Urban nature: supporting restoration of urban ecosystems, along urban transport networks and in the built environment
European Commission · Horizon Europe Framework Programme (HORIZON)
Posted 9 Feb 2027 · About 12 months left
Summary
Expected Outcome:
Projects are expected to contribute to all of the following outcomes:
Development of approaches, tools and methods, on how and where to restore, increase and maintain urban green space and tree canopy cover to achieve the greatest positive impacts - on climate mitigation, adaptation and resilience, biodiversity, soil, air and water quality, quality of life, and human health.
Uptake and deployment of solutions to map, restore, increase and maintain urban green space and tree canopy cover, via pilot sites in lead cities, including along urban transport networks[1].
Monitoring, evaluation and assessment of the environmental, economic, social and health impacts of the solutions deployed in pilot sites, including co-benefits and trade-offs.
Dissemination of results to follower cities and relevant target groups in other countries and cities.
Scope:
To address the expected outcomes, individual projects will be required to address all the following aspects, with at least three in each pilot site:
Develop and test approaches, tools and methods to understand how different patterns of urban green space and tree canopy cover impact on local temperature regulation / heat…
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 Eligibility Conditions
The following additional eligibility criteria apply:
Entities from at least four cities, each from a different Member State or Associated Country, must participate as beneficiaries. At least one of the four cities must be one of the 112 cities selected for the EU Mission on Climate-neutral and Smart Cities[[ The EU Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities aims to deliver 100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030 and ensure that these cities act as experimentation and innovation hubs to enable all European cities to follow suit by 2050. On 28 April 2022, the Commission announced the 100 EU cities that will participate in the Mission. In addition, 12 cities have been selected from countries associated or expected to be associated the Horizon Europe programme.]] and at least one must be a signatory to the Adaptation Mission Charter [[See the list of Charter Signatories https://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu/en/mission/the-mission/regions-and-local-authorities]].
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
described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.
5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes
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
Grants awarded under this topic will be linked to the following action(s):
Collaboration with the Cities Mission Platform[[Conceived through the Horizon 2020 project NetZeroCities - Accelerating cities' transition to net zero emissions by 2030, Grant Agreement n. 101036519, and scaled up through the topic HORIZON-MISS-2021-CIT-02-03: Framework Partnership Agreement (FPA) for the Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission Platform.]] and the Mission Adaptation’s Platform[[Initially established by MIP4Adapt and extended under the contract CINEA/2025/OP/0014]] is essential and projects must ensure that appropriate provisions for activities and resources aimed at enforcing this collaboration are included in the work plan of the proposal. The collaboration with the Mission Platform must be formalized through a Memorandum of Understanding to be concluded as soon as possible after the project starting date.
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
Please use the application form that you will find in the Submission System. You can find examples of standard application forms in the Reference Documents page.
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
Call-specific instructions
Additional documents:
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 12. Missions
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 14. Horizontal Activities
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 15.…
Themes
- Urban nature
- air quality
- biodiversity
- built environment
- climate adaptation
- climate mitigation
- decarbonisation
- nature restoration
- soil
- urban transport
- water quality
- Biodiversity conservation
- Civil engineering
- Environmental health
- Environmental protection
- Management of urban areas
- Natural resources and environmental economics
- Soil biodiversity
- Sustainable transport
- Urban planning