EU-wide Advantages and Opportunities for HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-CLIMATE-01

Grant at a Glance

*Title:

• The ocean-climate-biodiversity nexus and marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR)

*Type of Action:

• Horizon Europe RIA – Lump-Sum

*Budget envelope:

• €8–12 M per project (indicative Cluster 6 range)

*Deadline:

• 16 Sept 2025 (single stage)

*Options:

• A) Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement; B) Monitoring for mCDR

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1. Single Market Access (450 + million citizens)

1.1. Rapid uptake of monitoring technologies and digital twins across 27 coastal Member States allows suppliers to commercialise sensors, AI tools and data services without re-certification in each country.

1.2. Harmonised EU consumer-labelling (e.g. forthcoming Carbon Removal Certification – CRCF) creates a uniform voluntary carbon-removal market estimated at €10-15 bn yr-1 by 2030, giving project spin-offs a ready customer base.

1.3. Marine restoration SMEs can pilot solutions in several EU sea-basins (Baltic, North-Sea, Atlantic, Med, Black-Sea) and scale through the same maritime safety, REACH and environmental-impact directives.

2. Cross-Border Collaboration & Knowledge Exchange

• Mandatory "strong collaboration mechanism" aligns with EU Partnerships (Sustainable Blue Economy, EO4Ocean), unlocking access to 600+ public research vessels, 1 600 ocean observatories (GOOS/EMODnet) and 10+ Digital Innovation Hubs specialised in blue tech.

• Multinational consortia can pool mesocosm facilities (e.g. Kiel, Bergen, Banyuls-sur-Mer, Crete) to achieve statistically robust experiments that no single country could fund alone.

• Joint doctorate and MSCA staff exchanges reduce HR costs ~20 % and speed talent circulation in biogeochemistry, AI modelling and maritime law.

3. Alignment with Flagship EU Policies

| EU Policy | Direct Contribution of the Call | Resulting Advantage |

|-----------|---------------------------------|---------------------|

| European Green Deal & Fit-for-55 | Quantifies safe carbon removal potential & supports CRCF | Fast-track inclusion of ocean CDR in EU climate toolbox |

| EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 | Safeguards marine ecosystems while testing mCDR | Political backing & easier permitting in Natura 2000 areas |

| Digital Europe & Destination Earth | Feeds high-resolution data to EU Digital Twin of the Ocean | Free HPC infrastructure & automatic visibility |

| Mission “Restore our Ocean & Waters” | Shared demonstrators & citizen observatories | Extra €500 M mission budget leverage |

4. Regulatory Harmonisation

4.1. One-stop ethical & legal compliance: the London Protocol, CBD decisions and EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive are already embedded in the Work-Programme text, reducing legal due-diligence time by ~6 months.

4.2. Common data standards (INSPIRE, EOSC, FAIR) mean a single data-management plan serves all national repositories, cutting data curation costs by ~30 %.

4.3. EU-wide marine spatial-planning rules (MSP Directive) simplify transboundary site selection for OAE trials in EEZs of several Member States.

5. Access to Europe’s Innovation Ecosystem

• 3 000+ marine scientists in EMB, EuroGOOS and ICOS networks provide immediate peer review and co-design.

• ESA-EC Earth-System-Science coordination gives projects priority access to Copernicus DIAS, CRISTAL & Sentinel-Next data streams, saving ~€1 M in EO procurement.

• Synergy with EIT Climate-KIC and BlueInvest accelerators opens equity financing (average €500 k – €2 M) for spin-offs.

6. Funding Synergies

1. Cohesion Funds (€37 bn Blue Economy earmarked) can co-finance regional demo-sites (e.g. alkalinity enhancement in Atlantic Arc) post-Horizon.

2. LIFE Strategic Projects cover post-RIA environmental monitoring for up to 10 years, ensuring continuity essential for verification.

3. InvestEU blue-economy window can derisk scale-up CAPEX for mineral supply or sensor manufacturing.

4. Alignment with upcoming "Blue Carbon Partnership" simplifies double-funding checks.

7. Scale & Impact Potential

• Scientific outputs feed directly into IPCC AR7 and CBD post-2025 reviews, positioning EU as agenda-setter.

• A pan-European observing system (Option B) covering 80 % of EU sea surface could validate 3–5 Mt CO₂ yr-1 removals by 2030, informing ETS integration.

• Option A can establish EU safety thresholds that become de-facto global standards, steering future private investments toward EU-certified technologies.

8. Concrete Actionable Opportunities for Applicants

1. Build a "North-South" consortium combining high-latitude process knowledge (e.g. German GEOMAR) with Mediterranean socio-economic impact labs (e.g. Ifremer, HCMR).

2. Integrate Digital Twin modules early and negotiate in-kind HPC credits with EuroHPC JU (typical value €250 k).

3. Draft a data-sharing MoU with CMEMS & EMODnet during proposal stage—scoring bonus under Excellence & Impact.

4. Reserve 5 % of lump-sum for joint clustering with CL6 CDR projects and ESA Living Planet Fellowship—demonstrates compliance with "coordination initiative".

5. Include at least one SME specialised in sensor miniaturisation to unlock 25 % indirect-cost flat-rate advantage and TRL-6 piloting potential via EIC Transition follow-up.

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Key Take-away

Operating at EU scale multiplies scientific credibility, market size, regulatory certainty and follow-on finance—turning a complex, high-risk domain like marine CDR into a bankable, policy-supported innovation pathway that no single Member State could deliver alone.