{"id":39616,"date":"2026-10-18T15:46:42","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T13:46:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/?p=39616"},"modified":"2026-10-18T15:47:32","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T13:47:32","slug":"horizon-europe-launches-new-call-to-support-nature-and-biodiversity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/2026\/10\/18\/horizon-europe-launches-new-call-to-support-nature-and-biodiversity\/","title":{"rendered":"Horizon Europe launches new call to support nature and biodiversity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD)<\/b> published on October 2, 2026<\/b> new significant challenge<\/span><\/a> under the Horizon Europe framework programme, which is entirely dedicated to nature conservation and biodiversity restoration. The European Commission has allocated total budget of 230 million euros<\/b>.<\/p>\n

For research institutions, universities, businesses and innovative entities, this call represents an exceptional opportunity to obtain grant support for international consortia. It aims to mobilise cutting-edge scientific capacities and deliver concrete innovative solutions that will help protect, restore and sustainably maintain Europe's ecosystems and their natural diversity.<\/p>\n

Strategic objectives and policy framework of the European Commission<\/h5>\n

The new call is not just a stand-alone grant instrument, but directly follows the broader strategic direction of the European Union and the key political priorities of the European Commission. The call directly supports two main priorities:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Maintaining our quality of life: food security, water and nature<\/i> (Sustaining our quality of life: food security, water and nature<\/i>)<\/li>\n
  • A new plan for sustainable prosperity and competitiveness for Europe<\/i> (A new plan for Europe's sustainable prosperity and competitiveness<\/i>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    From a policy and professional perspective, the call responds to the fundamental fact that human society, the economy and overall prosperity are directly dependent on healthy and resilient ecosystems. Its main objective is to substantially increase the overall expenditure dedicated to biodiversity under the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026-2027. This is done by supporting additional research and innovation activities dedicated exclusively to biodiversity across Pillar II (Pillar II<\/i>) of the Horizon Europe programme.<\/p>\n

    Overview of the 10 specific challenge topics<\/h5>\n

    Applicants can submit their project proposals within 10 well-defined themes that cover a wide range of environmental challenges:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. PFAS and ecosystem services:<\/b> Understanding the nature and extent of the effects of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) on biodiversity and ecosystem services.<\/li>\n
    2. Impacts of clean and digital industries:<\/b> Better understanding, anticipating and addressing the benefits and impacts of clean and digital industries on biodiversity.<\/li>\n
    3. Transformational change:<\/b> Systems approaches to accelerate transformative change for biodiversity.<\/li>\n
    4. Decline of invertebrates:<\/b> Assessment of direct and indirect factors of invertebrate biodiversity decline.<\/li>\n
    5. Living laboratories for recovery:<\/b> Living labs (living labs<\/i>) co-creating solutions for ecosystem restoration, addressing implementation barriers and improving resilience to risks.<\/li>\n
    6. Networking of living labs:<\/b> Networking (networking<\/i>) to scale up living laboratories for nature restoration solutions and to address barriers to their implementation.<\/li>\n
    7. Combating illegal trafficking and invasions:<\/b> Innovative solutions to combat illegal wildlife trafficking and reduce the invasion of invasive alien species.<\/li>\n
    8. Monitoring for EU policies:<\/b> Cost-effective biodiversity monitoring for EU policies.<\/li>\n
    9. The interface of biodiversity and health:<\/b> Advancing interdisciplinary data-driven research at the interface of biodiversity and health within the One Health approach (One Health<\/i>).<\/li>\n
    10. Global Ocean Observing System:<\/b> A stronger Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS<\/i>) to strengthen Europe's strategic autonomy, climate resilience and biodiversity protection.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      Upcoming events and how to get involved<\/h5>\n

      For the successful preparation of a project proposal, we recommend that potential applicants actively participate in two upcoming accompanying events:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
      Date<\/td>\nEvent<\/td>\nObjective and content of the event (Recommendations for applicants)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      October 16, 2026<\/b><\/td>\nHorizontal information days<\/b> (Horizontal Activities info day<\/i>) \u2013 online<\/td>\nGetting detailed information:<\/b> Learn about the political background of the challenge. Take advantage of live presentations (live pitches<\/i>) open topics to better understand the design, expected impact and implementation of the projects. Participate in interactive Q&A sessions via the Slido app and ask questions directly to representatives of the European Commission.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      October 19, 2026<\/b><\/td>\nPartner exchange event<\/b> (Brokerage event<\/i>) \u2013 online<\/td>\nConsortium building:<\/b> The event is organized by the CARE4BIO project (a network of national contact points for Cluster 6). Register early and create a profile on the b2match platform to find suitable international partner organizations for joint research and innovation in the field of biodiversity.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

      The \u20ac230 million allocation opens up unique opportunities for European research and innovation teams. As grant advisors, we recommend starting to shape project ideas and network as soon as possible to prepare highly competitive proposals capable of delivering real, sustainable solutions for Europe's nature.<\/p>\n

      Additional information and official sources:<\/b><\/p>\n

        \n
      • Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026-2027: Horizontal Activities (Horizontal Activities<\/i>)<\/li>\n
      • Horizon Europe Info Day: Horizontal Activities \u2013 Nature Challenges and Bridging Challenges (Horizontal Activities Nature and Bridging calls<\/i>)<\/li>\n
      • Biodiversity research and innovation (Biodiversity research and innovation<\/i>)<\/li>\n
      • Nature-based solutions (Nature-based solutions<\/i>) JRi&CO2AI\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Gener\u00e1lne riadite\u013estvo pre v\u00fdskum a inov\u00e1ciu (DG RTD) zverejnilo d\u0148a 2. okt\u00f3bra 2026 nov\u00fa v\u00fdznamn\u00fa v\u00fdzvu v r\u00e1mci r\u00e1mcov\u00e9ho programu Horizon Europe, ktor\u00e1 je cel\u00e1 venovan\u00e1 ochrane pr\u00edrody a obnovu biodiverzity. Eur\u00f3pska komisia vy\u010dlenila na t\u00fato v\u00fdzvu<\/p>","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biodiverzita"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39616"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39619,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39616\/revisions\/39619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}