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Grant Details

Grant Analysis

Purpose & Target

- This grant aims to research and develop innovative methods to estimate the impact of fires on vegetation and related carbon fluxes. The goal is to improve the 'Copernicus Anthropogenic CO₂ Emissions Monitoring & Verification Support (CO2MVS)' capacity, as well as enhance fire emission estimations in 'Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)' and fire risk forecasting in 'Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS)', and assimilation of 'Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS)' products. - Target recipients are research organizations, universities, and businesses capable of significant Research and Innovation. - This is a SECTOR-SPECIFIC grant, focused on Space, Earth Observation, Environment, and Climate science. - The geographic scope includes applicants from EU Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries, while the projects themselves contribute to a global monitoring system. - Key filtering criteria include a strong focus on fire impacts, CO2 emissions, vegetation dynamics, and direct relevance to Copernicus services. This is a Research and Innovation Action (RIA). - This is a one-time call for proposals in 2025, operating within the recurring Horizon Europe Framework Programme.

Financial Structure

  • Funding Type: Lump Sum Grant.
  • Grant Amount for this specific topic: EUR 3,000,000.
  • Only 1 project is expected to be funded for this topic.
  • Minimum contribution per grant: EUR 3,000,000.
  • Maximum contribution per grant: EUR 3,000,000.
  • Eligible Costs: Costs that would typically be eligible for an actual costs grant under Horizon Europe. This includes personnel costs (employees, direct contractors, seconded persons, SME owners/natural persons), subcontracting costs, purchase costs (travel, equipment, goods, works, services), and other cost categories (financial support to third parties, internally invoiced goods/services, research infrastructure access costs).
  • Ineligible Costs: Any costs that are not eligible under standard Horizon Europe rules.
  • Indirect Costs: A 25% flat rate for indirect costs is included in the calculation of the lump sum contribution.
  • Co-financing: The total estimated costs of the action must be greater than the estimated Union contributions, demonstrating a co-financing principle.
  • Payment Mechanism: Payments are tied to the proper implementation and completion of defined work packages as outlined in the grant agreement. Pre-financing follows standard Horizon Europe rules.
  • Financial Reporting: No reporting of actual costs is required, as funding is based on lump sums for work packages.
  • Audit Requirements: Financial ex-post audits are minimized. Checks focus on the technical implementation of the action and the fulfillment of work package conditions.
  • Financial Guarantees: 5-8% of the total lump sum may be retained as a contribution to the Mutual Insurance Mechanism.

Eligibility Requirements

Organization Type
  • Eligible entities generally include universities, research organizations, public bodies, and enterprises, including SMEs.
  • The Joint Research Centre (JRC) may participate as a member of the consortium selected for funding.
Geographic Location
  • Applicants must be from eligible countries as described in Annex B of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.
  • This includes all EU Member States:
  • AT, BE, BG, HR, CY, CZ, DK, EE, FI, FR, DE, GR, HU, IE, IT, LV, LT, LU, MT, NL, PL, PT, RO, SK, SI, ES, SE.
  • It also typically includes Horizon Europe Associated Countries (specific list not provided in source, but implied).
Technical and Infrastructure
  • If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation, or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may additionally be used).
  • Software developed as part of the project should be open licensed.
Consortium Requirements
  • Applications are expected to be submitted by consortia, given the nature of Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Actions and the potential participation of the JRC.
Exclusion Criteria
  • Applicants must meet the financial and operational capacity requirements and not be subject to exclusion criteria as described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes (standard Horizon Europe rules apply).

Application Process

Application Timeline
  • Call Opening Date: 2025-05-22.
  • Application Deadline: 2025-09-25 00:00:00+00.
  • Submission Model: Single-stage, meaning a full proposal is submitted directly by the deadline.
Submission Materials
  • Application Form: A specific application form for this call is available in the Submission System (Standard HE RIA, IA format).
  • Detailed Budget Table: Applicants must use the relevant templates published by the granting authority to propose the lump sum contribution, showing a breakdown per work package and per beneficiary/affiliated entity.
  • Declaration: Applicants must declare that they have followed their own accounting practices for budget preparation.
Application Process
  • Proposals are submitted via the Electronic Submission Service on the Funding & Tenders Portal.
  • Proposals are evaluated by external independent experts.
  • The granting authority can fund a maximum of one project for this specific topic.
Post-Award Requirements
  • The final lump sum contribution will be included in the grant agreement as the maximum grant amount.
  • Payments are conditional on the proper implementation of corresponding work packages.
  • Checks, reviews, and audits will primarily focus on the technical implementation of the action and the fulfillment of the conditions for releasing lump sum contributions per work package.
  • Beneficiaries have no obligation to document costs incurred for the action for reporting to the granting authority, but must adhere to national accounting rules.
  • If work package conditions are not met, payments will not be released, and the grant amount may be reduced.
Application Support
  • The 'Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual' provides guidance on procedures from proposal submission to grant management.
  • The 'Horizon Europe Programme Guide' offers detailed guidance on the program's structure, budget, and political priorities.
  • 'Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ' provides answers to common questions.
  • 'National Contact Points (NCPs)' offer guidance, practical information, and assistance.
  • 'Enterprise Europe Network (EEN)' provides advice to businesses, especially SMEs, on EU research funding.
  • 'IT Helpdesk' is available for technical questions related to the Portal.

Evaluation Criteria

Main Criteria Categories
  • Excellence: This evaluates the quality of the proposed research and innovation, including methodological soundness and scientific ambition.
  • Expected Impact: This assesses the potential contribution to the specified expected outcomes related to CO2MVS capacity, CAMS, CEMS, and CLMS improvements, as well as broader societal, economic, and environmental benefits.
  • Quality and Efficiency of Implementation: This covers the coherence and effectiveness of the work plan, the appropriateness of resources, and the quality of the management structure.
Scoring Factors
  • The proposal's ability to enable accounting for the interaction between droughts, fires, and vegetation in the CO2MVS capacity.
  • The potential to improve the estimation of fire emissions in CAMS.
  • The potential to improve fire risk forecasting in CEMS.
  • The potential to improve the assimilation of CLMS products in vegetation fire impact and carbon fluxes assessments.
  • The quality of the proposed innovative methodologies to include fire-vegetation interactions, especially considering drought conditions and the use of relevant observation-based datasets.
  • The demonstration of downstream applications that would benefit from the proposed improvements.
  • The active attention given to the transfer of research results to operations to strengthen readiness for operational deployment.
  • The appropriate involvement, interaction, and coordination with relevant Entrusted Entities of the Copernicus services.
  • The conditions for making available, re-using, and exploiting the results (including Intellectual Property Rights - IPR) by the relevant Copernicus entities.
  • The detailed and justified budget estimate, which will be checked by experts with financial know-how against benchmarks, resources, and alignment with activities.
  • Compliance with the co-financing principle, ensuring the total estimated project costs are greater than the requested Union contribution.
  • Consideration of the gender dimension (sex and gender analysis) in the research and innovation content, if relevant to the objectives of the research effort.

Compliance & Special Requirements

Regulatory Compliance
  • General Conditions: Admissibility conditions, eligible countries, financial/operational capacity, evaluation, and legal/financial set-up are described in the respective Annexes of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.
  • Legal Framework: Compliance with Horizon Europe Regulation (EU) 2021/695 and EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509.
Data and Technology
  • Mandatory use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS data/services if the project involves satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation, or related timing data.
  • Software developed under the project is expected to be open licensed.
  • Intellectual Property: The project must address the conditions for making results (including IPR) available for re-use and exploitation by the relevant Copernicus Entrusted Entities.
Ethical Considerations
  • Ethical standards and research integrity are important aspects and subject to checks.
  • The integration of the gender dimension (sex and gender analysis) in the research and innovation content should be addressed only if relevant to the objectives of the research effort.
Project Specifics
  • A strong focus is placed on the 'transfer of research results to operations' to enhance readiness for future operational deployment.
  • Projects require appropriate involvement, interaction, and/or coordination with the relevant Entrusted Entities of the Copernicus services.
  • The Joint Research Centre (JRC) may participate in the consortium, potentially providing access to models, tools, and datasets of operational CEMS, understanding of workflows, and pre-operational testing facilities.
Risk Management
  • The lump sum funding approach simplifies financial management by removing cost reporting obligations. However, the granting authority will verify technical implementation and work package completion. If conditions for payment are not met, payments can be withheld, and the grant reduced.

Grant Details

copernicus co2 carbon emissions fires vegetation climate change earth observation space technology atmosphere monitoring emergency management land monitoring carbon cycle droughts environmental science research and innovation satellite data galileo egnos modeling forecasting data assimilation open science consortium horizon europe europe digital agenda artificial intelligence ria
Copernicus Anthropogenic CO₂ Emissions Monitoring & Verification Support (CO2MVS) capacity: new and innovative methods to estimate the impact of fires on vegetation and related carbon fluxes
HORIZON-CL4-2025-02-SPACE-43
Horizon Europe
UNIVERSITY ENTERPRISE SME PUBLIC OTHER
AT BE BG HR CY CZ DK EE FI FR DE GR HU IE IT LV LT LU MT NL PL PT RO SK SI ES SE
ENVIRONMENT TECHNOLOGY OTHER
IDEA DEVELOPMENT
OTHER
SDG3 SDG9 SDG13 SDG15
FUNDING RESEARCH_DEVELOPMENT CAPACITY_BUILDING INNOVATION_COMMERCIALIZATION
142000000.00
3000000.00
3000000.00
EUR
100.00
Sept. 25, 2025, midnight
None