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

Unlocking a safe operating space for Antarctica and the Southern Ocean

HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-CLIMATE-04 — the expected outcomes as checkable statements, what evaluators look for in this topic, and the conditions that shape the proposal.

Get the free Part B working draft for this topic ↓

ForthcomingRIADeadline 23 September 2027around EUR 11 million per project

GrantWise › Horizon Europe topics › HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-CLIMATE-04

TopicHORIZON-CL6-2027-02-CLIMATE-04
StatusForthcoming
CallHORIZON-CL6-2027-02 — Call 02 - single stage (2027)
DestinationLand, ocean and water for climate action (2026-27)
Type of actionResearch and Innovation Actions
Opening20 April 2027
Deadline23 September 2027
Budgetaround EUR 11 million per project · 2 projects expected · EUR 22 million in total
Part B page limit40 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 expected outcomes:”

  1. EO1 improved multidisciplinary scientific understanding of the functioning of the Southern Ocean and the Antarctic cryosphere and associated ecosystem dynamics, in the near term (∼2030), mid-term (2050–2060) and long-term (after ∼2060), including their mutual interaction with, impact on and vulnerability to, current and future changes in the other components of the regional and global climate systems.
  2. EO2 important contributions made to key ocean, cryosphere, climate and biodiversity monitoring indicators that support international, regional and global assessments. Fostered development of a regional approach to polar ocean, climate and biodiversity observations, monitoring and reporting.
  3. EO3 informed policies for environmental conservation and climate resilience and enabled evidence-based regional, European, and global decision–making on polar ocean governance; sustained European leadership in ocean–climate–biodiversity-cryosphere science; significant contributions made to global scientific assessments (e.g. IPCC, IPBES and WOA), as well as to the UN Decades of Action of Ocean (2021-2030) and Cryospheric (2025-2034) Sciences, the Antarctica InSync programme (2027 and 2030), the International Polar Year (2032-2033), UN SDGs 13 and 14, and the European polar science coordination efforts.

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 Strengthened knowledge and understanding and reduced uncertainty about the future of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean in the short, medium, and long term, and its impacts on the Global Ocean and the Earth System are available and used, alongside identified commensurate management responses to prevent the Southern Ocean and the Antarctic cryosphere from reaching a point of no return, including enabling protecting, restoring and sustainably managing marine and coastal ecosystems and preventing pollution.
  2. EI2 Effective policy mixes and multi-level governance capable of anticipating a changing Arctic and enabling a just and sustainable transition for all, engaging society at large and balancing economic, social and environmental goals, thanks to improved evidence-based knowledge, tools and science-society-policy interfaces.
  3. EI3 Carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions from land and water activities (inland, marine and coastal) – including primary production – and infrastructures are minimised in rural, urban, and coastal areas while the monitoring, reporting and verification of the emissions is improved.
  4. EI4 Medium- and long-term adaptation and resilience of water infrastructure, agriculture and forestry to challenges related to climate change is further addressed with regard to scientific knowledge, public policy and economic practices.

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.

  • “Proposals should:. resolve uncertainties, improve projections and quantifications of the future of the region, looking at changes in the near-, mid- and long-term (irreversible, abrupt and committed changes), their likelihood, timing, rate, amplitude, and impacts on the Earth’s System (decadal to millennial climate projections, global sea level, ocean circulation, global carbon budget);. advance understanding of the complex interactions and…”
  • “This should include extreme events and mid-latitude weather; fluxes between the ice sheet and the ocean; the future dynamics of oceanic carbon pools;. explore the vulnerability of Southern Ocean ecosystems, including the impacts of climate change, pollution and other anthropogenic activities on marine biodiversity and ecosystem dynamics changes in the near (∼2030), mid (2050–2060) and long-term (after ∼2060).”
  • “Proposals should also contribute to the development or strengthening of long-term, continuous monitoring systems for Southern Ocean biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, in synergy with existing observation infrastructures;. develop mechanisms to distinguish human-induced environmental changes from natural ones and develop strategies to protect the fragile environment of the Southern Ocean from human activities and climate change, as well as…”
  • “The actions should contribute to the evolution of the EU Digital Twin of the Ocean and Destination Earth, and interface with the Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS).”
  • “All in-situ data collected through actions funded from this topic should follow INSPIRE principles and be available through open access repositories supported by the European Commission (Copernicus, and EMODnet).”
  • “Concrete efforts should be made to ensure that the data produced in the context of the funded projects is FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable).”
  • “Proposals are encouraged to consider, where relevant, the data, expertise and services offered by European research infrastructures, as well as related projects in the environment domain, such as POLARIN.”
  • “This topic is part of a coordination initiative between ESA and the European Commission on Earth System Science and should towards this end include sufficient means and resources for effective coordination, with relevant ESA Polar Science Cluster projects, including utilising novel satellite Earth Observation datasets and joint research actions.”

Conditions that shape the proposal

  • Part B, sections 1–3: 40 pages (standard application form). Text beyond the limit is not read; tables and figures count.
  • Other Eligible Conditions: “All international organisations are exceptionally eligible for funding.”

Impact pathway and traps

  • International cooperation is part of the scope. Explain what the non-EU partners add and how the cooperation is organised.
  • The topic expects cooperation with other projects or initiatives. Reserve effort and budget for it in the work plan.
  • Open science or data practices are named. Make the data management plan concrete: which data, which repository, when.
  • 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

Proposals should: resolve uncertainties, improve projections and quantifications of the future of the region, looking at changes in the near-, mid- and long-term (irreversible, abrupt and committed changes), their likelihood, timing, rate, amplitude, and impacts on the Earth’s System (decadal to millennial climate projections, global sea level, ocean circulation, global carbon budget); advance understanding of the complex interactions and feedbacks between the ocean, the atmosphere, sea ice, ice shelves, and land ice dynamics, considering multiple scales and processes simultaneously, with focus on the Antarctic continental shelves where conditions are or will change rapidly and on regions for bottom water formation; advance the knowledge of Southern Ocean dynamics and sea ice dynamics in the near-, mid- and long-term. Better understand the distribution, underlying mechanisms and impacts of changes in the Southern Ocean and sea ice to reduce uncertainties in projected future changes of large-scale ocean circulation and transport, including abrupt, irreversible change/tipping elements and thresholds, collapse of the overturning circulations, regional and global climate and weather systems. This should include extreme events and mid-latitude weather; fluxes between the ice sheet and the ocean; the future dynamics of oceanic carbon pools; explore the vulnerability of Southern Ocean ecosystems, including the impacts of climate change, pollution and other anthropogenic activities on marine biodiversity and ecosystem dynamics changes in the near (∼2030), mid (2050–2060) and long-term (after ∼2060). This includes improved control variables for the diversity of all life forms incorporating also the microbiome and functions (functional diversity), as well as the biocomplexity suitable for measuring biosphere integrity in different facets. Proposals should also contribute to the development or strengthening of long-term, continuous monitoring systems for Southern Ocean biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, in synergy with existing observation infrastructures; develop mechanisms to distinguish human-induced environmental changes from natural ones and develop strategies to protect the fragile environment of the Southern Ocean from human activities and climate change, as well as comprehensively establish the efficacy of Southern Ocean conservation measures for preserving evolutionary potential and those properties that best anticipate change; further improve key ocean, cryosphere, climate and biodiversity monitoring indicators that support international, regional and global assessments and foster the development of a regional approach to polar ocean and climate observations, monitoring and reporting, and further the representation of multi-scale interactions in Earth System Models (ESMs) and regional coupled atmosphere–ocean–sea ice–land models representing key physical, biogeochemical, and biological processes in the polar ocean regions; advance capabilities to provide evidence, tractable proposals and recommendations for commensurate policy and protection, restoration and long-term sustainable management responses to prevent the Southern Ocean and its ecosystems and cryosphere from reaching a point of no return. The actions should contribute to the evolution of the EU Digital Twin of the Ocean and Destination Earth, and interface with the Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS). All in-situ data collected through actions funded from this topic should follow INSPIRE principles and be available through open access repositories supported by the European Commission (Copernicus, and EMODnet). Concrete efforts should be made to ensure that the data produced in the context of the funded projects is FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable). Proposals are encouraged to consider, where relevant, the data, expertise and services offered by European research infrastructures, as well as related projects in the environment domain, such as POLARIN. International cooperation is strongly encouraged, especially with All-Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Alliance (AAORIA) partner countries. This topic is part of a coordination initiative between ESA and the European Commission on Earth System Science and should towards this end include sufficient means and resources for effective coordination, with relevant ESA Polar Science Cluster projects, including utilising novel satellite Earth Observation datasets and joint research actions. Furthermore, this topic is supporting the European polar science coordination efforts, including synergies with and support to the objectives and work plan of the European Polar Coordination Office (EPCO). The catalogue of European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) research infrastructures portfolio can be browsed from ESFRI website https://ri-portfolio.esfri.eu/ POLARIN – Polar Research Infrastructure Network. Home - All Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Alliance

Other topics in HORIZON-CL6-2027-02

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.