HORIZON-CL6-2027-01-BIODIV-03: Technical innovation to protect ecosystems and to scale up their… — expected outcomes, evaluation and traps

Topic	HORIZON-CL6-2027-01-BIODIV-03
Status	Forthcoming
Call	HORIZON-CL6-2027-01 — Call 01 - single stage (2027)
Destination	Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (2026-27)
Type of action	Innovation Actions · lump sum
Opening	20 April 2027
Deadline	22 September 2027
Budget	around EUR 7 million per project · 2 projects expected · EUR 14 million in total
TRL at the end	TRL 6–7
Part B page limit	45 pages (standard application form; 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 expected outcomes:”

EO1 activities of protection and restoration of ecosystems by stakeholders become easier and more effective.
EO2 conditions to scale up the implementation of the EU Nature Restoration Regulation by stakeholders are improved, thus improving ecosystem services including for climate mitigation and adaptation.

Expected impacts named in the destination

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

EI1 Knowledge on biodiversity status and trends and drivers of biodiversity loss is improved.
EI2 Innovations, methods, pathways, models and tools are available and used to protect healthy and resilient ecosystems and to restore degraded ones, ensuring the continuous provision of ecosystem services, including for adaptation and/or mitigation to climate change.
EI3 The ongoing biodiversity crisis and its consequences, notably on ecosystem functioning and their services, and the need to monitor, protect, restore and sustainably use biodiversity are better understood to better benefit the whole society in an inclusive way.
EI4 Policymakers and stakeholders, all relevant economic sectors and society are aware and well informed of relevant challenges and opportunities of biodiversity protection, restoration and sustainable use, leading to better implementation of the biodiversity legislation and better valuation of ecosystem services, leading to transformative change towards a nature positive economy.
EI5 Farmers, foresters, land and sea managers, fishers and aquaculture producers have access to key information, and test and implement biodiversity-friendly management practices, while safeguarding food and water security and fostering competitiveness, demonstrating the long-term sustainability of these sectors.
EI6 Progress towards international commitments worldwide on biodiversity is made.

What evaluators will look for in this topic

Expected outcomes

Projects should contribute to all of the expected outcomes.
For each outcome (EO1 to EO2), 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.

“Ecosystem restoration strategies for nature restoration and climate change mitigation require a coordinated and coherent set of human interventions and management practices (e.g. temporal protection of plants or removing invasive species, including their seeds) for which there is usually no dedicated mean like specific machinery, equipment or other technical innovations (like for example specific lures for invasive alien species).”
“The European Climate Law requires Member States to adopt and implement national adaptation strategies and plans in which they should promote Nature-based Solutions and ecosystem-based adaptation.”
“Successful proposals are expected to:. design, develop and test technical innovations corresponding to identified needs for specific ecosystems protection and/or restoration activities.”
“Proposals should foresee appropriate resources to ensure close cooperation with the EC Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity (KCBD) and its Science Service.”

Conditions that shape the proposal

Part B, sections 1–3: 45 pages (standard application form). Text beyond the limit is not read; tables and figures count.
Lump sum: the budget is fixed per work package and paid when each work package is completed. Every work package needs activities and deliverables an evaluator can verify, and the effort must match the money.
TRL: the topic expects TRL 6–7 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.
Legal and financial set-up of the grants: “Purchases of equipment, infrastructure or other assets specifically for the action (or developed as part of the action tasks) may be declared as full capitalised costs.”

Impact pathway and traps

Policy or regulation is in scope. Name the policy owners you will reach and what you will give them.
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

Ecosystem restoration strategies for nature restoration and climate change mitigation require a coordinated and coherent set of human interventions and management practices (e.g. temporal protection of plants or removing invasive species, including their seeds) for which there is usually no dedicated mean like specific machinery, equipment or other technical innovations (like for example specific lures for invasive alien species). The most common practice is the use of agricultural machinery or equipment, but this is not always effective. With target 4 of the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030, the EU took the following commitments: significant areas of degraded and carbon-rich ecosystems are restored; habitats and species show no deterioration in conservation trend and status, and at least 30% reach favourable conservation status or at least show a positive trend. According to the EU Nature Restoration Regulation, Member States shall put in place effective and area-based restoration measures with the aim to jointly cover, as a Union target, at least 20 % of land areas and at least 20 % of sea areas by 2030, and all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050. This is reflected in target 2 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The European Climate Law requires Member States to adopt and implement national adaptation strategies and plans in which they should promote Nature-based Solutions and ecosystem-based adaptation. These policies and legislations have reached the implementation stage in the EU and worldwide. Successful proposals are expected to: design, develop and test technical innovations corresponding to identified needs for specific ecosystems protection and/or restoration activities. A wide range of possible innovations can be proposed, including new or adapted machines, low techs, digital innovations or combinations of them to be used in a wide range of ecosystem types, including terrestrial, freshwater and marine; pay attention to effectiveness, simplicity of use, durability and environmental sustainability and responsibility (including alertness to potential risks, trade-offs and the unintended consequences as a result of the use of technological innovations). This topic is particularly relevant for SMEs. Proposals should foresee appropriate resources to ensure close cooperation with the EC Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity (KCBD) and its Science Service.

Technology readiness, as published

Activities are expected to achieve TRL 6-7 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.

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.

Technical innovation to protect ecosystems and to scale up their restoration

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-CL6-2027-01

Source and attribution