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Networking to scale up living labs for nature restoration solutions and to address bottlenecks to implementation

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The EU's Horizon Europe programme expects to make 1 award of €4 million, from a total budget of €4 million. Applications close on 14 Jan 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

Proposals are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Living labs working on nature restoration [1] are better connected, they are better involved in policy developments, and they benefit from existing knowledge and experience, leading to scale up of solutions for nature restoration and to address bottlenecks to implementation in particular through strengthened ownership including by local communities, private actors and public authorities;

• the cooperation between research, practice and policy on nature restoration is increased, with attention to practitioners involved in nature restoration (farmers, foresters, fishers and/or other businesses depending on ecosystem services) and rural/local communities and authorities as well as traditional and local knowledge holders;

• public authorities, land owners and/or managers, water related stakeholders, food and bioeconomy actors and practitioners have access to shared, validated deployment and governance frameworks that support the scale up of nature restoration actions as well as estimates for demand for certified environmental outcomes supporting restoration objectives (certified carbon farming credits [2] and, once methodologies are available, nature credits).

Scope

The EU biodiversity strategy for 2030 defines nature restoration objectives in line with target 2 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The EU Nature Restoration Regulation (NRR) provides that Member States shall put in place effective and area-based restoration measures.

Support to nature restoration living labs has been granted under Horizon Europe and more living labs are expected to be settled, making coordination and transfer of implementation frameworks increasingly important. including to capture recurring implementation bottlenecks. The Soil Mission has gathered experience on living labs for soil restoration notably through the project SOILL [3] .

The Commission announced in the Bioeconomy Strategy the creation of a Buyers’ Club for carbon farming; its aim is to bring together potential buyers of carbon farming credits certified under the Carbon Removal and Carbon Farming (CRCF) Regulation, for instance by facilitating alliances between land managers and potential financiers. The Commission has adopted a roadmap towards nature credits [4] .

Who can apply

A single organisation from an EU Member State or associated country can apply (Horizon Europe standard rule).

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

Topics

Agriculture Agrobiodiversity Agroecology Biodiversity conservation Biodiversity status and trends Biological sciences Ecology (theoretical and experimental; population, species and community level) Ecosystem management Environmental change and society Environmental protection Environmental sciences Environmental sciences (social aspects) Flood Management Forest biodiversity Forest ecosystem services Forest fauna Forest flora Forest resilience Forest soils Forestry

Timing

Single-stage call. Next deadline 2027-01-14. 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. This topic is for a single applicant: no consortium is needed (check the topic conditions for who qualifies).
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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