Funding programme

Horizon Europe is the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation.

‍

Call overview

This call aims to develop and co-design transitional alternative futures of the EU, in which the Ocean, seas and waters are conserved or restored to good health.

‍

Background

The Mission ‘Restore our ocean and waters by 2030’ will provide a systemic approach for the restoration, protection and preservation of our ocean, seas and waters. The objective of this Mission is to restore, protect and preserve the health of our ocean, seas and waters by 2030. The Mission is designed to deliver on the European Union’s 2030 quantified and measurable targets for protecting and restoring ecosystems and biodiversity, for zero pollution, and for decarbonisation and net greenhouse gas emissions reduction towards climate-neutrality, within the EU’s ocean, seas and waters. The Mission will support many Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): in particular restoring our ocean and waters related actions will directly contribute to SDG 14 - Life below water and SDG 6 - Clean water and sanitation, as well as to SDG13 - Climate action.

The Mission will also contribute to the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development by fostering research and cooperation across European sea basins, including the EU Outermost Regions and beyond, and mobilise scientists, as well as citizens for a sustainable and healthy ocean, seas and waters.

The implementation plan specifies the goal and objectives as well as implementation details of the Mission “Restore our Ocean, seas and waters by 2030".

The Mission Work Programme, under Horizon Europe, will contribute to the recovery of our ocean and waters by 2030 and more specifically to the following objectives:

 
1. Protect and restore marine and freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity, in line with the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030;
2. Prevent and eliminate pollution of our ocean, seas and waters, in line with the EU Action Plan Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil;
3. Make the sustainable blue economy carbon-neutral and circular, in line with the proposed European Climate Law and the holistic vision enshrined in the Communication on a new approach for a Sustainable Blue Economy.

‍

Expected Outcome

To support the implementation of the European Green Deal, the Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters and the related EU climate, biodiversity and pollution targets, project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Increased confidence in and support for the transitions required by the European Green Deal, by co-designing possible science-based transition scenarios for reaching the Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters objectives and related EU climate, biodiversity and pollution targets, including environmental, social, economic and political considerations.
• Support progress in restoring our ocean and waters, in adapting to climate change, reversing biodiversity loss and pollution, by co-designing inspiring narratives that stimulate effective action by policy-makers, citizens and stakeholders, and by identifying the pathways that are necessary to realise them.
• Increased awareness of decision-makers, stakeholders and citizens, including students, through structured science-policy interfaces, in relation to the urgency of the climate, biodiversity and pollution crises and the central role of restoring the entire water system to address these crises.
• National, regional and local decision-makers in planning decisions are taking measures to protect and restore their ocean, coastal and water spaces and ecosystems.

‍

Scope

This action will develop and co-design transitional alternative futures of the EU, in which the Ocean, seas and waters are conserved or restored to good health. The action will support the co-creation of narratives, and innovative visualisation tools such as maps, related to different scenarios of what the EU and its ocean, seas and water spaces could look like by 2030 and 2050 if innovative solutions to restore our ocean and waters would be applied, so that the targets of the Mission Ocean and Waters and consequently those of the European Green Deal are fully reached. These narratives must be supported by the co-design of different science-based transition pathways together with citizens including students and key stakeholders such as scientists, experts and decision-makers responsible for planning ocean and water spaces. The co-design process should be inclusive, participatory following transdisciplinary and structured science-policy-society interface methodologies and taking into consideration environmental, social, economic and political considerations.

Following on from a pan-European vision, proposals should also develop specific regional visions, scenarios and narratives for each of the four Mission lighthouse areas in the Atlantic-Arctic, Danube, Mediterranean Sea, Baltic and North Sea, supported by innovative visualisation tools and co-created by multi-actors such as local stakeholders and citizens. By choosing a minimum of four large scale case-studies, the action should enable the participatory co-design of alternative futures where the Mission objectives have been achieved in the lighthouse area, and develop together with the relevant stakeholders the action pathways and necessary narratives to achieve these alternative futures.

Proposals should develop and visualise different scenarios for each of the case-studies, with both 2030- and 2050-time horizons in line with the Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters and EU Green Deal targets. They should at least encompass a business-as-usual scenario, in which current trends are extrapolated, as well as a scenario where European Green Deal and relevant environmental legislation (e.g. Marine Strategy Framework Directive, Birds and Habitats Directives, Water Framework Directive) targets for climate, biodiversity and pollution are fully reached through the large-scale deployment of innovative solutions. The change scenario(s) should build on deliverables of relevant Mission related projects, best practices on citizen participation and deliberative democracy, national initiatives as well as state-of-the-art models and draw on data and projections from the IPCC, IPBES, European Environment Agency and JRC. Finally, they should rely on and be compatible with the EU Digital Twin Ocean developments and eventually become one of its use-cases.

Scenarios of the future should in particular include the deployment at scale of innovative solutions with a special emphasis on nature-based solutions, which are proven to be environmentally, economically and socially effective and which address in particular the climate change, biodiversity and pollution driven challenges to the ocean and water system285, including biodiversity loss and its impacts on marine ecosystems and sectors relying on it, sea level rise, extreme weather, as well as pollution of the seas, coasts and rivers. The scenarios should take the objectives of current EU policies and legislation into consideration for their design.

Proposals are expected to develop a map and visualisations as an interactive, dynamic and digital tool and application to be co-created and used by citizens, including schools and planners at EU, national, regional and where applicable local level, using whenever possible the Digital Twin of the Ocean core public infrastructure and its services. This could take the form of an interactive 2D and 3D visual experience of the future envisioned EU and regional landscapes (NUTS 2 and NUTS 3) and ocean and water space incl. the seabed.

Proposals are expected to work closely with other Horizon Europe projects, particularly Prep4Blue, the 4 Mission lighthouse CSA projects (EcoDaLLi, BlueMissionAA, BlueMissionMed, BlueMissionBANOS) and other relevant projects, as well as the Mission Ocean and Waters Implementation Support Platform to connect to citizens and stakeholders in the region (incl. the lighthouse citizen assemblies), build on existing activities and strategies at basin-level and to take into account innovative solutions that have already been developed and deployed.

This topic should take into consideration contributions of social sciences and humanities (SSH) disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts, institutions as well as the inclusion of relevant SSH expertise, in order to produce meaningful and significant effects enhancing the societal impact of the related research activities.

‍

Eligibility

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;
• low- and middle-income countries.

See the full list in the General Annexes.

‍

Consortium composition

Unless otherwise provided for in the specific call conditions, 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.

‍

Budget

Total indicative budget is EUR 3 000 000.

The Commission estimates that an EU contribution of 3.00 million would allow these outcomes to be addressed appropriately.