
There are open calls for nine topics in the framework of the Mission Soil Work Programme 2024, of Horizon Europe, with a total indicative budget of 134.5 M€. Projects are called to monitor soil erosion and nitrogen fluxes, soil health and pollinators, soil biodiversity for healthy crops, carbon farming, and forest peatsoils. Moreover, new funding opportunities are available to establish more soil health Living Labs (with a specific topic on urban areas) and to cooperate for soil health in Africa.
Deadline: 8 October 2024
The following topics are available:
HORIZON-MISS-2024-SOIL-01: Co-creating solutions for soil health in Living Labs
Type of Action: RIA*
Projects expected to be approved: 3 projects; each with a budget of ca. 12 M€
Expected Outcome: Activities under this topic respond directly to the goal of the Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’ of setting up 100 living labs and lighthouses to lead the transition to healthy soils by 2030. They support the specific objectives of the Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’ dealing with urgent soil health challenges (see specific objectives 1 to 6 and 8 in the Mission implementation plan). Activities should thereby contribute to meeting the European Green Deal ambitions and targets, such as those related to food and nutrition security, climate, biodiversity, environment and rural areas.
HORIZON-MISS-2024-SOIL-02: Living Labs in urban areas for healthy soils
Type of Action: RIA*
Projects expected to be approved: 1 project with a budget of ca. 12 M€
Expected Outcome: Activities under this topic respond directly to the goal of the Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’ of setting up 100 living labs and lighthouses by 2027 to lead the transition to healthy soils by 2030. It supports the Soil Mission specific objectives, in particular the following ones: 3 “No net soil sealing and increase the reuse of urban soils”; 4 “Reduce soil pollution and enhance restoration”; 5 “Prevent erosion”; and specific objective 8 “Increase soil literacy in society across Member States”.
HORIZON-MISS-2024-SOIL-01-03: Towards a dynamic monitoring system to assess status and spatiotemporal changes of soil erosion at European scale
Type of Action: RIA*
Projects expected to be approved: 1 project with a budget of ca. 11.5 M€
Expected Outcome: Activities under this topic will help to progress towards the objective of the Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’, in particular specific objective 5 “Prevent erosion”. Activities will also contribute to the EU Soil Strategy 2030, the Common Agricultural Policy and its Common Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, the framework of indicators in the proposed Soil Monitoring Law, and the EU Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) indicator set for monitoring progress towards SDG 15 and SDG 2.
HORIZON-MISS-2024-SOIL-01-04: Systems to quantify nitrogen fluxes and uncertainties in European landscapes
Type of Action: RIA*
Projects expected to be approved: 1 project with a budget of ca. 11.5 M€
Expected Outcome: Activities under this topic will help to progress towards the objectives of the Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’, in particular its specific objective 4, “Reduce soil pollution and enhance restoration” and the operational objective 3, “Develop an integrated EU soil monitoring system and track progress towards soil health”.
HORIZON-MISS-2024-SOIL-01-05: Soil health, pollinators and key ecosystem functions
Type of Action: RIA*
Projects expected to be approved: 1 project with a budget of ca. 7.5 M€
Expected Outcome: Activities under this topic will help to progress towards the objectives of the Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’, in particular its specific objectives 4 “Reduce soil pollution and enhance restoration”, 6 “Improve soil structure to enhance habitat quality for soil biota and crops” and 8 “Improve soil literacy in society”. Activities will also contribute to the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, to the revised EU Pollinators Initiative “A new deal for pollinators”, to the future EU Nature Restoration Law and the proposed Soil Monitoring and Resilience Directive, to the EU Farm to Fork Strategy, including the EU Action Plan on the Development of Organic Production, and to the goals of the UN CBD COP-15. It also directly contributes to achieving several of the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular SDG 15 by halting biodiversity loss and halting and reversing land degradation and SDG2 on food security as activities are expected to improve pollination ecosystem services, which are key for food production.
HORIZON-MISS-2024-SOIL-01-06: Harnessing the multifunctional potential of soil biodiversity for healthy cropping systems
Type of Action: IA*
Projects expected to be approved: 2 projects; each with a budget of ca. 8 M€
Expected Outcome: Activities under this topic contribute to the implementation of the Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’ in particular to its specific objective 4 “reduce soil pollution and enhance restoration” and 6 “improve soil structure to enhance soil biodiversity” dealing with the most urgent soil health challenges. Activities will also contribute to the targets of the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030 and of the Farm to Fork strategy on pesticide use reduction (reducing the use and risk of pesticides by 50% and the use of more hazardous pesticides by 50%), the EU Action Plan on the Development of Organic Production, the Common Agricultural Policy, and will support the objectives of the future Nature Restoration Law and of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity COP-15. Activities will also provide knowledge to improve integrated pest management practices, directly contributing to achieving several of the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular SDG´s target 12.2 of achieving sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources by 2030.
HORIZON-MISS-2024-SOIL-01-07: Development of high spatial-resolution monitoring approaches and geographically-explicit registry for carbon farming
Type of Action: RIA*
Projects expected to be approved: 2 projects; each with a budget of ca. 11.5 M€
Expected Outcome: Activities under this topic will help to progress towards the objectives of the Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’, in particular specific objective 2 “Conserve and increase soil organic carbon stocks”. Activities will also support the proposed Carbon Removal Certification Framework (including through collaboration with the Commission’s Expert Group on Carbon Removals), the Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry Regulation, the Common Agricultural Policy, the EU Action Plan on the development of Organic Production, and the Sustainable Development Goal 13 on Climate action.
HORIZON-MISS-2024-SOIL-01-08: Managing forest peatsoils
Type of Action: RIA*
Projects expected to be approved: 1 project with a budget of ca. 10 M€
Expected Outcome: Activities under this topic will contribute to EU climate and nature protection policies and specifically respond to the Mission Soil specific objective 2 “Conserve and increase soil organic carbon stocks “, thereby supporting the implementation of the Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry Regulation concerning the inclusion of wetland restoration activities.
HORIZON-MISS-2024-SOIL-01-09: Assessment of Soil Health in Africa
Type of Action: IA*
Projects expected to be approved: 1 project with a budget of ca. 7 M€
Expected Outcome: Activities under this topic will advance the international dimension of the Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’ and contribute to its specific objectives, in particular objective 4 “reduce soil pollution and enhance restoration”. Activities will also contribute to the EU-Africa Partnership on Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture, African Union strategies, initiatives and action plans relevant to soil health and support global commitments and SDGs, in particular in the areas of sustainable agriculture, food and nutrition security, biodiversity, and climate.
More information and applications can be found in the EU Funding & Tender Portal (link indicated in each call). If you want to apply you should analyse the abstracts of awarded applications (in your research area) and watch the video of the info session about this Mission and cross-cutting activities organized by the European Commission.
If you are considering to apply, please get in touch with us (cesam-gesciencia@ua.pt).
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Research and Innovation Actions (RIAs): include activities of ‘testing’, ‘demonstrating’ and ‘piloting’. These activities aim to establish new knowledge or to explore the feasibility of a new or improved technology, product, process, service, or solution. These may include basic and applied research, technology development and integration, testing, demonstration, and validation on a small-scale prototype, in a laboratory or simulated environment.
Innovation Actions (IAs): include activities of ‘testing’, ‘demonstrating’ and ‘piloting’ and also aim at scaling up activities from prototype, in a (near to) operational environment, industrial or otherwise, to large-scale product validation and market replication.