Horizon Europe Cluster 6 supports the European Commission’s new priorities for 2024–2029, focusing on two main goals: “Sustaining our quality of life: food security, water and nature” and “A new plan for Europe’s sustainable prosperity and competitiveness.” It also contributes to priorities like “Supporting people, strengthening our societies and our social model” and “Protecting our democracy, upholding our values.” The mission of Cluster 6 is to provide research and innovation opportunities that help balance environmental, social, and economic objectives. It aims to guide human activities toward sustainability by reducing environmental degradation, stopping and reversing biodiversity loss, managing natural resources better, and reaching the EU’s climate goals. These efforts must also ensure food and water security and promote sustainable prosperity and competitiveness in a changing global context.
Here we present a series of upcoming calls for proposals in Cluster 6, most relevant to the life sciences field, announced in the Work Programme for 2025–2027:
Title: Additional activities for the European Biodiversity Partnership: Biodiversa+
Call: HORIZON-CL6-2025-01
Type of action: Co-fund Action
Budget: EUR 60 million (2025–2027: EUR 20M/year)
Funding rate: 30% of eligible costs
Max support to third parties: Up to EUR 7 million per third party
Proposal submission: Single stage – only by the current coordinator of the Biodiversa+ consortium (from topics 2021-BIODIV-02-01 and 2023-BIODIV-01-18)
Objective:
This action aims to extend the support for the European Biodiversity Partnership Biodiversa+, continuing the efforts from previous calls and aligning with the EU Nature Restoration Regulation and the European Climate Law. The goal is to strengthen ecosystem restoration, enhance natural carbon sinks, and promote nature-based and ecosystem-based adaptation strategies.
Scope:
The partnership is expected to:
- Implement flagship programmes for 2025–2027 based on its 7-year Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda,
- Launch annual joint calls for research projects,
- Advance biodiversity and ecosystem monitoring,
- Provide science-based policy advice,
- Enable horizontal activities to meet five specific partnership objectives,
- Collaborate with the European Open Science Cloud, EC Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity, BioAgora, and EU space programmes (Copernicus, Galileo),
- Ensure synergies with other related EU Missions and Partnerships.
Key Conditions:
- Proposals must be submitted by the existing consortium coordinator of Biodiversa+,
- May include new partners and new activities, but must build on prior work,
- Projects using satellite or Earth observation data must use Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS,
- The main activity is providing grants to third parties (FSTP), not subject to the usual EUR 60,000 limit (can go up to EUR 7 million),
- Grants may start retroactively from the application date if justified,
- Evaluation considers the context and continuity of the existing partnership.
