HORIZON-CL5-2027-07-D3-32: Delivery of industrial CCUS clusters – Societal Readiness pilot — expected outcomes, evaluation and traps

Topic	HORIZON-CL5-2027-07-D3-32
Status	Forthcoming
Call	HORIZON-CL5-2027-07 — ENERGY
Destination	Ensuring more efficient, sustainable, secure, and competitive renewable and decarbonised energy supply (2026-27)
Type of action	Innovation Actions
Opening	4 August 2027
Deadline	1 December 2027
Budget	around EUR 10 million per project · 3 projects expected · EUR 30 million in total
TRL at the end	TRL 6–8
Part B page limit	42 pages (topic conditions; check your call)
Template	Work Programme 2026–2027 application form

Expected outcomes

Projects should contribute to all of the expected outcomes. The topic says: “Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following outcomes:”

EO1 Near-to-market solutions for the safe integration and use of CCUS technologies in the energy- and carbon-intensive industry.
EO2 A pipeline of projects that have the potential for commercial scale-up.
EO3 Deeper understanding of the needs and concerns of diverse social groups involved in or potentially affected by the R&I development of the technology, thereby increasing the potential for beneficial societal uptake and building trust in results and outcomes.

Expected impacts named in the destination

The wider, long-term effects the destination seeks. Your outcomes feed them; they are not project deliverables.

EI1 Energy producers have access to efficient and competitive European renewable energy and renewable fuel technologies with a solid knowledge base and are able to deploy them to enhance the EU’s energy security and reach its climate neutrality objectives, in a sustainable way in environmental (e.g., biodiversity, multiple uses of land and water, natural resources, pollution) and socioeconomic terms, and in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.
EI2 Technology providers have access to European, competitive, resilient, reliable, sustainable, and affordable value chains of renewable energy and renewable fuel technologies including emerging ones, and with strong export potential to supply both the EU internal and global markets. They benefit also from circular renewable energy technologies that are safe and sustainable by design with reduced and diversified external dependence on critical raw materials.
EI3 Economic sectors benefit from better integration of renewable energy and renewable fuel-based solutions that are, among others, competitive, cost-effective, efficient, flexible, reliable, and sustainable. Such integration is facilitated through digitalisation and integration of artificial intelligence of renewable energy technologies that provide network stability and reliability.
EI4 European industries benefit from a reinforced export potential of renewable energy and renewable fuel technologies, also through international partnerships, and become more competitive in innovative renewable energy technologies in Europe and globally.
EI5 European researchers benefit from a stronger community and from a reinforced scientific basis on renewable energy and renewable fuel technologies including emerging ones, also through international collaborations.
EI6 European citizens have access to an energy market that is fair and equitable, more resilient, uses all different types of local renewable energy resources, and is less dependent on fossil fuels imports. Citizens experience less fuel and energy poverty, and also benefit from new employment and upskilling opportunities. Local communities benefit from a more decentralized, affordable, and secure energy system and from multiple uses of land and water.
EI7 R&I actions will support the just digital and green transformation of the energy system through advanced solutions for accelerating the energy systems integration and decarbonisation. The developed clean, sustainable solutions will contribute to making the energy system work better for actors and supply more reliable, resilient and secure energy – even under increasingly more frequent extreme climate events.
EI8 The solutions developed will contribute to increase flexibility and grid hosting capacity for renewables through optimizing cross sector integration and grid scale storage as well as cover off-grid situations. They will improve the preparedness of the electricity system to support the EU's binding target for 2030 of minimum of 42.5% renewables in the gross final energy consumption (with the aspiration to reach 45%), and full decarbonisation by 2050. They will enable further electrification of demand and will enhance the competitiveness of the European value chain, reduce pressure on resources (also by making technologies ‘circular by design’) and decrease dependencies. Such solutions would…
EI9 The solutions will improve consumer awareness and engagement in the energy transition, via innovative offers and services (e.g. demand response, energy communities) and will target different types of consumers, including “hard to reach” population groups (such as energy poor or low-income households). This will result in increased trust in, and uptake of the new products and services entering the energy system.
EI10 Accelerated deployment of carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS) as a CO2 emission mitigation option in electricity generation and/or in industry applications, as well as carbon dioxide removal for negative emissions.

What evaluators will look for in this topic

Expected outcomes

Projects should contribute to all of the expected outcomes.
For each outcome (EO1 to EO3), name who will use or adopt your results (a specific group, not “industry” or “society”), how they get them, and the indicator that shows the change, with baseline, target and date.
Use the topic's own words for each outcome, so the evaluator can tick it off.

What the scope asks for

Evaluators check the proposal against these sentences of the scope. Answer each one visibly, in the call's own words.

“Projects are expected to be the de-risking first step to develop local or regional industrial CCUS clusters, i.e. (multi) source and (multi) sink solutions for the decarbonisation of the hard-to-abate industries of the region.”
“Projects are expected to be the basis and orientation for future full-size projects.”
“To maximise the impact, projects should have a substantial industrial involvement.”
“Projects should address most, but not necessarily all of the below issues:.”
“Projects are expected to deliver a strategy for the exploitation of results that includes plans for scalability, commercialisation, deployment, permitting procedures, and identified public and private funding sources for CAPEX and OPEX, like private equity, the InvestEU, the EU Catalyst Partnership, the Innovation Fund, and possibly the Regional Development policy funds.”
“Therefore, projects are expected to identify and engage relevant end users and societal stakeholders (such as civil society organisations, non-governmental organisations, and local associations) in deliberative activities, so as to consider and respond to their needs and concerns.”
“Proposals should follow the instructions applying to the Societal Readiness pilot, as described in the introduction of the Horizon Europe Main Work Programme 2026-2027 for Climate, Energy and Mobility.”
“This topic requires effective contribution of the relevant SSH expertise, including the involvement of SSH experts in the consortium, to meaningfully support Societal Readiness.”
“Specifically, SSH expertise is expected to facilitate the socio-technological interface and enable the design of project objectives with Societal Readiness related activities.”

Conditions that shape the proposal

Part B, sections 1–3: 42 pages (topic conditions). Text beyond the limit is not read; tables and figures count.
TRL: the topic expects TRL 6–8 by the end of the project. State where you start and the evidence for it.
Innovation action: evaluators expect a plausible path to commercialisation and named first users or customers.
Other Eligible Conditions: “In line with the “ restriction on control in innovation actions in critical technology areas ” delineated in General Annex B of the General Annexes, entities established in an eligible country but which are directly or indirectly controlled by China or by a legal entity established in China are not eligible to…”

Impact pathway and traps

The topic asks for social sciences and humanities (SSH) expertise. Evaluators look for SSH partners with a real role in the methodology, not a token task.
Users or citizens are part of the scope. Show how they take part in the design and testing, not only that they are informed.
The scope expects pilots or demonstration. Name the sites, the partners who run them and what is measured there.
The topic expects cooperation with other projects or initiatives. Reserve effort and budget for it in the work plan.
Market uptake is part of the scope. Evaluators look for a credible route to market with named first adopters.
Keep outputs, outcomes and impacts apart: what you deliver, what changes when others use it, and the long-term effect.
For each destination impact you claim, show which of your outcomes feeds it. Destination impacts are long-term effects, not project deliverables.
Name the barriers outside the project (regulation, markets, user behaviour) that could block uptake, and what you will do if they do.
Section 2.3 (the summary canvas) is optional on this call; the old split into scientific, economic and societal impact is no longer required.

The scope, as published

Projects are expected to be the de-risking first step to develop local or regional industrial CCUS clusters, i.e. (multi) source and (multi) sink solutions for the decarbonisation of the hard-to-abate industries of the region. Projects are expected to be the basis and orientation for future full-size projects. To maximise the impact, projects should have a substantial industrial involvement. Projects should address most, but not necessarily all of the below issues: Detailed planning and preparation for retrofitting capture systems to existing industrial plants; Demonstrating important system components; Identification and characterisation of the clustering potential of (cross-border) regional CO2 emitters; Optimisation of industrial symbiosis between emitters and potential users of CO2; Development of tools to optimise the design and operation of the cluster(s) and operate CO2 streams with different compositions, flow rates and operating regimes to comply with the constraints for the shared transport and storage infrastructure; Identification of potential regional users of a common CO 2 infrastructure (this could also include enlargement counties, such as the Western Balkans, Ukraine and Moldova); Comprehensive economic and technical assessment to identify the best (multimodal) transport options, including the re-use of existing infrastructure; Development of business models for regional CO2 transport networks, including for dispersed industrial sites to link these to larger industrial clusters or pipeline networks; Consideration of feasible CO2 geological storage services Comprehensive set of studies and preparatory actions leading to permitting; Scenarios for integrating CO2 infrastructure in (plans for) regional, national and/or cross-border energy networks (electricity, hydrogen, natural gas), also in relation to future changes in industrial landscape and energy supply mix. Projects are expected to deliver a strategy for the exploitation of results that includes plans for scalability, commercialisation, deployment, permitting procedures, and identified public and private funding sources for CAPEX and OPEX, like private equity, the InvestEU, the EU Catalyst Partnership, the Innovation Fund, and possibly the Regional Development policy funds. For CO2 capture, transport, utilisation and (in particular onshore) geological storage, public acceptability is paramount. Therefore, projects are expected to identify and engage relevant end users and societal stakeholders (such as civil society organisations, non-governmental organisations, and local associations) in deliberative activities, so as to consider and respond to their needs and concerns. This topic is a Societal-Readiness pilot: Proposals should follow the instructions applying to the Societal Readiness pilot, as described in the introduction of the Horizon Europe Main Work Programme 2026-2027 for Climate, Energy and Mobility. They entail the use of an interdisciplinary approach to deepening consideration and responsiveness of R&I activities to societal needs and concerns. This topic requires effective contribution of the relevant SSH expertise, including the involvement of SSH experts in the consortium, to meaningfully support Societal Readiness. Specifically, SSH expertise is expected to facilitate the socio-technological interface and enable the design of project objectives with Societal Readiness related activities.

Technology readiness, as published

Activities are expected to achieve TRL 6-8 by the end of the project – see General Annex B. Activities may start at any TRL.

Source and attribution

Topic text from the official topic page on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal, retrieved 19 October 2026. © European Union, reused under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU (CC BY 4.0). Changes: the expected outcomes and impacts are split into numbered statements, long passages are shortened, and the evaluator checklist is GrantWise's own commentary. Your call and the Work Programme always win; check them before you submit. GrantWise is independent and not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of the European Commission.

Expected outcomes

Expected impacts named in the destination

What evaluators will look for in this topic

Expected outcomes

What the scope asks for

Conditions that shape the proposal

Impact pathway and traps

Other topics in HORIZON-CL5-2027-07

Source and attribution