Marginal lands and climate-resilient and biodiversity-friendly crops for sustainable industrial feedstocks and related value chains

Call Updates

Feb 25, 2022 9:40:29 AM

PROPOSAL NUMBERS

Call HORIZON-CL6-2022-CIRCBIO-01 has closed on the 15th of February 2022.

61 proposals have been submitted.                                                                                                   

The breakdown per topic is:

• HORIZON-CL6-2022-CIRCBIO-01-02: 5

Evaluation results are expected to be communicated in May 2022. 

Oct 28, 2021 12:00:08 AM

The submission session is now available for: HORIZON-CL6-2022-CIRCBIO-01-02(HORIZON-IA)

Marginal lands and climate-resilient and biodiversity-friendly crops for sustainable industrial feedstocks and related value chains

TOPIC ID: HORIZON-CL6-2022-CIRCBIO-01-02

Programme: Horizon Europe Framework Programme (HORIZON)
Call: Circular economy and bioeconomy sectors (HORIZON-CL6-2022-CIRCBIO-01)
Type of action: HORIZON-IA HORIZON Innovation Actions
Type of MGA: HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based [HORIZON-AG]
Deadline model: single-stage
Planned opening date: 28 October 2021
Deadline date: 15 February 2022 17:00:00 Brussels time

Topic description

ExpectedOutcome:

Successful proposals will contribute to the impacts of this destination and the European policies it supports, in particular the European Green Deal, the circular economy action plan and the bioeconomy strategy, and engage all stakeholders. They should help improve European industrial[1] sustainability, competitiveness and resource independence by lowering the environmental footprint (including on biodiversity), enabling climate neutrality and higher resource efficiency (in particular upcycling and cascading use of biomass) along value chains, and developing innovative bio-based products.

Projects results should contribute to all following expected outcomes:

• Identification of the co-benefits potential risks and upscaling potential of sustainable biomass production with a low potential for Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC) with focus on marginal lands[2]. This should include non-edible (industrial) biomass use (such as in biorefineries of various scale and types for climate-neutral circular materials and products); introducing new industrial cropping systems (such as perennial crops).
• An improved understanding of the actual available land in the EU Member States and associated countries that could be used for biomass production that can be certified as ‘low ILUC’ for use in bio-based sectors; taking into account increasing resilience to environmental climate change effects such as soil erosion and water stress of the identified crops.
• An increased understanding of the biodiversity challenges and potentials, and the ecosystem services, with due attention to protection measures, coupled with end-user adoption and implementation of environmentally sound practices by all operators (farmers, researchers, and bio-based industry active in rural areas). This should include the replication of such practices across Europe.
• Improved functional performance of the specific value chains and products, and improved resource efficiency thanks to a better application of the cascading use of biomass.

Scope:

Sustainable biomass provision by primary land sectors (agriculture and forestry), supporting climate change mitigation and adaptation. This will require finding a balance between productivity and ecosystem services, notably biodiversity and social sustainability goals.

The topic explores two main aspects. First, enhancing ecosystem services to prepare for increased water stress and water scarcity due to climate change (including the increasing desertification of large parts of the EU, especially of the Mediterranean and Central European Member States). Secondly, serving multi-purpose and optimised[3] biomass production, with a specific focus on improving biodiversity-related benefits, with opportunities for European rural development and improved industrial competitiveness.

The scope includes identifying and developing environmentally and economically viable sources of pollinator-supporting industrial crops (e.g. by exploring the traits supporting the pollinators such as nectar provision, or resistance to pests and diseases, as well as the optimisation of a related agronomic practice). It also includes identifying and optimising crops (e.g. non-edible oil and fibre crops, dryland shrubs and woody crops) that could be adapted through modern biotechnology tools to require low-water/low-input use, and upscaling them in related value chains, e.g. in industrial sectors such as biochemicals, composites or elastomers, with the aim of replacing their fossil-based counterparts.

The topic aims to engage all relevant actors, especially the farming community, but also bio-based industry and academia, and civil society, calling for working together and co-creation, to develop solutions involving end users and taking into account a comprehensive business case at farm/production level.

Proposals should help to increase farming systems’ resilience to climate change and boost the sustainability of biomass provision through sound agronomic practices, with particular focus on high resource efficiency (including water, and nutrients e.g. via nature-based solutions and biodiversity-friendly solutions) and circular use of biomass and other natural resources.

Proposals may develop key performance indicators and life cycle assessment (LCA) criteria for operators, or identify biodiversity hotspots along the value chains and test them against established benchmarks as part of the overall recommendations.

Where relevant, proposals should seek links with and capitalise on the results of past and ongoing EU Member States and associated countries research projects (especially under the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking and the future Circular Bio-based Europe partnership).

Proposals should:

Identify and evaluate the most suitable feedstock options for different farming systems and pedo-climatic conditions. The agricultural diversity of EU and associated countries should be considered, and the selected options should contribute efficiently to climate change mitigation/adaptation (with a focus on water scarcity and water stress) and biodiversity preservation and enhancement (with special attention to marginal lands under high risk of desertification), while ensuring overall business case viability.
Develop sustainable diversification strategies that can help optimise the production of agricultural feedstock in the emerging bio-based economy (e.g. through intercropping systems, logistics and storage). Identify and produce crops suited to marginal lands. Optimise intermediary/catch crops to increase biomass production sustainably, or optimise perennial crops and short-rotation coppice plantations in annual crops-dominated agricultural production systems.
Identify and implement the best mix of appropriate technical solutions and practices for specific industrial value chains (a proposal should select and justify the choice). The scale-dependent effects on farms and landscapes should be analysed, as well as the barriers and drivers arising from governance and market issues. Make an effort to inform and engage all actors.
Develop and communicate the methods to monitor and measure the qualitative and quantitative impacts of these solutions and practices for different farming systems, the climate neutrality/negativity potential and trade-offs, including for biodiversity, and the associated improvement in farm/business socio-economic resilience.
Develop and test mechanisms with all actors, notably the research community and bio-based industry. Exchange knowledge on and demonstrate solutions for climate change mitigation and adaptation, water stress and biodiversity loss (including biotechnology approaches) to rural stakeholders (farmers, foresters) and the broader public, and help them implement them.
International cooperation is encouraged to allow the exchange of best practice while ensuring win-win scenarios and contributing to European competitiveness.
For this topic, it is not mandatory to integrate the gender dimension (sex and gender analysis) into research and innovation.

Specific Topic Conditions:

Activities are expected to achieve TRL 7 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.

Cross-cutting Priorities:

Societal Engagement

[1]In connection with European partnerships under Cluster 6, in particular Circular Bio-based Europe (CBE).

[2]Elbersen, et al. Definition and Classification of Marginal Lands Suitable for Industrial Crops in Europe (EU Deliverable), WUR: Wageningen, The Netherlands, 2018; p. 44

[3]including by the modern biotechnology approaches, as appropriate