EU-Wide Advantages and Opportunities for the Horizon Europe CSA ‘Reliable data and practices to measure and calculate transport emissions in multimodal transport chains’ (HORIZON-CL5-2026-01-D6-09)

1. Single Market Access

• 450 + million consumers and 23 + million enterprises operate under uniform rules (CountEmissions EU, FuelEU Maritime, ReFuelEU Aviation, Renewable Energy Directive). A consortium that creates a harmonised GHG-accounting framework immediately offers value to every transport service provider, logistics platform and shipper in all 27 Member States.

• Uniform methodology will be required in public tenders (eFTI Regulation, Green Public Procurement). Early compliance positions project partners as preferred suppliers across the EU.

• Pan-European datasets (default emission factors, AI-ready data lakes) become de-facto references that private and public actors across the Single Market will license, buy or adopt.

2. Cross-Border Collaboration

• Multinational consortia can pilot the methodology along TEN-T corridors (e.g. Scandinavian–Mediterranean, Rhine–Danube) combining road-rail-inland waterway-maritime-air segments.

• Harmonised life-cycle calculations lower transaction costs for cross-border freight forwarders and multimodal operators, supporting the EU Customs Single Window and Digital Transport & Logistics Forum (DTLF) ambitions.

• Knowledge exchange with previous FP7/H2020 projects (COFRET, LEARN, CLEVER) and ISO/CEN experts accelerates consensus-building and standard adoption beyond national silos.

3. Alignment with Flagship EU Policies

• European Green Deal & Fit-for-55: provides science-based tools to reach the mandatory –90 % transport-GHG target by 2050.

• CountEmissions EU proposal: project explicitly fills open methodological gaps (radiative forcing, black carbon, cool-chain, allocation rules for belly-cargo, etc.), shaping delegated acts.

• Digital Europe & Data Strategy: creation of an interoperable EU core dataset strengthens Common European Mobility Data Space; generative AI pilots reinforce the EU AI Act’s requirement for trustworthy data.

• Taxonomy Regulation & CSRD: harmonised emissions data supports sustainable finance disclosures, easing access to green capital for the logistics sector.

4. Regulatory Harmonisation Benefits

• One authoritative framework avoids 27 divergent national rules, cutting compliance costs for SMEs and large operators alike.

• Consistent default factors enable regulators to integrate GHG metrics in road-charging (Eurovignette), maritime ETS, aviation SAF mandates and urban access regulation.

• The Action’s stakeholder governance (Steering Group/Advisory Board) institutionalises dialogue among DG MOVE, DG CLIMA, DG ENER, CEN, IMO/ICAO and industry – a level of influence impossible at member-state scale.

5. Access to Europe’s Innovation Ecosystem

• Leverage 3,400+ universities, RTOs and EIT Knowledge & Innovation Communities (EIT Urban Mobility, EIT Climate-KIC) for methodological research, AI modelling and LCA expertise.

• Synergies with Digital Innovation Hubs and European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking for processing large telematics and AIS/ADS-B datasets.

• Living labs in European logistics hubs (Port of Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp-Bruges, Zaragoza PLAZA) allow real-life validation across modes.

6. Funding Synergies

• Combine Horizon lump-sum with Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Transport for on-the-ground pilots (eFTI, TEN-T alternative fuels infrastructure).

• Pair with Innovation Fund (large-scale) or LIFE-CET for demonstration of low-carbon fuels whose climate performance will be measured using the project’s tools.

• European Investment Bank’s Green Shipping and Green Logistics programmes can finance roll-out, de-risked by credible emissions accounting.

• EIC Transition & Cohesion Policy funds (Interreg, ERDF) can support SME uptake and regional data nodes.

7. Scale, Deployment & Impact

• A single accepted methodology becomes embedded in millions of transport contracts, digital platforms (TMS, freight exchanges) and in national GHG inventories.

• Creates EU-wide ‘network effect’: the more operators feed primary data, the more accurate default factors become, reinforcing competitiveness of EU industry.

• Enables rapid scaling into global standards via ISO 14083 revisions and cooperation with GLEC, ensuring European leadership in WTO and IMO climate discussions.

8. Strategic Value Proposition at EU Level

1. First-mover advantage: Shape EU implementing acts and future ISO/CEN updates; lock-in European preferences (life-cycle, radiative forcing) before global competitors set alternative rules.

2. Market differentiation: Verified low-emission transport services command green premiums in procurement and carbon-aware marketplaces.

3. Risk mitigation: Anticipates upcoming mandatory reporting under CountEmissions EU; partners avoid future retrofit costs.

4. Social & territorial cohesion: Harmonised tools allow peripheral and cohesion regions to participate in green corridors without high analytical overhead.

5. Resilience & strategic autonomy: EU-owned datasets reduce dependence on proprietary/non-European emission factors, aligning with the Open Strategic Autonomy agenda.

9. Actionable Recommendations for Applicants

• Build a pan-European consortium combining:

- Research excellence (LCA, atmospheric science, AI)

- Mode-specific industry leaders (rail, road, maritime, air, inland waterways)

- ICT providers managing large logistics datasets

- Standardisation bodies (CEN/ISO) and policy makers (DG MOVE, EEA)

• Pilot along three contrasting multimodal corridors (short-sea & rail, continental road-rail-barge, air-belly cargo & last-mile) to showcase versatility.

• Devise an open-licence EU core dataset with APIs compliant with GAIA-X and eFTI to maximise uptake and private-sector extensions.

• Integrate a ‘policy feedback loop’ to deliver draft delegated-act text and input to the Handbook on External Costs updates.

• Embed a commercialisation work-package (TRL 7-8) preparing EIC/CEF follow-up projects and industry service offers.

> Operating at EU scale is the only way to create the critical mass of data, consensus and market demand required for a truly reliable, multimodal transport-emissions accounting framework – turning regulatory obligation into a competitive advantage for European industry.