Better understanding and attribution of land and ocean carbon sources and sinks
European Commission · Horizon Europe Framework Programme (HORIZON)
Posted 17 Nov 2026 · About 5 months left
Summary
Expected Outcome:
Project results are expected to contribute to some of the following expected outcomes:
Better understanding of oceanic carbon dioxide (CO2) sources and sinks, their drivers and dynamics under different climate scenarios, including their responses to human interventions;
Better understanding of land ecosystem CO2 sources and sinks, their drivers (both natural and anthropogenic) and their evolution under future climate and land-based mitigation scenarios;
Progress on reconciling estimates of anthropogenic CO2 emissions and removals from land originating from the climate science and national emissions reporting communities;
More consistent representation and quantification of lateral transfers of carbon.
Scope:
Understanding the mechanisms and drivers of land (including inland waters) and ocean carbon sinks and sources is crucial for accurate climate models and scenarios and informing climate mitigation strategies. However, significant gaps and uncertainties remain in quantifying these complex processes and their components. It is essential to better understand the roles of anthropogenic and natural drivers of carbon fluxes, in particular the surface-to-air flux.…
Excerpt from the donor's page. The full text, annexes and forms are on the original call.
Eligibility and conditions
Show the eligibility text from the source
">General conditions
1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout
described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.
Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System.
2. Eligible Countries
described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.
3. Other Eligible Conditions
If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may additionally be used).
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.
described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion
described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.
5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds
To ensure a balanced portfolio covering different research areas (A, B and C), grants will be awarded to applications not only in order of ranking, but also to at least two highest ranked applications in each of areas A and B and at least one in Area C, provided that the corresponding applications attain all thresholds.
are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.
5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes
are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual.
5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement
described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.
6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants
Beneficiaries will be subject to the following additional obligations regarding open science practices: Open access to any new modules, models or tools developed from scratch or substantially improved with the use of EU funding under the action must be ensured through documentation, availability of model code and input data developed under the action.
Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021 authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme – the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2021-2027) – and in actions under the Research and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (2021-2025) [[This decision is available on the Funding and Tenders Portal, in the reference documents section for Horizon Europe, under ‘Simplified costs decisions’ or through this link: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/guidance/ls-decision_he_en.pdf]].
described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Specific conditions
described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme]
Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA):
Application form templates — the application form specific to this call is available in the Submission System
Standard application form (HE RIA, IA)
Evaluation form templates — will be used with the necessary adaptations
Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)
Guidance
HE Programme Guide
Model Grant Agreements (MGA)
HE MGA
HE Unit MGA
Lump Sum MGA
Operating Grants MGA
Framework Partnership Agreement FPA
Call-specific instructions
Detailed budget table (HE LS)
Guidance: "Lump sums - what do I need to know?"
Additional documents:
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 8. Climate, Energy and Mobility
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 15.…