strongly encouraged, especially with AAORIA partner countries and other Atlantic countries.
To ensure complementarities and avoid overlaps, the proposals should foresee to work closely with relevant ongoing Horizon Europe projects, particularly the OKEANO project, and, where relevant, the projects funded under the topic HORIZON-MISS-2025 01-CLIMA-03, and relevant projects of the Mission ‘Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030’ and its Atlantic and Arctic lighthouse (e.g. A-AAGORA and CLIMAREST), and the Mission Ocean Implementation Platform (MIP), notably on deployment and upscaling of solutions. Proposals should also consider results of other Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe projects such as TRIATLAS, the projects of the ADAPT4COAST cluster, ILIAD, DestinE, the EU Digital Twin of the Ocean and other relevant projects, programmes, and initiatives, including from AAORIA partner countries and other countries around the Atlantic, as well as relevant work under the OSPAR convention.
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Expected results
Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
- deliver tangible benefits and support to Atlantic coastal communities, managing authorities, and citizens, aimed at increasing their resilience to climate change and other environmental challenges, including those affecting coastal ecosystems;
- enhance the capacities of coastal communities for adaptation to environmental change by fostering innovation, and professional skills and competences within an intergenerational context. Building community climate change literacy through creating inclusive learning spaces that also take into account the local cultural heritage and traditional knowledge and are sustainable in the long-term;
- contribute to the implementation of the All-Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Alliance (AAORIA) Declaration and particularly the recently agreed area of action on increasing resilience of coastal communities.
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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.
Due to the scope of this topic, legal entities established in Brazil are exceptionally eligible for Union funding.
In order to achieve the expected outcomes of the action, namely contribution to the implementation of the All-Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Alliance (AAORIA) Declaration, participation, as a beneficiary or associated partner, of at least three legal entities established in at least three of the following countries is required: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Cape Verde, Ghana, Iceland, Morocco, Norway, Senegal, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States of America.
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
EUSAIR - EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, EUSALP - EU Strategy for the Alpine Space, EUSBSR - EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, EUSDR - EU Strategy for the Danube 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 limit for a full application (Part B) is 45 pages.
Activities are expected to achieve TRL 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(kB)
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