Horizon 2020 ended on a high note with the Green Deal call for proposals supporting the European Green Deal Strategy, the new growth strategy of the European Commission. This call also marked the transition to the new EU Research and Innovation Framework Programme that started this year, Horizon Europe.
An attractive call
The Green Deal call included several thematic areas with the aim of demonstrating the impact of research and innovation in reaching the objectives of the eight action areas of the EU Green Deal:
- Climate
- Energy
- Buildings
- Clean industry
- Mobility
- Farm-to-fork
- Non-toxic environment
- Preserving biodiversity and ecosystems
As the call was the last funding opportunity for projects under Horizon 2020 with a substantial budget of around €1 billion, it attracted a high number of proposals and participants all over Europe and beyond. The 22 call topics received altogether 1,557 proposals, which meant that the competition was unusually fierce compared with typical collaborative calls under Horizon 2020. This is reflected in the success rate. Call topics such as farm-to-fork and behavioural change for the Green Deal were among the most popular call topics , with success rates of around 2-3%.
Encouraging Luxembourg results
The selected projects during the evaluation have now entered the grant preparation phase, hence the results are still confidential. What we can say is that Luxembourg did well, with 6 projects funded with Luxembourg participants and nearly €3 million of total EU funding for the six Luxembourg participants. This means that Luxembourg achieved a success rate of 6%.
The Luxembourg participation was spread over all the thematic areas of the Green Deal call. The successful projects in which Luxembourg is represented are in the areas of climate change mitigation and adaptation, green mobility, a toxic free environment and preventing and fighting extreme wildfires.
Extensive future funding opportunities
The Horizon 2020 Green Deal call was only the beginning of related calls for research and innovation actions that focus on facilitating the European priority of transforming our economy and society towards a green transition. Research and innovation activities will define both the cost and the speed of this transition. Horizon Europe has dedicated 35% of its nearly €100 billion budget to climate-related actions. To be part of the programme is to be part of the green transition as a frontrunner.