EȘTI AICI:
Building a low-carbon, climate resilient future: Research and innovation in support of the European Green Deal (Different Topics)

Building a low-carbon, climate resilient future: Research and innovation in support of the European Green Deal (Different Topics)

European capacities for citizen deliberation and participation for the Green Deal

This topic covers citizen deliberation and participation. Actions should establish transnational networks of experts, researchers, practitioners and relevant civil society organisations specialised in deliberative democracy and civic participation across Europe, including professionals in the field of public engagement. Experts on gender equality and climate justice should also be included. They should share good practice, tools and resources and implement participatory and deliberation processes on priority issues in order to deliver on the Green Deal, both at the level of local communities and at wider scale. They should establish connection across the diverse participation and deliberation processes across regions and countries up to the European level. They should build on already existing experience and tools, notably open access ones stemming from EU-funded projects such as the RRI Tools platform.

https://bit.ly/2HfI18h

Behavioural, social and cultural change for the Green Deal

Actions should address behavioural change at individual and collective levels, including public and private organisations, as well as broader changes in social practices related to the European Green Deal. Actions should establish transnational and transdisciplinary networks of experts, researchers, practitioners and relevant civil society organisations on behavioural, social and cultural change. They should jointly analyse social practices and behavioural change processes, including enabling as well as inhibiting factors, share good practice, tools and resources and implement relevant experimentation on priority issues to deliver on the European Green Deal. They should build on existing experience, notably stemming from EU-funded projects.

Actions should include several experimental studies, each implemented in at least four Member States and/or Associated Countries. Specific topics for case studies should be co-decided with the European Commission services involved in implementing the European Green Deal. They should support major EU actions where such change is key, including – but not limited to – Horizon Europe Missions, in close cooperation with the respective mission boards, and other R&I initiatives.

https://bit.ly/3clxYdj

Enabling citizens to act on climate change, for sustainable development and environmental protection through education, citizen science, observation initiatives, and civic engagement

Citizen science is a powerful tool for climate action, sustainable development and environmental protection through civic engagement. Citizen science should be understood broadly, covering a range of different levels of participation, from raising public knowledge of science, encouraging citizens to participate in the scientific process by observing, gathering and processing data, right up to setting scientific agenda and co-designing and implementing science-related policies. It could also involve publication of results and teaching science. Citizen science activities should be based on a robust scientific methodology ensuring the quality of the data collected and a fair representation of all stakeholders involved. Citizen science will help to raise awareness, to educate in science, to increase understanding of scientific processes and scientific literacy. It will also provide new tools and data for environmental monitoring, covering a broad European geography. Citizen science can strongly contribute to the delivery of environmental data with a significant potential for further broad use, including contributing to improving relevant European policies. It will have real-life impact through adaptations in citizen/consumer personal behaviours.

https://bit.ly/2ZNlNk2

Innovative land-based and offshore renewable energy technologies and their integration into the energy system

The European Green Deal expects to transform Europe into a fair and prosperous society with a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy with no net emissions of greenhouse gases in 2050. To decarbonise Europe, land-based and offshore renewables must become the main energy source, while keeping the stability and resilience of the European Energy System. Research and Innovation is still needed to be able to achieve a full system transformation and to realize the ambition of other EU policies like the Clean Planet for all, the SET-Plan, and the New Circular Economy Strategy and to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (in particular SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy and SDG 9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure.

https://bit.ly/3mx14eh

Demonstration of systemic solutions for the territorial deployment of the circular economy

Boosting circularity is part of the policy response to address systemic crisis such as climate change, pollution, waste generation, and biodiversity loss. Circular economy can play an important role in the EU’s recovery from the adverse socio-economic and environment impacts of the COVID-19 crisis, by providing systemic solutions for sustainable growth and economic recovery. As indicated in the European Green Deal Communication, with increasing global consumption and growing pressure on resources there is an urgent need to decouple economic growth from resource use and to ensure a swift transition to climate-neutral and circular solutions. Europe also needs to increase its resilience in the face of uncertainty in the supply of critical raw materials and to increase the security of its value chains such as for example the new Circular Economy Action Plan key product value chains: batteries and vehicles, electronics and ICT, packaging, plastics, textiles, construction and buildings, food, water and nutrients[1]. A circular economy which is sustainable, regenerative, inclusive and just can help our economies to function within the boundaries of our planet by restoring natural systems, reducing GHG emissions and minimising loss of natural capital and biodiversity. It can also connect environmental policies with social justice through just transition ensuring environmental sustainability, jobs and social inclusion. Where relevant, attention should also be paid to occupational health and safety aspects and potential challenges of the transition towards a circular economy.

https://bit.ly/33Ciyx3

Building and renovating in an energy and resource efficient way

With rising focus on the building sector (e.g. the ‘renovation wave’ initiative of the European Green Deal) in view of the full decarbonisation by 2050, the built environment remains a strategic domain for R&I. The priority is the design and construction of new or retrofitting of existing buildings as zero-emission/zero-pollution[1], positive energy-houses in sustainable green neighbourhoods. There are two major components in this transition. Firstly, a transition in designing and constructing buildings to reduce their embodied emissions and to increase the energy efficiency of their operation; the same applies to retrofitting existing buildings to increase their efficiency. Secondly, a transition to energy positive buildings (producing electricity, covering their heating and cooling needs and contributing to the energy grid stability) with sustainable, renewable energy technologies. These two components are closely linked, since greater building efficiency can reduce demand for heating and cooling and allow a greater range of zero emission technologies to become viable. It also means, reducing demand through effective building designs, including those that are adapted to their local environments (bioclimatic architecture conditions) and use. Spreading such building concept allows the creation of green neighbourhood “living labs” (including social housing and non-residential buildings such as hospitals, schools, public buildings, commercial buildings, etc.) with additional urban functionalities (e.g. shared EV charging facilities).

https://bit.ly/3iCppNn

Restoring biodiversity and ecosystem services

While solutions for the restoration of biodiversity and ecosystem services are available now, they are neither up-scaled nor integrated enough in today’s governance, investment or policy support landscapes. Research and demonstration on how to scale up technical and non-technical approaches for the spatial and social-economic integration of restoration impacts is therefore needed. The environmental emergency highlights the limits of current management approaches and calls for investment in innovative, sustainable and effective restoration including through mobilising innovative funding and cross-sectoral collaborations that could trigger transformational change. Moreover, the global biodiversity post-2020 framework seeks voluntary commitments by business and stakeholders to invest in biodiversity and new approaches to speed up actions in the framework of the UN decade for restoration.

From increased social awareness to more engagement with the private sector, there is a distinct need to build trans-disciplinary collaborations at all scales and across relevant ecosystem types. Win-win solutions and multi-purpose usage that support local biodiversity while delivering specific services and socio-economic benefits are sought. Hence, this topic seeks answers on how to frame transformational change which supports a just transition – to show how investing in nature restoration can explicitly help vulnerable regions and communities to improve their resilience to social and environmental shocks, when rapid changes in climate and environment, economies and social conditions occur.

This topic therefore responds to the urgent double challenge of (i) accelerating transformative change through (ii) upscaling restoration of ecosystems at sea or on land.

https://bit.ly/3c849MW

European Research Infrastructures capacities and services to address European Green Deal challenges

The urgency and the scale of Green Deal challenges require the mobilisation and advancement of world-class scientific capacities and resources such as those offered by European Research Infrastructures. They will contribute to the transition towards a climate neutral Europe, targeting at least 50% emissions reduction by 2030. As a pilot under Horizon 2020, activities will focus on the provision of research and innovation services for breakthrough research in two priority areas: energy storage and advanced climate/environment observation and monitoring. Expected impacts range from answering short-term needs of thematic European Green Deal objectives to longer-term perspective including Horizon Europe.

https://bit.ly/3iGE8qJ

Deadline: January 26, 2021
Link: https://bit.ly/33IOsrI