Climate, Natural Resources and Environment

Within the clusters identified in Horizon Europe, the major global challenges for the period 2021-2027 have been identified. The topics covered in this area are included in two of them.

Objectives of the area “Climate, Natural Resources and Environment”

The objectives identified in this area are to combat climate change through a better understanding of its causes, evolution, risks, impacts and opportunities; protect, restore, sustainably manage natural resources and the transition to a low-carbon and resource-efficient circular economy, as well as biodiversity exploration, analysis and foresight.

Achieving a clean, zero-emission environment is an ambitious but realistic goal for the EU, which is focusing a significant part of its investments toward this specific challenge. In the first years of the period, water was one of the main themes, both fresh and marine: preserving and restoring the quality of fresh water, reducing ocean pollution, and promoting a circular and blue bioeconomy.

Another important objective involves climate change mitigation. R&I actions must aim to understand the impacts of global warning, reduce GHG emissions from agricultural practices, and increase the capacity of agriculture and ecosystems to adapt to climate change.

This area is considered important to the EU; the Commission has dedicated 3 of the 5 missions identified in Horizon Europe.

– Adaptation to climate change, including social transformation
– Health of oceans, seas, coastal and inland waters
– Smart and climate-neutral cities

In the first case, the EU’s objective is to maximise the impact of support for research and innovation focused on developing solutions to adapt to climate change and to demonstrate its relevance for society and citizens.

Raising public awareness on the importance of the health of the oceans, seas and coastal and inland waters, and helping develop solutions on a range of issues, are the main focus of the second mission.

More than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas and by 2050, this figure will reach 80%. For this reason, cities are primarily responsible for the success of global challenges.