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HORIZON EUROPE TOPIC · Cluster 6 · Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment

Developing effective air quality planning strategies through innovative multi-scale modelling

HORIZON-CL6-2027-01-ZEROPOLLUTION-02 — the expected outcomes as checkable statements, what evaluators look for in this topic, and the conditions that shape the proposal.

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ForthcomingRIA · lump sumDeadline 22 September 2027around EUR 4.9 million per project

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TopicHORIZON-CL6-2027-01-ZEROPOLLUTION-02
StatusForthcoming
CallHORIZON-CL6-2027-01 — Call 01 - single stage (2027)
DestinationClean environment and zero pollution (2026-27)
Type of actionResearch and Innovation Actions · lump sum
Opening20 April 2027
Deadline22 September 2027
Budgetaround EUR 4.9 million per project · 2 projects expected · EUR 9.8 million in total
TRL at the endTRL 5
Part B page limit45 pages (standard application form; check your call)
TemplateWork 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:”

  1. EO1 public authorities obtain access to enhanced and innovative modelling capabilities to support air quality planning at various policy levels in a coherent way.
  2. EO2 society benefits from improved governance processes and effective air quality planning strategies, aiming at mitigating air pollution and reducing population exposure, as well as from far more targeted air pollution alerts.
  3. EO3 public authorities, including EU policy-makers and the EEA, receive faster, more comprehensive scientific evidence and tools, enabling more effective EU air quality policy implementation and providing citizens with reliable, detailed information and peak pollution warnings to reduce health impacts.

Expected impacts named in the destination

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

  1. EI1 Advancing scientific understanding and innovative solutions for identifying, preventing and mitigating pollution aim to effectively protect human health and safeguard the environment, preserving cleaner water and seas, healthier air and soil, and resilient forests.
  2. EI2 Innovative circular bio-based systems and biotechnologies are developed and made available to all stakeholders to progress towards the clean environment and zero-pollution ambition.
  3. EI3 Farmers and other actors in the food chain are empowered to make informed decisions and to apply novel strategies to prevent, reduce and remediate pollution from agriculture and the food system, contributing to the zero-pollution ambition.
  4. EI4 Effective solutions to remediate and decontaminate aquatic pollution are developed, made available and implemented contributing to reducing pollution to levels no longer considered harmful to the environment.

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.

  • “This should support the development of effective air quality planning strategies at various levels, ultimately helping to reduce air pollution and protect public health.”
  • “Moreover, it should support the requirements in the revised Ambient Air Quality Directive as regards the development of Air Quality Roadmaps and Air Quality Plans, and for the design and planning of the network of monitoring stations.”
  • “More specifically, proposals should:. develop comprehensive multi-scale modelling chains possibly with two-way nesting capabilities (TRL 5), addressing air quality assessment, including spatial and temporal representativeness, and atmospheric processes of air pollution.”
  • “Proposals should consider the vulnerability dimension (e.g. for children, older people, women, people with lower socio-economic status, people with underlying health conditions) when approaching different scale analyses and provide recommendations on whether and how links could be made with data on social and spatial inequalities related to air pollution exposure and benefits of mitigation measures in developing inclusive air quality plans and…”
  • “Where relevant, activities should build and expand on the results of past and ongoing research projects and initiatives with a relevant air quality monitoring and/or modelling component to share experiences, reach synergies and avoid duplication.”
  • “Proposals are encouraged to consider, where relevant, the data, expertise and services offered by European research infrastructures in the environment domain, such as ACTRIS.”
  • “Concrete efforts should be made to ensure that the data produced is FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable).”
  • “Proposals should, where possible, build on results of and cooperate with AQUILA and FAIRMODE communities and pave the way for the possible transition of the project outcomes into the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service.”
  • “This topic is part of the EC-ESA Earth System Science Initiative, and projects should collaborate with related projects funded by ESA’s FuturEO programme and should towards this end include sufficient means and resources for effective coordination.”
  • “International cooperation is encouraged.”

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 5 by the end of the project. State where you start and the evidence for it.
  • Other Eligible Conditions: “Due to the scope of this topic, relevant international organisations with headquarters in a Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country are exceptionally eligible for funding.”
  • Other Eligible Conditions: “The Joint Research Centre (JRC) may participate as member of the consortium selected for funding as a beneficiary with zero funding, or as an associated partner. The JRC will not participate in the preparation and submission of the proposal - see General Annex B.”

Impact pathway and traps

  • Users or citizens are part of the scope. Show how they take part in the design and testing, not only that they are informed.
  • International cooperation is part of the scope. Explain what the non-EU partners add and how the cooperation is organised.
  • The Joint Research Centre may take part. Decide whether its involvement helps, and say so if you include it.
  • Open science or data practices are named. Make the data management plan concrete: which data, which repository, when.
  • 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

The air we breathe is often polluted, which can lead to serious health problems and even premature death. To address this public health issue, it is essential to understand how pollutants move and interact in the air at different scales, from regional to street level and at different time periods during the day or in different seasons. However, current models used to predict air quality have limitations, particularly in terms of their grid resolution levels and their limited ability to accurately capture the complex interactions between different scales. This can lead to uncertainties and inaccuracies in assessing and predicting air quality, making it challenging to develop and take effective measures to improve air quality. This topic aims to improve these capabilities by developing a chain of innovative integrated models, relatively easy to use and interpret, that can simulate the air quality situation in different scales and types of areas, including at ‘micro-scale’, and by integrating a temporal-scale dimension, also taking into account emissions into the ambient atmosphere from indoor environments. This should support the development of effective air quality planning strategies at various levels, ultimately helping to reduce air pollution and protect public health. Moreover, it should support the requirements in the revised Ambient Air Quality Directive as regards the development of Air Quality Roadmaps and Air Quality Plans, and for the design and planning of the network of monitoring stations. More specifically, proposals should: develop comprehensive multi-scale modelling chains possibly with two-way nesting capabilities (TRL 5), addressing air quality assessment, including spatial and temporal representativeness, and atmospheric processes of air pollution. Incorporate and improve urban canopy parameterization to better account for complex interactions between urban structures and air pollutants, including the role of urban vegetation in mitigating and/or fostering the formation and/or accumulation of specific air pollutants, with an emphasis on air pollutants with the highest health impacts; analyse the current limitations associated with the integration of different models and multiple spatial/ temporal scales in a single modelling system and develop methods to improve and integrate the existing air quality models and required input datasets (TRL 5); develop, configure and validate innovative micro-scale modelling systems at very high resolution with the aim of modelling and evaluating the impact of air quality measures to minimize, mitigate, and prevent exceedances at hotspot locations (TRL 5); provide guidelines for air quality modelling to support decision making to improve air quality at all scales, including by harmonizing different types of models within an integrated system, as well as promoting the use and development of multi-scale online modelling systems. Population groups in vulnerable situations are disproportionally affected by air pollution. Proposals should consider the vulnerability dimension (e.g. for children, older people, women, people with lower socio-economic status, people with underlying health conditions) when approaching different scale analyses and provide recommendations on whether and how links could be made with data on social and spatial inequalities related to air pollution exposure and benefits of mitigation measures in developing inclusive air quality plans and in urban planning. Where relevant, activities should build and expand on the results of past and ongoing research projects and initiatives with a relevant air quality monitoring and/or modelling component to share experiences, reach synergies and avoid duplication. These could include projects funded under H2020 and Horizon Europe as well as under LIFE strategic integrated projects for clean air, such as LIFE PREPAIR and LIFE Malopolska. Proposals are encouraged to consider, where relevant, the data, expertise and services offered by European research infrastructures in the environment domain, such as ACTRIS. Concrete efforts should be made to ensure that the data produced is FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable). Proposals should, where possible, build on results of and cooperate with AQUILA and FAIRMODE communities and pave the way for the possible transition of the project outcomes into the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service. This topic is part of the EC-ESA Earth System Science Initiative, and projects should collaborate with related projects funded by ESA’s FuturEO programme and should towards this end include sufficient means and resources for effective coordination. The Joint Research Centre (JRC) may participate as a member of the consortium selected for funding. In particular, the JRC could, as relevant, promote and support the harmonised use of scientifically sound air quality modelling approaches and help identify best practices in the area. In this regard, JRC would also usefully facilitate interaction with the JRC-chaired Forum for Air quality Modelling (FAIRMODE). International cooperation is encouraged.

Technology readiness, as published

Activities are expected to start from TRL 2 and achieve TRL 5 by the end of the project. The catalogue of European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) research infrastructures portfolio can be browsed from ESFRI website: https://ri-portfolio.esfri.eu/ Aerosol, Clouds and Trace Gases Research Infrastructure: https://www.actris.eu

Other topics in HORIZON-CL6-2027-01

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.