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Call key data
One hundred circular model households: making European households sustainable through inclusive circular practices
Call number
HORIZON-CL6-2023-CircBio-01-2
deadlines
Opening
22.12.2022
Deadline
28.03.2023 17:00
Funding rate
70% (NPO:100%)
Call budget
€ 18,000,000.00
Estimated EU contribution per project
€ 6,000,000.00
Link to the call
Link to the submission
Call content
short description
This initiative complements the envisaged circular and biobased transition activities in cities and regions at a micro level, as it aims to target individual households. In this way, it will also target social disparity. It will experiment with different behavioural approaches in a scheme of 100 circular households.
Call objectives
The transition from a take-make-waste society to sustainability, resource-efficiency and circularity will have to happen on the ground in the living environment, i.e. at the consumers’ homes, or it will not happen at all. We therefore should reduce the environmental footprint of households, and think about an ambitious GHG reduction target for households that could be tested at large scale via research and innovation funding. Areas to be addressed are e.g., household electronics, textiles, food, packaging and the respective waste, furniture, housing, modes of consumption in general, at the level of individual behavioural decisions. The feasibility of this approach should be demonstrated in pilots with NGOs and CSOs that directly target transformation in a certain number of individual households.
Although technology can contribute, the overall goal can only be achieved through behavioural change. Social and gender aspects are relevant. Proposals should demonstrate how sustainable products and/or services can better meet the real needs of citizens with regard to entertainment, communication, mobility, housing, etc., and how in return this will positively influence consumer behaviour.
This R&I initiative will also support the Commission’s commitment in the 2020 circular economy action plan (CEAP) to present measures to make circularity work for people, regions and cities, to develop a sustainable product policy framework, to empower consumers and public buyers, and to focus on areas where the potential for circularity is high.
Through this initiative, a cost-free circular economy advisory service shall be provided to selected households. As a first step, all available knowledge on the measurement and calculation of greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts from households, with particular attention to the above-mentioned consumption areas, will be screened and consolidated. A simple and robust method for a quick comparison of environmental impacts, using in particular PEF expertise, will be established.
Proposals shall define the exact scope of demonstration projects, e.g., to transform X households in Y Member States into model circularity/sustainability cells, with a focus on a limited number of material flows, and set reduction benchmarks that are ambitious and plausible, and that can be validated using the above-mentioned knowledge. In a second step, a support service directly targeted at citizens will be established. Similar to energy advisory services, material efficiency advisors will contact households and identify individual needs and optimisation potential. This can build on the infrastructure of the upcoming Circular Cities and Regions Initiative and other projects that operate at macro level, and on ongoing environmental NGO advisory activities. While the focus is on material flows, trade-offs between material and energy efficiency are to be avoided. All proposed measures have to respect the principles of non-toxicity and zero-pollution. The impact of all measures should be assessed from a lifecycle perspective.
The advisors will be the link between retailers/service providers, insurances etc., where necessary also public services and administration, and households. All proposed measures need to be easy to implement and at least cost-neutral for households. Measures will range from environmentally friendly purchasing, shared product use, swaps to optimised maintenance, upgrade, repair, down to waste disposal. Financing of significant expenses that can be a barrier to transition at household level, and amortisation issues need to be addressed in the context of the advisory service. The aim is also to debunk the notion that sustainable living is a privilege of the wealthy.
In a third step, results will be analysed and presented in a robust way that allows multiplication both through media initiatives and on the ground, via public authorities or directly by individual actors who want to replicate and implement successful circular measures in their remit. With regard to the territorial aspects of all proposed solutions, proposals should seek to contribute to the goals and cooperate with the services of the European Commission’s Circular Cities and Regions Initiative (CCRI). Joint activities with CCRI projects are encouraged.
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Expected effects and impacts
A successful proposal will contribute to the following Destination impacts: i) accelerate regional, rural, local/urban and consumer-based transitions, and ii) improve on consumer and citizen benefits.
Expected results
Project results are expected to contribute to all the following outcomes:
- Significant, well-documented increase in material efficiency in participating households;
- Significant reduction of emissions of GHG and other pollutants, including micro- and nanoplastic fibres from covered households, and increase of carbon removals;
- Improvement of living conditions in participating households;
- Multiplier effect regarding the replication of the approach and its benefits; leading by example;
- Lessons learnt for a European rollout strategy and integration with sectoral strategies such as Circular Cities and Regions Initiative (CCRI).
Eligibility Criteria
Regions / countries for funding
Moldova (Moldova), Albania (Shqipëria), Armenia (Հայաստան), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosna i Hercegovina / Босна и Херцеговина), Faeroes (Føroyar / Færøerne), Georgia (საქართველო), Iceland (Ísland), Israel (ישראל / إِسْرَائِيل), Kosovo (Kosova/Kosovë / Косово), Montenegro (Црна Гора), Morocco (المغرب), 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, Natural Person, 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
- third 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.
Specific cases:
- Affiliated entities — 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 — 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 without legal personality — 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.
- EU bodies — Legal entities created under EU law including decentralised agencies may be part of the consortium, unless provided for otherwise in their basic act.
- 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.
other eligibility criteria
Activities are expected to achieve TRL 6-8 by the end of the project.
For the Technology Readiness Level (TRL), the following definitions apply:
- TRL 1 — Basic principles observed
- TRL 2 — Technology concept formulated
- TRL 3 — Experimental proof of concept
- TRL 4 — Technology validated in a lab
- TRL 5 — Technology validated in a relevant environment (industrially relevant environment in the case of key enabling technologies)
- TRL 6 — Technology demonstrated in a relevant environment (industrially relevant environment in the case of key enabling technologies)
- TRL 7 — System prototype demonstration in an operational environment
- TRL 8 — System complete and qualified
- TRL 9 — Actual system proven in an operational environment (competitive manufacturing in the case of key enabling technologies, or in space)
Additional information
Topics
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
All proposals 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.
Proposals must be complete and contain all parts and mandatory annexes and supporting documents, e.g. plan for the exploitation and dissemination of the results including communication activities, etc.
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 45 pages.
Call documents
HE-Work Programme 2023-2024, Cluster 6, Destination 3HE-Work Programme 2023-2024, Cluster 6, Destination 3(463kB)
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