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Horizon Europe · European Union

Palaeoclimate science for a better understanding of Earth system dynamics

Opens 17 Nov 2026

The EU's Horizon Europe programme expects to make 2 awards of €7 million each, from a total budget of €14 million. Applications close on 4 Mar 2027 (EU calls usually close at 17:00 Brussels time). Organisations in EU member states and Horizon Europe associated countries such as Türkiye can usually take part; the topic conditions control.

Expected outcome

Project results are expected to contribute to some of the following outcomes:

• Better process understanding of past climate changes at different time scales, their variability and interactions with ecosystems, leading to improved Earth system models;

• Future climate change scenarios produced in light of past changes in the Earth system, in particular warm climates/high sea-level situations, and abrupt transitions;

• Identification of thresholds in Earth system components and better characterisation of driving mechanisms and feedbacks that may be responsible for non-linear behaviours, including indicators of abrupt changes, and early warning signals within palaeoclimate records;

• Synthesis of climate variations that can serve as fundamental basis for IPCC assessments and benchmarks for model inter-comparisons.

Scope

Palaeoclimatic (including geological, biological and ice-core) records provide information on the long-term evolution of the climate, as well as the conditions and processes that can drive physical and ecological systems during warm and cold periods, deglaciations and abrupt climatic events. The challenge of the research under this topic is to provide robust information on palaeoclimate states and events outside the range of variability recorded over the past centuries that can serve as guide for the development of Earth system models.

This challenge will be tackled through some of the following activities:

• Producing and aggregating in databases high-resolution, well-dated, interoperable palaeoclimatic records on climate variability in terms of amplitude, time (onset, duration, frequency) and space (location, extension), extending the instrumental time series to improve our understating of the proxy records and the quantification of their uncertainties;

Who can apply

Consortium of at least 3 independent legal entities from 3 different EU Member States or associated countries, at least one in a Member State (Horizon Europe standard rule).

Applicant categories are a starting point. The official call decides eligibility.

Timing

Single-stage call. Next deadline 2027-03-04. The portal states the exact cut-off time (EU calls usually close at 17:00 Brussels time).

How to apply

1. Read the full topic on the Funding & Tenders Portal: expected outcome, scope, type of action and the topic conditions, including any country restrictions.
2. Register each participating organisation in the Funding & Tenders Portal to get a PIC.
3. Consortium of at least 3 independent legal entities from 3 different EU Member States or associated countries (Horizon Europe standard rule; Türkiye is associated). Confirm in the topic conditions.
4. Prepare Part A (administrative forms and budget, completed in the portal) and Part B (the technical description on the official template for this type of action).
5. Submit in the portal before the cut-off time on the deadline day. Late submissions are not accepted.

From the call text

Who can apply

Not stated in the call text we hold — check the official page

Company stage

Not stated in the call text we hold — check the official page

Single applicant or consortium

Read the topic conditions on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal for eligible countries, consortium requirements, budget and the application route.

Where applicants must be based

Read the topic conditions on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal for eligible countries, consortium requirements, budget and the application route.

Where to apply

Read the topic conditions on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal for eligible countries, consortium requirements, budget and the application route.

Read the EU application guide

Where these facts come from

Official sources

Official call page

Facts on this page come from the funder’s official data, taken on 14 Nov 2026. The funder's own documents, including later amendments, always take precedence.

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