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Call key data
Supporting regional and local authorities in developing their Action Plans towards climate resilience
Funding Program
Horizon Europe: Missions
Call number
HORIZON-MISS-2025-01-CLIMA-02
deadlines
Opening
06.05.2025
Deadline
24.09.2025 17:00
Funding rate
100%
Call budget
€ 25,000,000.00
Estimated EU contribution per project
€ 25,000,000.00
Link to the call
Link to the submission
Call content
short description
In support of the European Green Deal, the Adaptation Strategy and the EU Mission on Adaptation to climate change, the successful proposal will accelerate adaptation efforts of regional and local authorities.
Call objectives
This topic relates to the Mission’s first and second objectives and aims to have at least 70 regional and local authorities that will have formulated their climate adaptation Action Plans.
As described by the first European Climate Risk assessment and addressed by the Commission’s Communication on Managing Climate Risks, asymmetrical exposure to climate impacts exacerbates the already existing disparities between regions in terms of need for climate adaptation, risk prevention and preparedness.
This action supports the very heart of Mission Adaptation: since climate impacts and adaptive capacities differ greatly across regions, tailor-made responses and measures, at the regional or local levels, are required for positive and just transitions towards climate resilience. This action will provide the necessary tailored knowledge, expertise, and services to support regions and local authorities in the formulation of such Action Plans, as well as preparing the ground for the swift implementation needed to accelerate the transition.
Description of the Action Plans
The Action Plans should include:
- The analysis of different possible future scenarios and probabilities of impacts, including different solutions and innovations for relevant sectors, that are robust and cost-effective across these possible futures.
- A set of concrete actions to be implemented at the regional/local level (identifying the regional/local actors in charge of their implementation), including innovation activities and their quantified effects wherever possible.
- A timeline of implementation, including possible intermediate milestones.
- An indication of the expected costs for the region/local authority related to each action put forward by the Action Plan and for the entire Plan, and the estimated avoided losses.
- An analysis on how such costs can be addressed in particular by leveraging additional funding at regional, national, European levels (including via private funding sources) and -where appropriate- other relevant non-financial considerations to facilitate implementation.
- A framework to monitor the implementation of the actions, based on the common framework developed by the project while facilitating synergies between such framework and the one created to monitor the implementation of Mission Adaptation.
The Action Plans should also include innovative solutions developed and tested in the context of Mission Adaptation, in view of enabling further replication: to do so, collaboration with the project stemming from HORIZON-MISS-2024-CLIMA-01-01 will be key.
While remaining fully centred around climate adaptation, the Action Plans – where appropriate and depending on the regional/local needs – are encouraged to address the nexus mitigation/adaptation by looking at co-benefits, including the interlinkage with other crisis (pollution and biodiversity loss). To avoid maladaptive practice, regions and local authorities are encouraged to conduct ex-ante evaluation of the actions planned.
The Action Plans should take into account the findings of the European Environment Agency’s European Climate Risk Assessment Report, as well as the information, outcomes and priorities identified in the national climate change adaptation strategies and in other relevant programmes or legal frameworks.
The Action Plans should also include considerations on their social impacts and ways to overcome them, including by considering the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
To do so, the process of developing the Action Plans should be inclusive and participatory, engaging all relevant stakeholders, including public authorities from different levels of government, private sector, universities, civil society, social partners, and in particular citizens and vulnerable groups.
Financial support to third parties
Regional and local authorities will lead the development of their respective Action Plans.
Proposals should develop a common framework of intervention, setting-up the blueprint for the modular Action Plans that will need to be subsequently tailored to each beneficiary’s context. Such general framework should also include the analysis of the possible additional sources of income that can be further leveraged in individual Action Plans.
The proposals must provide financial support to third parties in the form of grants to allow at least 70 regional and local authorities to develop their Action Plans to address the locally relevant climate risks.
Eligible third parties are regional and local authorities in EU Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries (and/or other entities acting on their behalf), provided that they did not receive financial support under the Pathways2Resilience project nor the concerned territories were already covered by Pathways2Resilience.
At least 70% of the total amount of the EU requested contribution should be for financial support to third parties. The (first) cascade call should be launched in the first 12 months of the project.
Proposals must describe how they intend to provide financial support to third parties, in accordance with the FSTP Annex provided with the application form. They should also specifically take account of provisions on ‘financial support to third parties’ set out in General Annex B and incorporate them into the proposal. While remaining as simple as possible, proposals should specifically consider elements within the FSTP scheme to address geographical balance and inclusivity/equity.
To this purpose, learning from the experience of projects with financial support to third parties/cascading funding could be considered: on top of consulting publicly available information on lessons learnt, the project retained for granting is expected to hold dedicated exchanges with the projects CLIMAAX, Pathways2Resilience and the Mission Secretariat during the preparation of the cascade funding call.
Moreover, the project should collaborate with the Mission National Hubs also in view of facilitating good practice sharing and replicability at National level.
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Expected effects and impacts
Proposals & general considerations
Proposals should describe how the consortium would:
- Define and adopt a common framework guiding the assistance to the regional and local authorities.
- Structure and organise the selection of regional and local authorities and their local partner organisations.
- Support the regional and local authorities in the various steps of the process developing their Action Plans.
- Describe how it intends to integrate its work into the Mission and its activities so that knowledge and good practices can inspire others and be further replicated.
In fact, as an important contributor to the Adaptation Mission, the project should closely cooperate with the Mission Implementation Platform, including (but not limited to) actively inform and engage with the regions and local authorities already involved in the Mission (e.g. Charter Signatories, Community of Practice), as those have shown their commitment to accelerate action on climate resilience. The project is also expected to contribute to the monitoring of the Mission and proposals are encouraged to link up their monitoring to the framework developed by the project stemming from HORIZON-MISS-2024-CLIMA-01-03 and dedicate appropriate resources to this task.
Finally, operational links and collaboration should be established with the Climate-ADAPT platform, and the relevant projects from the Mission, other parts of Horizon Europe or other relevant EU programmes and initiatives.
Applicants should acknowledge these requests and already account for these obligations in their proposal, making adequate provisions in terms of resources and budget to engage and collaborate with the Mission.
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Expected results
The project is expected to contribute to all of the following outcomes:
- Each Action Plan that regional and local authorities have developed sets in motion the implementation of a concrete list of actions to advance towards climate resilience.
- The implementation of the developed Action Plans is ensured thanks to the fact that each Action Plan includes a tailored analysis (or options list) of how the costs of each action can be addressed.
- The relevant government departments, citizens, academia, social partners, the private sector and other stakeholders are mobilised to contribute to local climate adaptation.
Eligibility Criteria
Regions / countries for funding
Moldova (Moldova), Albania (Shqipëria), Armenia (Հայաստան), Azerbaijan (Azərbaycan), 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), Morocco (المغرب), 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
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.
Beneficiaries must provide financial support to third parties. The support to third parties can only be provided in the form of grants. The maximum amount to be granted to each third party is EUR 250,000, to allow regional and local authorities to develop their action plans that address the locally relevant climate risks.
Eligible third parties are regional and local authorities in EU Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries (and/or other entities acting on their behalf), provided that they did not receive financial support under the Pathways2Resilience project nor the concerned territories were already covered by Pathways2Resilience.
Call documents
Horizon Europe Work Programme 2025 - MissionsHorizon Europe Work Programme 2025 - Missions(1773kB)
Contact
Website
EU Missions in Horizon Europe
RTD-HORIZON-EUROPE-MISSIONS@ec.europa.eu
Website
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