Towards the water infrastructures of the future

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Code: 39237 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL6-2026-02-CLIMATE-02 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment (Cluster 6)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 14/01/2026 | End submission calls: 14/04/2026

Water infrastructures both for drinking water supply and wastewater collection and treatment suffer from a lack of sufficient and continuous investment across Europe. Their conditions are evolving differently depending on the investment capacity of local authorities and/or water companies, as well as the climate and pollution conditions they are exposed to. They are often not flexible enough to adapt to a changing and increasingly unpredictable environment and lack of appropriate monitoring to properly understand their functioning in various operating conditions. On the treatment side, the technological processes are not always coping with pollution load variation or new contaminants threatening human health and downstream ecosystems. They are also more and more exposed to the risk of malicious attacks, being of human or cyber nature.

With the effect of climate change as well as the emergence of new threats from chemical, biological, human and cyber origins, it is necessary to develop and test a set of tools to ensure that water and sanitation provision is resilient now and for the future, building on the solutions that emerged in the sector or adapted from other sectors.

Towards more effective, fair and coherent policies for climate change mitigation and adaptation in agriculture and forestry

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Code: 39234 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL6-2026-02-CLIMATE-01 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment (Cluster 6)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 14/01/2026 | End submission calls: 14/04/2026

Agriculture and forestry are among the sectors most directly impacted by climate change, while also playing important roles in its mitigation, through greenhouse gas emissions, their reduction and carbon removals from the atmosphere. These roles are addressed in horizontal EU climate policies such as the Regulations on Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF)  and on Effort-sharing or the forthcoming Climate Adaptation Plan, as well as in sectoral policies, most notably the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) with a host of relevant rules and voluntary measures.

The climate performance in agriculture and forestry is indirectly also affected by many other policies and measures, be they sectoral (e.g., on market organisation or on income support) or horizontal (e.g., on competitiveness). Depending on their design and application, climate policies in turn also have impacts beyond their immediate objectives, e.g. on competitiveness, income distribution, and biodiversity and nature protection. Apart from policies applicable in the EU and its Member States and in Associated Countries, the outcomes in each of these jurisdictions are also impacted by rules and standards applied in other parts of the world, through international markets and other transboundary effects.

Supporting All-Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Alliance

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Code: 39231 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL6-2026-03-GOVERNANCE-04 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment (Cluster 6)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 14/01/2026 | End submission calls: 15/04/2026

Tackling ocean and coastal challenges for the long term requires creating new knowledge, community acceptance and engagement, difficult decisions and strategic investments. This requires cooperation across generations, cultures, geographies and sectors.

Building on past cooperative efforts under the Galway and Belém Statements, the AAORIA Declaration, and the related actions from successive EU Framework Programmes, proposals should contribute to upscaling collaboration across the Atlantic Ocean and promote its sustainable management, including its northern and southern parts and links to polar areas. This includes connecting scientists, stakeholders from public and private sectors, indigenous communities, civil society, and various generations, sectors, and disciplines with data, knowledge, expertise, and resources for the benefit All-Atlantic community. This also requires that proposals develop an All-Atlantic Intergenerational Programme to open access to knowledge, effective knowledge transfer, and stakeholder engagement in an intergenerational context.

Additional activities for the Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership (SBEP)

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Code: 39228 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL6-2026-03-GOVERNANCE-01 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment (Cluster 6)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 14/01/2026 | End submission calls: 15/04/2026

The objective of this action is to continue to provide support to the European Partnership for a climate-neutral, sustainable and productive Blue Economy (SBEP) identified in the Horizon Europe Strategic Plan 2021-2024 and first implemented under the topic HORIZON-CL6-2022-GOVERNANCE-01-02: European Partnership for a climate neutral, sustainable and productive Blue Economy, and in particular to fund additional activities (which may also be undertaken by additional partners) in view of its intended scope and duration, and in accordance with Article 24(2) of the Horizon Europe Regulation.

Embracing innovation in agriculture by peer-to-peer learning via on farm-demonstrations and cost-benefit analysis

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Code: 39226 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL6-2026-03-GOVERNANCE-10 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment (Cluster 6)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 14/01/2026 | End submission calls: 15/04/2026

On-farm demonstrations can be crucial for enabling innovation uptake in agriculture, as they provide a platform for showcasing and evaluating new practices, but also serve as an effective avenue for peer-to-peer (or farmer to farmer) learning, leading to skill empowerment, higher adoption rates and increased practice change compared to the traditional top-down approaches.

By engaging in on-farm demonstrations, farmers are better positioned to assess the applicability of innovative practices or tools. Complementing on-farm demonstrations with comprehensive cost-benefit analyses further empowers farmers, allowing them to quantitively evaluate the costs and benefits associated with the adoption of new solutions/practices. This approach should not only promote informed decision-making but also accelerate the uptake and integration of innovative practices across the agricultural sector.

Proposals should either address Area A: Crop production systems, or Area B: Livestock and mixed production systems. The area (A or B) should be clearly indicated in the proposal.

Improving analytical capacity and understanding of social drivers in agriculture to better assess social sustainability in the sector

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Code: 39223 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL6-2026-03-GOVERNANCE-02 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment (Cluster 6)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 14/01/2026 | End submission calls: 15/04/2026

Knowledge gaps exist between agricultural policy priorities and data infrastructure to evaluate social sustainability issues, particularly regarding farmers.

Often social issues are addressed by various policy instruments from different policy areas, but there are inconsistencies, for example in the way that target groups are identified and measured in the statistics collected at European level. A framing of the social dimension of agriculture is necessary to complement the existing environmental and economic aspects of sustainability of assessment tools, strategies and policies for agriculture in the EU.

Social issues may remain hidden if there is no consistent data able to capture them. Social aspects seem to be excluded from most of the analytical tools available. Greater understanding of social issues and the best policy approaches to address them requires appropriate data to develop better indicators and measurement that can be integrated into analytical tools.

Successful proposals should therefore directly and/ or indirectly contribute to the enhancement of the sustainability performance of the sector, including social sustainability, and competitiveness in agriculture.

Increasing knowledge flows to practice within AKIS via EU thematic knowledge hubs

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Code: 39218 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL6-2026-03-GOVERNANCE-09 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment (Cluster 6)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 14/01/2026 | End submission calls: 15/04/2026

There is a growing need to disseminate practical knowledge on challenges and opportunities for agriculture, forestry and rural areas stemming from both scientific-research and practical experience, and to link it to relevant actors through enhanced thematic collaboration between researchers, advisors and farmers.

EU thematic knowledge hubs should transform existing and new knowledge into accessible formats for advisors and targeted end-users, focusing on dissemination over collection. By blending the strengths of thematic and advisory networks, these hubs should offer services to widely disseminate information on specific themes among practitioners on the ground, contributing to a well-informed, and engaged AKIS community. Proposals should set up these hubs as a go-to source for valuable content, facilitating access to thematic research findings, innovative solutions, and best practices, empowering advisors with cutting-edge knowledge and providing ample opportunities of collaboration and cross-fertilization amongst the different AKIS actors.

Boosting data availability and AI solutions in food for consumers and food service professionals

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Code: 39215 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL6-2026-03-GOVERNANCE-08 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment (Cluster 6)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 14/01/2026 | End submission calls: 15/04/2026

The decisions taken by consumers and food service professionals when they purchase, prepare and preserve food impact their productivity as well as the sustainability of food systems, and dietary health.

AI solutions offer opportunities to assist consumers and food service professionals in these decisions. To maximise the impact of these AI solutions it is necessary to increase their uptake as well as the availability and quality of the data on which they rely.

A services and business incubator for geospatial open-source developments

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Code: 39212 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL6-2026-03-GOVERNANCE-06 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment (Cluster 6)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 14/01/2026 | End submission calls: 15/04/2026

Open-source geospatial software ecosystems form a critical digital infrastructure for climate services, agriculture, biodiversity, environmental monitoring, and beyond.

While Europe is home to world-class developers and software assets used globally and presenting the backbone to the modern geospatial sector (e.g. GDAL, QGIS, Pangeo stack, etc), their long-term sustainability remains challenged by fragmented, voluntary support, low visibility in funding and investment channels, and limited access to business knowledge and opportunity tailored to open-source development models.

Coordinated European contribution to the WMO Global Greenhouse Gas Watch and its international governance

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Code: 39208 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL6-2026-03-GOVERNANCE-05 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment (Cluster 6)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 14/01/2026 | End submission calls: 15/04/2026

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) established in 2023 a new global greenhouse gas monitoring initiative that aims to support WMO Members in climate change mitigation actions undertaken to implement the Paris Agreement.

The WMO Global Greenhouse Gas Watch (G3W) will fill critical information gaps and provide an integrated, operational framework that brings under one roof all space-based and surface-based observing systems, as well as modelling and data assimilation capabilities in relation to greenhouse gas monitoring.

G3W plays a key supporting role to the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement.

Interconnect Earth Observation research for addressing environmental policies

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Code: 39206 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL6-2026-03-GOVERNANCE-07 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment (Cluster 6)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 14/01/2026 | End submission calls: 15/04/2026

Earth Observation (EO) research is interconnected across Europe, supporting and enhancing the ambition of national, European and international policies and conventions.

Contributing to Europe’s competitiveness and the European Green Deal, the topic aims to give support to the development and implementation of EU policies, including environmental policies (notably those related to biodiversity) through knowledge generation, to guide governance, and help implementing the simplification agenda.

It supports the evolution of the long-term strategic research agenda for earth observation by engaging with EO stakeholders.

Empowering the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development

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Code: 39203 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-CL6-2026-03-GOVERNANCE-03 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment (Cluster 6)(2021-2027) | Start submission calls: 14/01/2026 | End submission calls: 15/04/2026

The United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030) aims at mobilising the global scientific community, policymakers, industry, and civil society to advance ocean science and generate knowledge that supports the sustainable management of the ocean. The initiative aims to reverse the decline in ocean health and ensure that ocean science can fully support countries in achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

This topic aims at further consolidating international cooperation, through European Leadership, and at ensuring that key processes, initiatives and structures that have been put in place through the Decade continue after its end.