From 2% to 25% – expected success rates for the H2020 Green Deal call
2nd February 2021 at 11:46 am
A total of 1,550 applications were submitted in response to the European Green Deal call, which marked the last Horizon 2020 (H2020) deadline before the transition to the next EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, Horizon Europe (HorizonEU). The large number of proposals from all over Europe all being submitted on the 26 January 2021 caused IT problems on the EU’s online submission platform which resulted in a one-day postponement of the call deadline to the 27 January 2021.
The calls on the Farm-to-Fork strategy and citizen engagement were particularly popular, receiving most applications with respectively 260 and 204 submissions. The higher number of submissions can be partly explained by the presence of six and two sub-topics. The number of proposals submitted can highly vary depending on these sub-topics. We unfortunately do not have yet the statistics per sub-topics. The call for partnerships with Africa was also highly popular with a total of 142 submitted proposals.
According to the EU Funding & Tenders Portal, applicants will receive the call results by the end of June 2021.
The table below summarises the call statistics and the chances of success based on the call budgets published on the EU’s Funding & Tenders portal. However, some of these budgets might possibly be increased; this will only be known once the projects, which have been selected for funding, are notified.
| Topic | Title (type) | EU contribution per project (EUR) | Total budget (EUR) | Proposals submitted | Anticipated number of funded proposals | Estimated success rate |
| LC-GD-1-1-2020 | Preventing and fighting extreme wildfires with the integration and demonstration of innovative means (IA) | 15,000,000 – 20,000,000 | 72,000,000 | 49 | 3-4 | 6-8% |
| LC-GD-1-1-2020 | Preventing and fighting extreme wildfires with the integration and demonstration of innovative means (CSA) | 2,000,000 – 3,000,000 | 3,000,000 | 6 | 1 | 17% |
| LC-GD-1-2-2020 | Towards Climate-Neutral and Socially Innovative Cities (RIA) | 53,000,000 | 53,000,000 | 13 | 1 | 7-8% |
| LC-GD-1-3-2020 | Climate-resilient Innovation Packages for EU regions (IA) | 10,000,000 – 15,000,000 | 42,000,000 | 29 | 3-4 | 10-14% |
| LC-GD-1-3-2020 | Networking of existing EU and international cohorts of relevance to COVID-19 (CSA) | 14 | 3 | 2-3 | 1 | 8.6 |
| LC-GD-2-1-2020 | Innovative land-based and offshore renewable energy technologies and their integration into the energy system (IA) | 20,000,000 – 35,000,000 | 68,000,000 | 42 | 2-3 | 5-7% |
| LC-GD-2-1-2020 | Innovative land-based and offshore renewable energy technologies and their integration into the energy system (RIA) | 3,000,000 – 6,000,000 | 18,000,000 | 56 | 3-6 | 5-10% |
| LC-GD-2-2-2020 | Develop and demonstrate a 100 MW electrolyser upscaling the link between renewables and commercial/industrial applications (IA) | 25,000,000 – 30,000,000 (50% funding rate) | 60,000,000 | 16 | 2 | 13% |
| LC-GD-2-3-2020 | Accelerating the green transition and energy access Partnership with Africa (IA) | 5,000,000 – 10,000,000 | 40,000,000 | 142 | 4-8 | 3-5% |
| LC-GD-3-1-2020 | Closing the industrial carbon cycle to combat climate change – Industrial feasibility of catalytic routes for sustainable alternatives to fossil resources (IA) | 40,000,000 | 80,000,000 | 16 | 2 | 13% |
| LC-GD-3-2-2020 | Demonstration of systemic solutions for the territorial deployment of the circular economy (IA) | 10,000,000 – 20,000,000 | 60,000,000 | 92 | 3-6 | 3-6% |
| LC-GD-4-1-2020 | Building and renovating in an energy and resource efficient way (IA) | 10,000,000 – 20,000,000 | 60,000,000 | 115 | 3-6 | 3-5% |
| LC-GD-5-1-2020 | Green airports and ports as multimodal hubs for sustainable and smart mobility (IA) | 15,000,000 – 25,000,000 | 100,000,000 | 44 | 4-6 | 9-13% |
| LC-GD-6-1-2020 | Testing and demonstrating systemic innovations in support of the Farm-to-Fork Strategy (IA) | 6,000,000 – 12,000,000 | 74,000,000 | 260 | 6-12 | 2-5% |
| LC-GD-7-1-2020 | Restoring biodiversity and ecosystem services (IA) | 16,000,000 – 25,000,000 | 80,000,000 | 72 | 3-5 | 4-7% |
| LC-GD-8-1-2020 | Innovative, systemic zero-pollution solutions to protect health, environment and natural resources from persistent and mobile chemicals (RIA) | 8,000,000 – 12,000,000 | 40,000,000 | 94 | 3-5 | 3-5% |
| LC-GD-8-2-2020 | Fostering regulatory science to address combined exposures to industrial chemicals and pharmaceuticals: from science to evidence-based policies (RIA) | 16,000,000 – 25,000,000 | 20,000,000 | 21 | 3-5 | 14-24% |
| LC-GD-9-1-2020 | European Research Infrastructures capacities and services to address European Green Deal challenges (RIA) | 7,000,000 – 13,000,000 | 28,000,000 | 13 | 3, one per subtopic | 20-25% |
| LC-GD-9-2-2020 | Developing end-user products and services for all stakeholders and citizens supporting climate adaptation and mitigation (RIA) | 3,000,000 – 5,000,000 | 25,000,000 | 89 | 5-8 | 5-9% |
| LC-GD-9-3-2020 | Transparent & Accessible Seas and Oceans: Towards a Digital Twin of the Ocean (IA) | 12,000,000 | 12,000,000 | 4 | 1 | 25% |
| LC-GD-10-1-2020 | European capacities for citizen deliberation and participation for the Green Deal (RIA) | 3,000,000 – 5,000,000 | 10,000,000 | 52 | 2-3 | 4-6% |
| LC-GD-10-2-2020 | Behavioural, social and cultural change for the Green Deal (RIA) | 3,000,000 – 5,000,000 | 10,000,000 | 117 | 2-3 | 2-3% |
| LC-GD-10-3-2020 | Enabling citizens to act on climate change, for sustainable development and environmental protection through education, citizen science, observation initiatives, and civic engagement (IA) | 3,000,000 – 5,000,000 | 25,000,000 | 204 | 5-8 | 2-4% |
The European Green Deal in Horizon Europe
The Green Deal represents one of the key policy priorities of the European Commission. Therefore, we also expect several funding opportunities in HorizonEU, the newly launched EU’s 9th Research and Innovation Framework Programme for the next seven years (2021-2027).
Most of the Green Deal funding for R&D will be allocated into two HorizonEU clusters, namely “Climate, Energy and Mobility” and “Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment”. We can also expect Green Deal-related calls within the European Innovation Council’s (EIC) strategic challenges, where thematic calls will be launched under the EIC Pathfinder (previously known as the FET-Open programme in H2020), the EIC Accelerator and the EIC Transition.
We look forward to helping you navigate through these new funding opportunities within Horizon EU and other relevant programmes for your specific project ideas with our Strategic Grant Planning (SGP) service.
At accelopment, we have successfully supported projects in Green Deal related research areas such as TEEWood (sustainable wood), HEAT-INSYDE (District Heating), CHEOPS (perovskite photovoltaics), SOSLeM (fuel cells) and the recently launched PHOTONFOOD, in which innovative photonic sensing solutions will notably contribute to the reduction of food waste.
For more information about the SGP, please contact Marco Cavallaro.
If you wish to discuss Green Deal-related opportunities in Horizon Europe, please contact Dr. Johannes Ripperger.
Marco Cavallaro
Research & Innovation Project Manager
Dr. Johannes Ripperger
Research & Innovation Manager