Funding Radar: This week’s eight most interesting calls for proposals supporting the green transition

In December 2019 the Commission launched the European Green Deal, a set of initiatives intended to put the EU on the path towards the green transition, with the ultimate goal of reaching climate neutrality by 2050.

Although this was backed up by a flurry of climate regulations, progress has been slow and in the face of spiralling costs there has been a pushback against this ambition.

That led to a change of tack and during the last Parliament plenary in Strasbourg, MEPs adopted the Net Zero Industry Act, an attempt to remodel the political ambition of cutting carbon emissions on the continent and present it as an industrial strategy.

However, politicians on the right are saying more is needed to ensure the Green Deal is a spur to economic growth. In a paper released last month, the European People’s Party (EPP) think thank, the Wilfried Martens Centre, says the Green Deal should be refocused away from climate policies and onto economic growth. The green policies of Ursula von der Leyen’s Commission have led to an “investment deficit” in Europe and has harmed industry, the report says.

Von der Leyen is vowing to upheld the Green Deal in her campaign for a second term, but the co-leaders of the Greens party, Philippe Lamberts and Terry Reintke said the EU Green Deal is under threat of being dismantled if the far right gains significant ground in next month’s European elections. Given this, climate efforts would be replaced by a stronger focus on competitiveness and industrial innovation to fight the EU's low productivity and slow economic growth.

In the face of political uncertainties, the Commission is still putting out climate change related calls - with over 35% of Horizon Europe’s budget allocated to research in this field.

Ahead of the elections, Science|Business has been looking at current grant opportunities in climate and green technologies.

The first is a call for proposals to overcome barriers and deliver solutions to enable the green transition under the Horizon Europe programme. Successful projects are expected to address barriers to adopting new knowledge and innovation for the green transition in Cluster 6 sectors (Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment), proposing pathways and facilitating the deployment of solutions for improved adoption by stakeholders and decision makers. Candidates can submit proposals up to 24 September 2024. More details are available here. 

The Horizon Europe’s Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change opened nine calls, with topics that range from developing and refining outcome indicators to measure progress on climate resilience, to researching the complex interplay between the climate and biodiversity crises towards more systemic approaches and solutions. The closing date is 18 September. More details are available here.

In addition, the Commission opened a call for proposals for financial support for SMEs in the agrifood sector under the GRAINS Project, which is allocating total funding of €490,500. Up to 60 agri-food SMEs will get up to €8,175 to implement green initiatives. The call is open until 31 May. More details are available here.

One of the partnerships funded by the EU, the Africa Europe Foundation is offering funding to establish a research partnership running from July 2024 to December 2025 in fields including sustainable finance, climate and development, and science, education and culture. The call is open until 23 May. More details here.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is offering funding to develop and evaluate business ideas that use space resources to help companies address financial challenges and opportunities related to transitioning to a net-zero, climate-neutral economy and advancing green initiatives. ESA will co-fund 80% of the cost, or up to €200,000, per award. The deadline for proposals is 19 May. More details are available here.

The World Health Organisation is allocating awards of up to US$25,000 to help in the promotion of ethically sound and equitable climate and health research. The agency will consider funding a small number of proposals up to US$ 50,000 for multi-country/multi-region studies. The deadline for proposals is 17 June. More details are available here.

There is an open call for America’s Seed Fund powered by National Science Foundation (NSF) to fund US-based SMEs working on environmental technologies and energy technologies. Each start-up can receive up to $2 million, and NSF accepts project pitches at any time. If chosen, the company will have to submit the full proposal anytime within a year of receiving the official invitation from NSF. More details are available here.

Rounding up this trawl is a call from the US Department of Energy’s agency Golden Field Office offering $30 million in grants to develop technology for concentrating solar flux to heat and power. Individual awards may vary between $750,000 and $10,000,000. Concept papers are due May 16, while the full application is due August 8. More details here.

In other funding news

Last week the Innovative Health Initiative (IHI) partnership in health research, released the draft topics ahead of a call it will soon launch, to give applicants time to start networking and preparing a proposal. General details about the call are available here.

The four topics in the draft are still under consultation, so the final version could change.

One topic is a city-based approach to reducing cardiovascular mortality in Europe. The research aims to achieve improved outcomes for patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) through better prevention, diagnosis and access to innovative treatments, while also providing healthcare providers with updated guidelines and more efficient pathways for managing CVD. More details here.

The second topic is finding novel endpoints for osteoarthritis (OA) by applying big data analytics to better understand and predict disease progression, validate patient-centered endpoints, and incorporate feedback from stakeholders, ultimately advancing OA management and treatment strategies. More details here.

Modelling regulatory sandbox mechanisms and enabling their deployment to support breakthrough innovation is the third topic. The aim is to advance and facilitate the setting up of regulatory sandboxes for healthcare innovation, by cultivating understanding of the role they can play in product development and the steps involved in their implementation. More details here.

The final topic is deriving patient-centered clinical study endpoints from digital health technologies in order to establish a unified framework and consensus-based guidelines. This initiative aims to integrate patient-centered data into clinical trials, ensuring that therapies addressing patient needs are approved and reimbursed at levels reflective of their value to patients. More details here.

Editor’s note: The Funding Radar is a weekly roundup of the most relevant research funding calls. You can read last week’s edition by clicking here.