Delivery of industrial CCUS clusters – Societal Readiness pilot
Horizon Europe · Grant topic
Summary
A Polish company can use this call for R&D.
Funds industrially involved projects preparing regional CCUS clusters, demonstrating integration pathways and addressing societal concerns before commercial scale-up.
- Who can apply
- Companies can lead: SME, large company, startup, research org, university.
- Amount
- €10M per projectTotal budget €30,000,000
- Deadline
- 01 Dec 2027 01:00 CETin 403 days
- Status
- Forthcomingopens 4 Aug 2027
Machine-classified from the call text; check eligibility at the source.
Description
Expected Outcome:
Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following outcomes:
• Near-to-market solutions for the safe integration and use of CCUS technologies in the energy- and carbon-intensive industry;
• A pipeline of projects that have the potential for commercial scale-up.
• Deeper understanding of the needs and concerns of diverse social groups involved in or potentially affected by the R&I development of the technology, thereby increasing the potential for beneficial societal uptake and building trust in results and outcomes.
Scope:
Projects are expected to be the de-risking first step to develop local or regional industrial CCUS clusters, i.e. (multi) source and (multi) sink solutions for the decarbonisation of the hard-to-abate industries of the region. Projects are expected to be the basis and orientation for future full-size projects. To maximise the impact, projects should have a substantial industrial involvement.
Projects should address most, but not necessarily all of the below issues:
• Detailed planning and preparation for retrofitting capture systems to existing industrial plants;
• Demonstrating important system components;
• Identification and characterisation of the clustering potential of (cross-border) regional CO2 emitters;
• Optimisation of industrial symbiosis between emitters and potential users of CO2;
• Development of tools to optimise the design and operation of the cluster(s) and operate CO2 streams with different compositions, flow rates and operating regimes to comply with the constraints for the shared transport and storage infrastructure;
• Identification of potential regional users of a common CO2 infrastructure (this could also include enlargement counties, such as the Western Balkans, Ukraine and Moldova);
• Comprehensive economic and technical assessment to identify the best (multimodal) transport options, including the re-use of existing infrastructure;
• Development of business models for regional CO2 transport networks, including for dispersed industrial sites to link these to larger industrial clusters or pipeline networks;
• Consideration of feasible CO2 geological storage services
• Comprehensive set of studies and preparatory actions leading to permitting;
• Scenarios for integrating CO2 infrastructure in (plans for) regional, national and/or cross-border energy networks (electricity, hydrogen, natural gas), also in relation to future changes in industrial landscape and energy supply mix.
Projects are expected to deliver a strategy for the exploitation of results that includes plans for scalability, commercialisation, deployment, permitting procedures, and identified public and private funding sources for CAPEX and OPEX, like private equity, the InvestEU, the EU Catalyst Partnership, the Innovation Fund, and possibly the Regional Development policy funds.
For CO2 capture, transport, utilisation and (in particular onshore) geological storage, public acceptability is paramount. Therefore, projects are expected to identify and engage relevant end users and societal stakeholders (such as civil society organisations, non-governmental organisations, and local associations) in deliberative activities, so as to consider and respond to their needs and concerns.
This topic is a Societal-Readiness pilot:
• Proposals should follow the instructions applying to the Societal Readiness pilot, as described in the introduction of the Horizon Europe Main Work Programme 2026-2027 for Climate, Energy and Mobility. They entail the use of an interdisciplinary approach to deepening consideration and responsiveness of R&I activities to societal needs and concerns.
• This topic requires effective contribution of the relevant SSH expertise, including the involvement of SSH experts in the consortium, to meaningfully support Societal Readiness. Specifically, SSH expertise is expected to facilitate the socio-technological interface and enable the design of project objectives with Societal Readiness related activities.
Technology Readiness Level - Technology readiness level expected from completed projects
Activities are expected to achieve TRL 6-8 by the end of the project – see General Annex B. Activities may start at any TRL.
Who can apply, in detail
- Applicant types
- SME, Large company, Startup, Research org, University
- Purpose
- Research and innovation
- R&D relevance
- 3 of 3
- Poland eligible
- Yes
- Country limit
- —
- Region
- Any
- Consortium
- Unclear
- Readiness level (TRL)
- —
- Topics
- Industrial carbon capture
- CO2 utilisation and storage
- Industrial clusters
- Societal readiness
Machine-classified from the call text; check eligibility at the source. 23 Oct 2026
Conditions
Typed facts extracted from the source documents by Scindu's grant-data review. Each value keeps its own conditions. Unknown means unstated, not zero or unlimited.
- Consortium required
- Yes
Unless the exact topic-specific conditions provide otherwise, this action requires three independent beneficiary legal entities established in three different countries: at least one in an EU Member State and at least two others in different EU Member States or Associated Countries. Affiliated entities do not count toward the minimum. Topic-specific required organisation types, applicant restrictions, and exceptions recorded elsewhere in this packet remain applicable; this baseline does not replace them.
- Other condition
- The Work Programme specifies Innovation Action as the action type for this topic.
- Other condition
- Application page limit is extended by two pages to 42 to address Societal Readiness-related issues.
- Other condition
- Entities established in eligible countries but directly/indirectly controlled by China (or China-established legal entities) cannot participate where the topic invokes the critical-technology restriction.
- Other condition
- Deliver near-to-market safe CCUS integration for energy/carbon-intensive industry, a pipeline of scale-up projects, and deeper understanding of societal needs/concerns to support societal uptake and trust.
- Other condition
- Technology Activities are expected to achieve TRL 6-8 by the end of the project – see Readiness Level General Annex B. Activities may start at any TRL.
- Other condition
- Work Programme call table lists an indicative EU contribution of around EUR 10,000,000 per project and an indicative 3 project(s) expected to be funded. The amount and count are indicative, not guarantees or hard recipient caps.
- Other condition
- Where satellite data/services are used, beneficiaries must use Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS; other services may also be used.
- Other condition
- The pilot instructions expect reasonable resources in a dedicated task to engage with the D2-09 CSA through annual physical workshops, interviews, exchanges and information access; D2-09 covers physical workshop travel.
- Other condition
- A public Final report on Societal Readiness should be delivered within the last three months, reflecting implementation, outcomes, challenges, engagement and recommendations.
- Other condition
- A public First report on Societal Readiness should be delivered within the first six months; it sets out the approach, initial needs/concerns, guiding-question responses, roles and plans.
- Other condition
- All consortium partners should be associated with the Societal Readiness tasks where relevant, building on interdisciplinarity to facilitate knowledge integration.
- Other condition
- Work Programme footnote 23 identifies D3-32 as one of the three topics applying the Societal Readiness pilot introduction; D3-32 own text says proposals should follow those instructions.
- Other condition
- D3-32 is explicitly identified as a Societal Readiness pilot and proposals should follow the shared pilot introduction instructions.
- Other condition
- The pilot instructions expect explicit resources for Societal Readiness activities and transversal integration as tasks across R&I work packages or a transversal work package.
- Other condition
- Proposals should address in section 1.2 Methodology how Societal Readiness is integrated throughout the work and take up the relevant RRI guiding questions.
- Other condition
- The pilot instructions say consortia should bring SSH expertise through partner inclusion to facilitate the socio-technical interface and design compatible objectives, work packages and tasks.
- Other condition
- Take a de-risking first step toward local/regional industrial CCUS clusters with multi-source/multi-sink solutions; base/orient future full-size projects and include substantial industrial involvement. Address most (not necessarily all) listed issues: retrofit planning, system components, regional emitter clustering, industrial symbiosis, cluster tools, users, transport options, business models, storage, permitting and energy-network integration. Provide exploitation/scalability/commercialisation/deployment/permitting/funding plans. Identify and engage end users and societal stakeholders in deliberative activities.
- Technology readiness level at end, maximumExpected end-of-project target upper endpoint, not a hard maximum
- 8 TRL level
Work Programme wording is “expected to achieve”; activities may start at any TRL. This is an expected target range, not a prohibited higher result.
- Technology readiness level at end, minimumExpected end-of-project target lower endpoint, not a mandatory minimum at project end
- 6 TRL level
Work Programme wording is “expected to achieve”; activities may start at any TRL. The endpoints are not hard grant eligibility thresholds.
Amounts and costs
- Indicative budget
- €30,000,000
Topic budget as stated in the portal's budget table. Lump-sum and per-project limits are in the call conditions.
- Eligible cost limit
- 25 percent flat rate of eligible direct costs, subject to the base exclusions in conditions
Horizon Europe General Annex G describes a 25% indirect-cost flat rate on eligible direct costs, excluding eligible direct subcontracting costs, financial support to third parties, and any unit costs or lump sums that include indirect costs. For HORIZON-AG actual-cost grants this is a cost-calculation rule, not a grant-rate increase. For HORIZON-AG-LS it informs the underlying eligible-cost estimate only; it is not an additional payment on top of the fixed lump sum. The topic indicative allocation and per-project contribution are distinct from this cost rate.
- Funding intensity, maximum
- 70 percent of eligible costs (general Innovation Action maximum for non-profit status not established)
The exact Work Programme labels this topic an Innovation Action. General Annex G sets a 70% maximum for legal entities other than non-profit entities; the separate nonprofit maximum is represented in its own typed fact. This is an action-type maximum, not a guarantee or the topic-level indicative EU contribution; the final rate is fixed in the grant agreement. For the lump-sum topics, the rate is already applied in the lump-sum methodology and is not an extra multiplier.
- Funding intensity, maximum
- 100 percent of eligible costs (up to; nonprofit legal entities only)
Only for a non-profit legal entity, the general Innovation Action maximum may be up to 100%; this is not automatic or a salary entitlement, and final funding parameters are fixed in the grant agreement. For the lump-sum topics, the percentage is embedded in the lump-sum amount methodology and is not an extra multiplier.
- Expected contribution per projectCommission-estimated EU contribution per project for this exact topic
- €10,000,000
The Work Programme says this amount would allow outcomes to be addressed appropriately but expressly does not preclude proposals requesting other amounts. It is not a minimum, maximum or award promise.
- Topic allocationExact Work Programme topic allocation, not per-project funding
- €30,000,000
The call table marks the budget indicative and subject to availability of Union appropriations; it is not a guaranteed grant or per-beneficiary amount.
Personnel and services
Other role
Staff cost the grant can fund
These are eligible personnel-cost categories when the source terms are met; the call does not identify vacancies, salary amounts, project headcount, or hiring decisions. MGA A.2/A.3 requires assignment to the action, employee-like working conditions, result ownership by the beneficiary unless otherwise agreed, and a rate based on actual incurred costs not significantly different from similar employee tasks.
Other role
Staff cost the grant can fund
These are eligible personnel-cost categories when the source terms are met; the call does not identify vacancies, salary amounts, project headcount, or hiring decisions. MGA A.1 covers personnel working for the beneficiary under an employment contract or equivalent appointing act and assigned to the action; salary components follow Article 6.2 A.1.
Other role
Required staff
The topic requires effective contribution of relevant SSH expertise, including SSH experts in the consortium, to support Societal Readiness and facilitate the socio-technological interface. This states a capability/partner expertise requirement, not a specific job, number of hires, salary, or employment form.
Other role
Staff cost the grant can fund
These are eligible personnel-cost categories when the source terms are met; the call does not identify vacancies, salary amounts, project headcount, or hiring decisions. Only SME owners not receiving a salary or natural-person beneficiaries not receiving a salary are covered; declared as Annex 2a unit costs, subject to general eligibility conditions.
Source documents
Call facts
- Opens
- 4 Aug 2027
- Deadline model
- Single-stage
- Programme
- Horizon Europe · 2021 - 2027
- Call
- HORIZON-CL5-2027-07 · ENERGY
- Types of action
- HORIZON Innovation Actions
- Source
- ec.europa.eu
- Checked
- 24 Oct 2026
- Portal updated
- 7 Oct 2026
- Review status
- Partial review
- Reviewed
- 23 Oct 2026
This is a summary of the source page, not the official text. Eligibility, conditions and the submission system are at the source.