In line with the Strategic Plan, the overall expected impact of this Destination is to contribute to the “Transition to a climate-neutral and resilient society and economy enabled through advanced climate science, pathways and responses to climate change (mitigation and adaptation) and behavioural transformations”, notably through:

• Advancing knowledge and providing solutions in the any of following areas: Earth system science; pathways to climate neutrality; climate change adaptation including climate services; social science for climate action; and better understanding of climate-ecosystems interactions;
• Contributing substantially to key international assessments such as those of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) or the European Environment Agency (e.g. European environment state and outlook reports, SOER);
• Strengthening the European Research Area on climate change;
• Increasing the transparency, robustness, trustworthiness and practical usability of the knowledge base on climate change for use by policy makers, practitioners, other stakeholders and citizens.

Destination 2:

• A competitive and sustainable European battery value chain. The main impacts to be generated by topics targeting the battery value chain under this Destination are:
  • Increased global competitiveness of the European battery ecosystem through generated knowledge and leading-edge technologies in battery materials, cell design, manufacturing and recycling;
  • Accelerated growth of innovative, competitive and sustainable battery manufacturing industry in Europe;
  • Accelerated roll out of electrified mobility through increased attractiveness for citizens and businesses, offering lower price, better performance and safety, reliable operation of e-vehicles. Increased grid flexibility, increased share of renewables integration and facilitated self-consumption and participation in energy markets by citizens and businesses;
  • Increased overall sustainability and improved Life Cycle Assessment of each segment of the battery value chain. Developed and established innovative recycling network and technologies and in line with the March 2020 European Circular Economy Action Plan, accelerated roll-out of circular designs and holistic circular approach for funded innovations;
  • Increased exploitation and reliability of batteries though demonstration of innovative use cases of battery integration in stationary energy storage and vehicles/vessels/aircrafts (in collaboration with other partnerships).
• Emerging breakthrough technologies and climate solutions. The main expected impacts to be generated by topics targeting breakthrough technologies and climate solutions under this Destination are:
  • Emergence of unanticipated technologies enabling emerging zero-greenhouse gas and negative emissions in energy and transport;
  • Development of high-risk/high return technologies to enable a transition to a net greenhouse gas neutral European economy.
• Citizens and stakeholder engagement. The main expected impacts to be generated by topics targeting citizen and stakeholder engagement under this Destination are:
  • A better understanding of the societal implications of the climate transition, including its distributional repercussions;
  • More effective policy interventions, co-created with target constituencies and building on high-quality policy advice;
  • Greater societal support for transition policies and programs, based on greater and more consequential involvement of those most affected.

Destination 3:

• Fostering the European global leadership in affordable, secure and sustainable renewable energy technologies. The main impacts to be generated by topics targeting the renewable energy technologies and solutions under this Destination are:
  • Availability of disruptive renewable energy and renewable fuel technologies and systems in 2050 in order to accelerate the replacement of fossil-based energy technologies;
  • Reduced cost and improved efficiency of renewable energy and renewable fuel technologies and their value chains;
  • De-risking of renewable energy and fuel technologies with a view to their commercial exploitation and net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050;
  • Better integration of renewable energy and renewable fuel-based solutions in energy consuming sectors;
  • Reinforced European scientific basis and European export potential for renewable energy technologies through international collaboration (notably with Africa in renewable energy technologies and renewable fuels and enhanced collaboration with Mission Innovation countries);
  • Enhanced sustainability of renewable energy and renewable fuels value chains, taking fully into account social, economic and environmental aspects in line with the European Green Deal priorities;
  • More effective market uptake of renewable energy and fuel technologies.
• Energy systems, grids and storage. All projects will contribute to an increased capacity of the system to integrate renewable energy sources and less curtailment at transmission and distribution level. The main expected impacts are:
  • Increased resilience of the energy system based on improved and/or new technologies to control the system and maintain system stability under difficult circumstances;
  • Increased flexibility and resilience of the energy system, based on technologies and tools to plan and operate different networks for different energy carriers simultaneously in a coordinated manner that will also contribute to climate neutrality of hard-to-electrify sectors;
  • Enhance consumer satisfaction and increased system flexibility thanks to enabling consumers to benefit from data-driven energy services and facilitating their investment and engagement in the energy transition, through self-consumption, demand response or joint investments in renewables (either individually or through energy communities or micro-grids);
  • Improved energy storage technologies, in particular heat storage but also others such as electrochemical, chemical, mechanical and electrical;
  • Foster the European market for new energy services and business models as well as tested standardised and open interfaces of energy devices through a higher degree of interoperability, increased data availability and easier data exchange among energy companies as well as companies using energy system data;
  • More effective and efficient solutions for transporting off-shore energy thanks to new electricity transmission technologies, in particular using superconducting technologies, power electronics and hybrid Alternate Current – Direct Current grid solutions as well as MT HVDC (Multi Terminal High Voltage Direct Current) solutions.
• Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS). The main impacts to be generated by topics targeting the renewable energy technologies and solutions under this Destination are:
  • Accelerated rollout of infrastructure for CCUS hubs and clusters;
  • Updated authoritative body of knowledge on connecting industrial CO₂ sources with potential ‘bankable storage sites, providing greater confidence for decision makers and investors;
  • Proven feasibility of integrating CO₂ capture, CO₂ storage and CO₂ use in industrial facilities. Demonstrating these technologies at industrial scale shall pave the way for subsequent first-of-a-kind industrial projects;
  • Reduced cost of the CCUS value chain, with CO₂ capture being still the most relevant stumbling block for a wider application of CCUS;
  • Adequate frameworks for Measurement, Monitoring and Verification (MMV) for storage projects, to document safe storage and for public acceptance of the technology.

Destination 4:

• Highly energy-efficient and climate neutral European building stock. Topics targeting energy efficiency in buildings under this Destination seek to achieve the following impacts:
  • More energy efficient building stocks supported by an accurate understanding of buildings performance in Europe and of related evolutions;
  • Building stocks that effectively combine energy efficiency, renewable energy sources and digital and smart technologies to support the transformation of the energy system towards climate neutrality;
  • Addressing the broader transformation of the built environment, though, requires a larger involvement of all players across the built environment value chain and throughout building life cycle. To this end, a co-programmed European Partnership on a people-centric, sustainable built environment has been set up (Built4People) to develop holistic R&I for an effective transition to sustainability. All Horizon Europe R&I actions addressing the challenges related to the buildings and construction sector will contribute to achieving the Built4People Partnership goals and will benefit from the coordinated approach within the community of its partners and stakeholders. Topics contributing to the implementation of the Built4People European Partnership seek to achieve the following impacts:
    • Higher buildings’ performance with lower environmental impacts through increased rates of holistic renovations;
    • Higher quality, more affordable built environment preserving climate and environment, and safeguarding cultural heritage and ensuring better living conditions.
• Industrial facilities in the energy transition. Topics on industrial facilities in the energy transition supported under this Destination focus on thermal energy management in industry. The bulk of R&I activities related to industry is however supported under Cluster 4 “Digital, Industry and Space”.

Destination 5:

• Zero-emission road transport. The main impacts to be generated by topics targeting zero emission road transport under this Destination are:
  • Accelerated uptake of zero tailpipe emission, affordable, user-centric solutions (technologies and services) for road-based mobility all across Europe;
  • Increased user acceptance, improved air quality, a more circular economy and reduction of environmental impacts;
  • Affordable, user-friendly charging infrastructure concepts and technologies that include vehicle-grid-interactions;
  • Innovative use cases for the integration of zero tailpipe emission vehicles, and infrastructure concepts for the road mobility of people and goods;
  • Effective design, assessment and deployment of innovative concepts in road vehicles and mobility services thanks to life-cycle analysis tools and skills, in a circular economy context.
• Aviation. The main impacts to be generated by topics targeting aviation under this Destination are:
  • Disruptive gains by 2035, with up to 30% reduction in fuel burn and CO₂ between the existing aircraft in service and the next generation, compared to 12-15% in previous replacement cycles (when not explicitly defined, baselines refer to the best available aircraft of the same category with entry into service prior to year 2020);
  • Disruptive technologies entering into service by 2035 as well as 2050, based on new energy carriers, hybrid-electric architectures, next generation of ultra-high efficient engines and new aircraft configurations;
  • New technologies for significantly lower local air-pollution and noise;
  • Increased understanding of aviation’s non-CO₂ climate impacts, enabling R&I activities to more effectively contribute to the EU’s climate targets;
  • Maintain global competitiveness and leadership of the European aeronautics industry and the whole aviation ecosystem, including modernization of Air-Traffic Management by leveraging space-based services;
  • Protect the passenger and increase the resilience of the aviation ecosystem to external shocks (e.g. health issues, manufacturing, operations, cybersecurity);
  • Deliver an EU policy-driven planning and assessment framework/toolbox towards a coherent R&I prioritization and timely development of technologies in all three pillars of Horizon Europe.
• Enabling climate neutral, clean, smart, and competitive waterborne transport. The main impacts to be generated by topics targeting waterborne transport under this Destination are:
  • Increased and early deployment of climate neutral fuels and significant electrification of shipping, in particular and foremost in intra-European transport connections;
  • Increased overall energy efficiency and drastically lower fuel consumption of vessels (important in light of more expensive alternative fuels for which the sector will have to compete with other transport modes);
  • Enable the innovative port infrastructure (bunkering of alternative fuels and provision of electrical power) needed to achieve zero-emission waterborne transport (inland and maritime);
  • Enable clean, climate-neutral, and climate-resilient inland waterway vessels before 2030 helping a significant market take-up and a comprehensive green fleet renewal which will also help modal shift;
  • Strong technological and operational momentum towards achieving climate neutrality and the elimination of all harmful pollution to air and water;
  • Achieve the smart, efficient, secure and safe integration of maritime and inland shipping into logistic chains, facilitated by full digitalisation and automation;
  • Enable fully automated shipping (maritime and inland) and efficient connectivity;
  • Competitive waterborne industries, including the globally active European maritime technology sector, providing the advanced green and digital technologies which will support jobs and growth in Europe.
• Impact of transport on environment and human health. The main impacts to be generated by topics targeting transport-related health and environmental issues under this Destination are:
  • The reduction of road vehicle polluting emissions (looking at both regulated, unregulated and emerging ones) from both existing and future automotive fleets; prevention of smog episodes in Europe and a better understanding of the impact of air and noise pollution on human health (including potential sex and gender differences);
  • The better monitoring of the environmental performance and enforcement of regulation (detection of defeat devices, tampered anti-pollution systems, etc.) of fleets of transport vehicles, be it on road, airports and ports;
  • The reduction of noise emitted by L category road vehicles;
  • Substantially reduce the overall environmental impact of transport (e.g.: as regards biodiversity, noise, pollution and waste).

Destination 6: