Funding programme

‍Horizon Europe is the European Union’s main funding programme for research and innovation.

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Call overview

This call aims to assess and optimise integrated value chains for advanced biofuels and renewable fuels of non-biological origin while promoting sustainability, stakeholder collaboration, and innovation for the green transition.

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Expected Outcome

European energy security and industrial competitiveness are contested by the geopolitical circumstances and market situations around the world. Advanced biofuels and renewable fuels of non-biological origin are in EU’s portfolio of technologies that contribute to net-zero manufacturing in Europe. However, remaining challenges impacting the security of supply and competitiveness of these technologies and the integration of their value chains need to be clearly understood, presented, and mitigated.

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Energy consumers benefit from the contribution to improved EU energy security and industrial competitiveness of renewable fuel technologies;
• Energy producers and consumers benefit from the improved reliability, robustness and security of renewable fuel technologies (compared to existing ones);
• Diverse stakeholders, e.g., policy makers, public authorities, citizens, researchers, and industry, profit from the enhancement of common knowledge and understanding about existing opportunities of integrated value chains for advanced biofuels and renewable fuels of non-biological origin;
• Multi stakeholders, e.g., policy makers, technology developers, researchers, industrial and any other relevant stakeholders to the value chain, profit from the generation of multi benefits of promoting sustainable development and sustainable agriculture regarding climate change resilience and regenerative practices, accelerating renewable fuel innovation, and maximising carbon removals.

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Scope

Projects are expected to assess the energy security and industrial competitiveness aspects of value chains for advanced biofuels and renewable fuels of non-biological origin, in view of the new situation in the EU regarding energy security and industrial competitiveness with the rest of the word. They are expected to also evaluate how these technologies could contribute to the EU’s energy security and industrial competitiveness through detailed value chain analysis and development of future scenarios, macroeconomic modelling, and strategic decision-making methods. Value chains closer to commercialisation with the potential to contribute more to the EU 2030 targets for green transition and industrial competitiveness and value chains for technologies under development with the potential to contribute to the longer term and could duly adopt mitigation measures, are both in scope. Proposals are expected to identify the research and innovation actions needed to improve the energy security and industrial competitiveness aspects of these value chains, and implement as appropriate research activities for such optimisation, as well as new standards definitions for advanced biofuels and RFNBOs as appropriate.

Competitiveness, energy security and integration challenges of the various steps in a value chain and of the relevant stakeholders are expected to be addressed. Integration aspects encompass every step of each individual value chain and every stakeholder. Proposals are expected to coordinate efforts towards development of win-win integrated solutions of sustainable value chains for advanced biofuels and renewable fuels of non-biological origin engaging all relevant stakeholders, including as relevant farmers, CO₂ suppliers, technology providers, researchers, fuel producers, end users, policy makers, international organisations. Multidisciplinary issues related to advanced biofuels and renewable fuels of non-biological origin production, carbon removals, CO₂ trading and valorisation, sustainable farming, production of nature-based soil amendments, fertilizers, and organic materials, fuel standardisation, trade-off/synergies of carbon farming with in-situ carbon storing and of land uses for fuels versus solar panels for derived fuels, are expected to be considered, to achieve benefits for all through the integration.

Value chains of renewable hydrogen as an end-product are not within the scope of this topic.

A sustainability assessment of integrated solutions including techno-economic, environmental and social aspects is expected to be carried out based on life cycle analysis.

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Eligibility

To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:

• the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions;
• the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States;
• countries associated to Horizon Europe;
• low- and middle-income countries.

See specifics in the General Annexes document, page 9.

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Consortium composition

Only legal entities forming a consortium are eligible to participate in actions provided that the consortium includes, as beneficiaries, three legal entities independent from each other and each established in a different country as follows:

• at least one independent legal entity established in a Member State; and
• at least two other independent legal entities, each established in different Member States or Associated Countries.

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Budget

The total indicative budget for the topic is EUR 8.00 million.

The Commission estimates that an EU contribution of around EUR 4.00 million per project would allow these outcomes to be addressed appropriately.