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Call key data

Real time monitoring of regulated and non-regulated emissions from all types of vessels and other port activities in order to enforce emission limits in waterfront cities

Funding Program

Horizon Europe: Cluster 5 - Climate, Energy and Mobility

Call number

HORIZON-CL5-2026-01-D5-17

deadlines

Opening
16.09.2025

Deadline
20.01.2026 17:00

Funding rate

70%

Call budget

€ 16,000,000.00

Estimated EU contribution per project

€ 8,000,000.00

Link to the call

ec.europa.eu

Link to the submission

ec.europa.eu

Call content

short description

There is a pressing need to measure accurately the different types of emissions in coastal and port environments located near to cities, because of their negative impact on the environment and human health. Ports, as intricate environments showcasing a variety of vessels including novel designs, pose a challenge to the development of standardised technologies capable of collecting and assessing real-time pollutant emissions data from these ships docking at ports. This is vital for enforcing emissions limits and validating the data for enforcement purposes.

Call objectives

Emissions in ports stem from other sources, such as port operations (e.g., cargo handling, towing, fuel storage, and bunkering) or even other industrial activities (directly or indirectly linked to transport, e.g., fisheries) taking place within the port area. Additionally, ports are frequently situated near industrial zones, making it crucial to possess an accurate and, where possible, real-time understanding of the types, origins, and intensity of pollutant and noise emissions generated in and around a port area.

The shift from heavy fuel oils to alternative fuels in the context of the regulatory framework set to achieve the objectives of the Green Deal requires further research actions; recent evidence from research and monitoring projects has shown that new fuels being considered and GHG emission-control technologies used on-board vessels may result in emissions of other harmful pollutants that are not sufficiently controlled. In some cases, unexpected side effects of emission abatement may arise which might require regulatory action.

Further to such undesired releases, it is crucial to ensure that vessels comply with regulations in force, in coastal areas, at open sea and in inland waterways. Projects under call LC-MG-1-1-2018 of Horizon 2020 showed that remote measurement of SOx emissions using stationary or mobile techniques can significantly increase the cost-effectiveness of compliance monitoring. It is important to explore whether remote or on-board techniques can be extended to the monitoring of additional pollutants such as CH4, NOx, N2O, NH3, UFP, BC, formaldehyde, PM, as well as the Particle Number (PN), NPAHs and to provide internationally harmonised methods and reporting procedures where such measurements can be used within an enhanced compliance monitoring framework in the future. These methods should also have the potential to be used as evidence for law enforcement to enable independent prosecution of violations. Furthermore, there is a need to develop engine testing procedures that better represent operational patterns in order for the emission values from test cycles to accurately represent real emissions.

Limited surveillance measurements at open seas show a different compliance (lower compliance) behaviour for sulphur emissions compared to measurements in coastal regions. Therefore, it is important to identify risk areas for violations and to establish techniques for monitoring in these areas as well. It is of equally great importance to develop harmonised/standardised monitoring methods that could be used as evidence for sanctions in the future.

Assessment of the real-world performance of emission control, in particular for Tier III vessels, is therefore required to make sure that current NOx regulations achieve and sustain the emission reductions that these regulations are designed for. Further, certification testing should be modified to better address real world conditions. Moreover, potential ammonia slip from urea consumption needs to be identified, and N2O emission levels need to be determined to ensure that GHG reduction efforts are not thwarted.

In addition, no established method for identifying NOx emissions that exceed existing standards under real sailing operation is currently in place. Based on different remote or on-board measurement techniques, harmonised methods, and reporting procedures to identify exceedances of expected emission levels needs to be designed and put in action, at least for informative reasons – as no enforcement of low NOx under real operation is currently in place.

With CH4 being a potent GHG, any uncontrolled releases from LNG powered vessels significantly compromise any lower carbon benefits of the LNG as a fuel. Moreover, although boil-off gas (BOG) should be reliquefied or used on-board, records of BOG release to the atmosphere have been reported. The extent of any remaining current problem needs to be identified and measurements on methane slip from actual vessels need to identify the extent of emissions, considering potential needs for methane emission limits (for the engines as well as for the fuel storage onboard and the bunkering process). The problem with methane slip will also remain with the use of bio-methane as fuel.

New fuels are considered in the effort to decarbonise shipping, with the most prominent being ammonia (NH3), methanol (MeOH) and hydrogen. There is currently limited evidence on new pollution dimensions induced by such fuels, including ultrafine particles of non-carbonaceous origin, N2O and NH3 emissions, NPAH, Formaldehyde PM, NOx, etc. Measurements on actual marine engines and vessels using such fuels need to provide new evidence in the pool of data forming so that early measures are taken before such new fuels become widespread in actual use, in case such new emissions prove to be at a level that constitute health hazards or environmental risks. Zero carbon fuels like NH3 and H2, as well as dual-fuel engines and CO2 capture onboard require different remote measurement methods, since CO2 is no longer a stable and dominant reference gas in the exhaust plume. Alternative options in sensing and calculation method need to be introduced.

Demonstration must be undertaken within a real operational environment. In the collection and analysis of remote as well as static sensing data for the monitoring of emissions and air pollutants, the accuracy of the sensors and the quality and verifiability of the data obtained are of particular importance. Potential risks and problems in data collection and sensor technology, in particular as regards the identification of the source of the pollution, should be analysed in detail. A verifiable methodology is also required for processing and interpreting the data in the next step. Issues such as access to data, data storage and associated security aspects (including the assessment of cyber security of interoperable systems) should be fully considered. Particular efforts should be made to ensure that the data produced in the context of this topic is FAIR.

To address all these highlighted issues, proposals are expected to undertake all the following R&I activities:

  • Map high emission activities and demonstrate port, coastal, inland and open sea monitoring techniques for at least NOx, BC, N2O, UFP, NH3, CH4,, PM as well as PN and NMVOC (or any other related pollutants), during normal operation of ships which includes dynamic engine loads of all ship types (including port service vessels) and suitable for zero carbon fuels, dual-fuel engines and carbon capture. All the emission measurements should be integrated through static and remote sensing in order to share data;
  • Demonstration of the developed measuring technologies in 6 different TEN-T ports, (of which 3 Core and 3 Comprehensive ports, covering at least three sea basins of the Black, Mediterranean, North Sea, N. Atlantic and Baltic Seas). Out of these 6 ports at least one should be classified as a TEN-T inland-waterway only port according to Annex II of the TEN-T Regulation. At least one of the ports should be situated in a city participating in the Cities Mission and activities should feed into the implementation of the Climate City Contract (CCC), with abatement measures and port-city collaborative governance approaches to match or enhance CCC commitments. The selection of ports should be such as to cover a wide range of emission profiles and take into consideration the complexity of emission sources in order to ensure that the outcome is representative and can be replicated to other ports;
  • Identify, differentiate and measure in real time at or near possible sources of emissions (e.g., individual vessel, specific port operations, industrial installations within and very close to the port area) under complex (geographical, layout, mixed space uses and other) conditions and variable weather conditions. The calibration of the measurement systems and the reproducibility of the results should be demonstrated;
  • Development of a methodology for assessing pollution within the port area including emissions from all transport modes, port operations and industries located in the port area;
  • Identify the impact of emissions in ports and nearby cities and propose mitigating measures and plans for municipalities and port authorities, including ports in which municipalities are not directly involved in the management of port authorities and terminals;
  • Development of Real-Time Decision Support Systems (RT DSS) for ships, onboard ship operations, ship operators to look into data collected to enable port and maritime authorities to make decisions about rebates;
  • Development of harmonised monitoring techniques and an automatic reporting and verification system solution helping shipowners to comply with current and future EU and international regulation as well as public authorities to monitor and control emissions from the data exchanged;
  • Harmonise/standardise monitoring techniques and reporting (taking also into consideration the CountEmissions EU rules) with the potential to be used for legal prosecution; develop recommendations for improved certification and testing for real world situations;
  • Increase evidence to feed pool of data for regulated and non-regulated pollutants from vessels;
  • Identify pollutants from new fuels used for shipping decarbonisation;
  • Develop protocol(s) for the measurement of BC, UFP, and PN from vessels;
  • Develop engine testing methods to better mimic real-world emissions and propose a vessel grading system methodology with respect to its emissions comparable to EURO classification of road vehicles.

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Expected effects and impacts

Proposals should demonstrate how they will engage with authorities and local communities in disseminating results in proportion to their expected impacts. Relevant authorities include the European Commission, the Bonn Agreement, Helcom, the IMO, and national, regional, and local competent authorities etc. while local communities are primarily, but not limited to, major port cities and coastal areas in the EU.

Proposals are encouraged to explore and use the results from previous EU-funded projects such as SCIPPER (Horizon 2020), EMERGE (Horizon 2020) and Green C Ports (CEF), Interreg Clean North Sea Shipping and LIFE CLINSH (CLean Inland SHipping) as well as develop complementarities with relevant activities funded under the Horizon Europe call on “Advanced transport emissions monitoring networks” (HORIZON-CL5-2023-D5-01-18) and activities developing satellite-based measurements (Cluster 4 Destination 5 (Space) and EUSPA), focusing on remaining gaps not covered by these projects. Duplication of activities should be avoided.

Proposals are encouraged to include and consider the fisheries sectors and fishing vessels, considering their potential intersections with the use of alternative fuels in ports when relevant. Consideration of projects such as HORIZON-MISS-2023-OCEAN-01-05 and PPPA-2024-FISHVESSELDEMO may prove beneficial.

The funded projects should share their experience and good practices with the projects selected under the topic of the EU Ocean & Waters Mission on “Restoring waterfront cities and their ports /maritime infrastructures (HORIZON-MISS-2025-03-OCEAN-05) and links should also be established with the projects funded under topic HORIZON-CL4-SPACE-2025-01-46: Innovative Earth observation services in support of maritime litter detection and ship source pollution policies.

This topic has been co-programmed and is contributing to the implementation of the Zero-Emission Waterborne Transport (ZEWT) partnership and of the Climate Neutral and Smart Cities Mission.

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Expected results

To support the Zero Pollution Action Plan and the Smart and Sustainable Mobility Strategy as well as the implementation of the Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission, project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

  • Real-time demonstration of on-board tamper-proof and remote measurement techniques for a wide range of pollutants (including pollutants from alternative fuels and non-regulated pollutants) from vessel emissions, allowing shipowners to measure the emissions during operation and contributing to the current monitoring and enforcing activities of public authorities, such as port and maritime authorities and with the potential to be used for future compliance monitoring;
  • Development of broadly accepted harmonised methods to measure real sailing emissions, including coastal, open seas and inland waterway with potential to be used for future compliance monitoring;
  • Development of an automatic reporting and verification system solution that helps shipping companies to comply with current and future regulation and for maritime, inland and port authorities to monitor and control the actual ship emissions derived from the data exchanged;
  • Contribution to the delivery of better emission factors for emissions inventories and projections, especially for harmful substances and fuel mixtures for which little knowledge exists today and ultimately contributing to the establishment of a broadly accepted method for measuring and calculating real sailing emissions of a ship;
  • Identification of real-world releases of harmful substances which are currently not controlled by regulations and excessive releases of substances already controlled in open seas and in-port activities;
  • Innovative technologies and systems to monitor, measure and identify the source of pollution in ports beyond vessels, including other transport modes, port operations and industries active in the port environment are made available for public authorities;
  • Recommendations for improved certification and testing to better cover real world situations;
  • Support of local, regional, national and international emissions reduction and air quality plans and noise action plans by providing real-world emission information and measuring the actual impact of control measures and strategies on concentrations and/or deposition of pollutants;
  • Identification of risk areas for potential violations to emission limits.

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Eligibility Criteria

Regions / countries for funding

EU Member States, Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT)
Moldova (Moldova), Albania (Shqipëria), Armenia (Հայաստան), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosna i Hercegovina / Босна и Херцеговина), Canada, Faeroes (Føroyar / Færøerne), Georgia (საქართველო), Iceland (Ísland), Israel (ישראל / إِسْرَائِيل), Kosovo (Kosova/Kosovë / Косово), Montenegro (Црна Гора), New Zealand (Aotearoa), North Macedonia (Северна Македонија), Norway (Norge), Serbia (Srbija/Сpбија), Tunisia (تونس /Tūnis), Türkiye, Ukraine (Україна), United Kingdom

eligible entities

EU Body, Education and training institution, International organization, Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) / Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Other, Private institution, incl. private company (private for profit), Public Body (national, regional and local; incl. EGTCs), Research Institution incl. University, Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME)

Mandatory partnership

Yes

Project Partnership

To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:

  • the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions
  • the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States
  • countries associated to Horizon Europe - see list of particpating countries

Only legal entities forming a consortium are eligible to participate in actions provided that the consortium includes, as beneficiaries, three legal entities independent from each other and each established in a different country as follows:

  • at least one independent legal entity established in a Member State; and
  • at least two other independent legal entities, each established in different Member States or Associated Countries.

Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from non-associated third countries or international organisations (including international European research organisations) is eligible to participate (whether it is eligible for funding or not), provided that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation have been met, along with any other conditions laid down in the specific call topic.

A ‘legal entity’ means any natural or legal person created and recognised as such under national law, EU law or international law, which has legal personality and which may, acting in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity without legal personality.

At least one of the ports must be situated in a city participating in the Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission. The demonstration activities must take place in a real operational environment.

other eligibility criteria

Specific cases:

  • Affiliated entities (i.e. entities with a legal or capital link to a beneficiary which participate in the action with similar rights and obligations to the beneficiaries, but which do not sign the grant agreement and therefore do not become beneficiaries themselves) are allowed, if they are eligible for participation and funding.
  • Associated partners (i.e. entities which participate in the action without signing the grant agreement, and without the right to charge costs or claim contributions) are allowed, subject to any conditions regarding associated partners set out in the specific call conditions.
  • Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees to protect the EU’s financial interests equivalent to those offered by legal persons.
  • Legal entities created under EU law (EU bodies) including decentralised agencies may be part of the consortium, unless provided for otherwise in their basic act.
  • International European research organisations are eligible to receive funding. International organisations with headquarters in a Member State or Associated Country are eligible to receive funding for ‘Training and mobility’ actions or when provided for in the specific call/topic conditions. Other international organisations are not eligible to receive funding, unless provided for in the specific call/topic conditions, or if their participation is considered essential for implementing the action by the granting authority.
  • Joint Research Centre (JRC)— Where provided for in the specific call conditions, applicants may include in their proposals the possible contribution of the JRC but the JRC will not participate in the preparation and submission of the proposal. Applicants will indicate the contribution that the JRC could bring to the project based on the scope of the topic text. After the evaluation process, the JRC and the consortium selected for funding may come to an agreement on the specific terms of the participation of the JRC. If an agreement is found, the JRC may accede to the grant agreement as beneficiary requesting zero funding or participate as an associated partner, and would accede to the consortium as a member.
  • Associations and interest groupings — Entities composed of members (e.g. European research infrastructure consortia (ERICs)) may participate as ‘sole beneficiaries’ or ‘beneficiaries without legal personality’. However, if the action is in practice implemented by the individual members, those members should also participate (either as beneficiaries or as affiliated entities, otherwise their costs will NOT be eligible.
  • EU restrictive measures — Entities subject to EU restrictive measures under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU) as well as Article 75 TFEU, are not eligible to participate in any capacity, including as beneficiaries, affiliated entities, associated partners, third parties giving in-kind contributions, subcontractors or recipients of financial support to third parties (if any).
  • Legal entities established in Russia, Belarus, or in non-government controlled territories of Ukraine — Given the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the involvement of Belarus, there is currently no appropriate context allowing the implementation of the actions foreseen in this programme with legal entities established in Russia, Belarus, or in non-government controlled territories of Ukraine. Therefore, even where such entities are not subject to EU restrictive measures, such legal entities are not eligible to participate in any capacity. This includes participation as beneficiaries, affiliated entities, associated partners, third parties giving in-kind contributions, subcontractors or recipients of financial support to third parties (if any). Exceptions may be granted on a case-by-case basis for justified reasons.
    With specific regard to measures addressed to Russia, following the adoption of the Council Regulation (EU) 2024/1745 of 24 June 2024 (amending Council Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 of 31 July 2014) concerning restrictive measures in view of Russia’s actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine, legal entities established outside Russia but whose proprietary rights are directly or indirectly owned for more than 50% by a legal person, entity or body established in Russia are also not eligible to participate in any capacity.
  • Measures for the protection of the Union budget against breaches of the principles of the rule of law in Hungary — Following the Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/2506, as of 16 December 2022, no legal commitments can be entered into with Hungarian public interest trusts established under the Hungarian Act IX of 2021 or any entity they maintain. Affected entities may continue to apply to calls for proposals and can participate without receiving EU funding, as associated partners, if allowed by the call conditions. However, as long as the Council measures are not lifted, such entities are not eligible to participate in any funded role (beneficiaries, affiliated entities, subcontractors, recipients of financial support to third parties, etc.).In case of multi-beneficiary grant calls, applicants will be invited to remove or replace that entity in any funded role and/or to change its status into associated partner. Tasks and budget may be redistributed accordingly.

Additional information

Topics

Air Quality, Biodiversity & Environment, Climate & Climate Change, Water quality & management, 
Digitalisation, Digital Society, ICT, 
Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy , 
Mobility & Transport, 
Rural & Urban Development/Planning

Relevance for EU Macro-Region

EUSAIR - EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, EUSALP - EU Strategy for the Alpine Space, EUSBSR - EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, EUSDR - EU Strategy for the Danube Region

UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs)

Additional Information

Applications must be submitted electronically via the Funders & Tenders Portal electronic submission system (accessible via the topic page in the Search Funding & Tenders section). Paper submissions are NOT possible.

Applications must be submitted using the forms provided inside the electronic submission system (not the templates available on the topic page, which are only for information). The structure and presentation must correspond to the instructions given in the forms.

Applications must be complete and contain all parts and mandatory annexes and supporting documents.

The application form will have two parts:

  • Part A (to be filled in directly online) contains administrative information about the applicant organisations (future coordinator and beneficiaries and affiliated entities), the summarised budget for the proposal and call-specific questions;
  • Part B (to be downloaded from the Portal submission system, completed and then assembled and re-uploaded as a PDF in the system) contains the technical description of the project.

Annexes and supporting documents will be directly available in the submission system and must be uploaded as PDF files (or other formats allowed by the system).

The limit for a full application (Part B) is 70 pages.

Grants awarded under this topic will be linked to the action HORIZON-MISS-2021-CIT-02-03. Collaboration with the Cities Mission Platform is essential and projects must ensure that appropriate provisions for activities and resources aimed at enforcing this collaboration are included in the work plan of  the proposal. The collaboration with the Mission Platform must be formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding to be concluded as soon as possible after the project starting date.

Activities are expected to achieve TRL 7-8 by the end of the project. Activities may start at any TRL.

Call documents

Horizon Europe Work Programme 2025 Cluster 5 - Climate, Energy and MobilityHorizon Europe Work Programme 2025 Cluster 5 - Climate, Energy and Mobility(2548kB)

Contact

National Contact Points for Horizon Europe
Website

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