HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D3-24
General information
Programme
Horizon Europe (HORIZON)
Call
Cluster 5 Call 02-2026 (WP 2025) (HORIZON-CL5-2026-02)
Type of action
HORIZON-RIA HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions
Type of MGA
HORIZON Lump Sum Grant [HORIZON-AG-LS]
Forthcoming
Deadline model
single-stage
Planned opening date
16 September 2025
Deadline date
17 February 2026 17:00:00 Brussels timeTopic description
Expected Outcome:
Project results are expected to contribute to the following expected outcomes:
- New capture technologies (either from points sources or directly from air) should lead to reduced overall cost of capture, as well as lowest possible negative environmental impact, including water use.
Scope:
Development of new or emerging capture technologies with high potential for cost reduction. Proposals shall address capture of CO2 either from one of the following areas (and explicitly identify which is being covered):
- Point sources, or
- Directly from air (direct air capture, DAC).
Depending on the capture routes chosen (e.g., solvents, sorbents, membranes, cryogenic, solid looping), examples of important issues to address include enhanced absorption/adsorption, improved kinetics and reduced energy use for CO2 capture and desorption, new materials with high selectivity for CO2 capture, flexibility of operation, modularisation and scale-up, space occupation, degradation and life span of capture materials, ability for retrofit, potential for heat integration, and solvent-induced corrosion.
In particular for DAC, examples of important issues to address are novel sorbent or solvent materials that have higher CO2 capture capacities and longer-term stability in the presence of heat and air. For all proposals, minimisation of health and environmental impact must be addressed in the project also in view of future scaling up. The developed technologies should aim at delivering CO2 at the specifications required for transport and storage, with very low levels of impurities.
For point-source capture, the technologies should address the performance profile and characteristic when operating under variable operating conditions such as load changes to maintain and as high as possible capture rate across the entire operating profile. Results from point-source capture should provide good matches between specific industrial application and capture technology while guaranteeing the quality and continuity of the industrial process.
The use of the European Research Infrastructure for CO2 Capture, Utilisation, Transport and Storage ECCSEL is encouraged but not mandatory.
In particular for DAC, international cooperation with participating countries of the Mission Innovation Carbon Dioxide Removal Mission[1] is encouraged.
[1] Carbon Dioxide Removal – Mission Innovation (mission-innovation.net)Show moreTopic conditions and documents
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 Eligible Conditions
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
In order to ensure a balanced portfolio of activities covering both (i) point-source capture and (ii) direct air capture technologies, grants will be awarded not only in order of ranking but at least also to one proposal that is the highest ranked within each area, provided they attain all thresholds (and subject to available budget).
are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.
5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes
are 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
Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021 authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme – the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2021-2027) – and in actions under the Research and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (2021-2025). [[This decision is available on the Funding and Tenders Portal, in the reference documents section for Horizon Europe, under ‘Simplified costs decisions’ or through this link: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/guidance/ls-decision_he_en.pdf]].
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 — the application form specific to this call is available in the Submission System
Standard application form (HE RIA, IA)
Evaluation form templates — will be used with the necessary adaptations
Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)
Guidance
Model Grant Agreements (MGA)
Call-specific instructions
Guidance: “Lump sums – what do I need to know?”
Additional documents:
HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 8. Climate, Energy and Mobility
HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 14. General Annexes
HE Framework Programme 2021/695
HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764
EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509
Decision authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment
EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual