Climate action and sustainable development are prime examples of pressing societal challenges that need a multi-country approach. Within Horizon 2020, they are not only at the heart of Societal Challenge 5 “Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials”, but are considered key objectives across the entire Horizon 2020 programme and the different Work Programs. Consequently, at least 35% and 60% of Horizon 2020’s total budget is expected to address climate action and sustainable development, respectively.

Researchers should therefore consider their project’s expected contribution to climate action (efforts that contribute to mitigating climate change, adapt to its impacts and help understand the underlying causes) and sustainable development, whenever applicable.

The interim evaluation of Horizon 2020 has revealed that the targets for expenditure on climate and sustainability had not been met during the first years of the programme. There will thus be an increased focus on these aspects in the final Work Programme (2018-2020), in order to enable the European Commission to still meet the targets by the end of Horizon 2020. Evaluators are expected to pay even greater attention to whether proposals are planning to contribute to climate action and/or sustainable development and how – a clear vision on your project’s impact on climate and sustainable development is therefore likely to improve its assessment.