The call is relevant for cities and regions that are looking to support the deployment of safe and sustainable by design bio-based industries and products. The objective of this call is to design bio-based innovative solutions, also in line with the recent initiative on biotechnology and biomanufacturing and the industrial carbon management strategy, to provide the solutions to replace hazardous substances in industrial assets and in final products and materials. To acheive this, multi-actor approach and international cooperation are encouraged.

Any type of organisation can apply for Horizon Europe funding as long as they have the operational and financial capacity to carry out the tasks that they propose. For most calls for proposals, you must apply as a team of at least 3 partner organisations from 3 different EU or associated countries. At least one of the 3 partners must be from an EU country. In addition to these 3 partners, organisations from other countries might be able to join your consortium.

More information in the Horizon Europe programme guide. Further details or exceptions are listed on the pages of the call topics in the Funding & tenders portal.

The proposals should: track presence of substances of very high concern and of concern, emerging pollutants and substances which are persistent and liable to bio-accumulate in ecosystems emitted from a selection of bio-based materials and products. This includes substances released in all the life phases of bio-based materials and products, during their use and their endof-life.

Evaluate the exposure of targeted end users to the substances, including integrating the gender dimension (sex and gender analysis) and vulnerable groups; include a task for the project to perform a full risk assessment of the substances emitted from the selected bio-based materials and products, also assessing the impacts on affected ecosystems and the risk for biodiversity loss; track presence of substances of very high concern and of concern, emerging pollutants and substances which are persistent and liable to bio-accumulate in ecosystems, emitted from a selection of industrial bio-based systems; include a task for the project to identify and improve a set of bio-based safe and sustainable by design (Commission Recommendation (EU) 2022/25) and circular solutions, to replace hazardous substances and to increase the resources efficiency, both at the level of industrial processes and in final materials and products selected under the first and the third bullet points of this scope. The number of bio-based solutions provided is not pre-defined. The task should include the assessment of the reduction of substances of concern and emerging pollutants, derived from the substitution; describe the collection of recommendations and best practices to replace substances of concern with safe and sustainable by design bio-based alternatives.

The total indicative budget for the topic is EUR 10.00 million. The Commission estimates that an EU contribution of around EUR 5.00 million would allow these outcomes to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of a proposal requesting different amounts.

1. EC publishes calls for proposals on the funding and tenders portal
2. The call is open for an usual period of ca. 5 months where applicants can submit they proposal
3. Proposals can be single or two-stage application processes. A single stage application process requires the filling in of a structured proposal of max. 45 pages including objectives and innovation approach (excellence), tangible impacts that can be achieved through the project (impact) and the project planning and tasks (quality). If a two stage, the aforementioned would be the second stage application while the first is a simplified proposal of max 10 pages including only excellence and impact sections. These documents are to be uploaded to the portal in pdf format alongside filling in the respective parts of the portal with administrative information on the beneficiares, affiliated entities or others. All participants in a project need to possess a Partipant Identification Code (i.e. PIC number, a 9-digit number registered on ECAS). For more information, please see the work programme and the call documents.
4. Proposal submitted within the deadline will be evaluated by experts against evaluation criteria.
5. Winning proposals will be invited for signing a grant agreement with the EC.

Opening: 06 May 2025
 

Deadlines: 04 Sep 2025 (First Stage), 18 Feb 2026 (Second Stage)