Advancing circular logistics solutions in cities
Horizon Europe · Grant topic
An independent quality check has put this review on hold. The structured terms below are kept as history and are not cleared; read the official documents.
Summary
A Polish company can use this call for R&D.
Supports innovative circular logistics solutions, reusable packaging and reverse logistics benefiting urban logistics operators and stakeholders; applicant eligibility is unspecified.
- Who can apply
- Unclear from the source.
- Amount
- €7.5M per projectTotal budget €22,500,000
- Deadline
- 07 Oct 2027 02:00 CESTin 348 days
- Status
- Forthcomingopens 9 Feb 2027
Machine-classified from the call text; check eligibility at the source.
Description
Expected Outcome:
Projects are expected to contribute to all the following outcomes:
• Accelerated transition towards circular economy in the freight transport sector and throughout the urban logistics value chain, contributing to the objectives of the Climate-neutral and Smart Cities Mission and the EU Circular Cities and Regions Initiative (CCRI);
• Increased adoption by logistics operators of new and tested circular systemic logistics solutions, including modular loading units and reusable transport packaging systems tailored for urban delivery settings;
• Improved integration of reverse logistics into urban logistics models to enable higher reuse and recycling rates;
• Optimised resource utilisation in urban logistics through innovative circular economy approaches, leading to significant reductions in material consumption and carbon footprint;
• Enhanced cooperation among urban stakeholders, including local authorities, logistics providers, retailers, and consumers, fostering circular business models and enhancing consumer acceptance.
Scope:
The rapid growth of e-commerce and urban logistics has led to an increase in packaging waste, inefficiencies in freight transport, and rising environmental impacts. Current urban logistics systems often rely on disposable packaging and fragmented transport operations, resulting in significant material waste, resource inefficiency and carbon emissions. Addressing these challenges requires innovative circular economy approaches, promoting systemic, innovative, circular and scalable solutions for reducing waste generation, in line with the revised EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR)[1], and improving resource efficiency in business-to-business and business-to-consumer logistics.
Building on previously funded projects’ outcomes and leveraging potential complementarities with existing regional circularity hubs and other initiatives (e.g. the CCRI [2] and its related projects [3], as well as the Driving Urban Transition Partnership (DUT)[4]), proposals should address all the following actions:
• Design and develop solutions for innovative, modular, reusable, and recyclable packaging and loading units. The proposed solutions should reduce single-use packaging in urban freight transport and demonstrate the benefits of their use in urban logistics processes, while considering the impact of packaging waste regulations on logistics and delivery models in urban areas.
• Develop and test digital tools and systems for tracking and optimising the use of the loading units as well as for secure and efficient stowage, transport, and handling, by integrating technologies such as Internet of Things, edge computing, Artificial Intelligence and data-driven collaboration platforms (e.g. data spaces), considering technological sovereignty and energy-efficiency.
• Engage urban and local stakeholders, including local authorities, logistics operators, retailers and citizens, in co-designing innovative solutions to implement reusable and recyclable packaging and use parcel lockers and micro-hubs (pick-up points) for returning new items and collecting used items (for the purpose of repair, reuse, remanufacture, repurpose or recycling), thus promoting the transition to circular urban logistics in various product value chains.
• Demonstrate the proposed solutions in real-world pilots in at least two different urban environments, each pilot covering two different types of goods or more (e.g. textile apparel, consumer electronics), in cooperation with logistics service providers, cities, and e-commerce value chain actors. Pilots should also consider reverse logistics systems, and innovative return and reuse schemes.
• Explore and evaluate environmental, social, and economic (e.g. need for new business models and incentive schemes) impacts of circular economy approaches and specifically the potential of reverse logistics systems to enable circular flows of materials, reduce greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions, and support reuse schemes.
• In a co-creation process with local authorities, propose policy recommendations and guidelines to support cities in designing enabling regulatory frameworks and market incentives aligned with local circular economy goals and in integrating circular economy principles into urban logistics related policies, plans[5] and regulations.
• Provide policy recommendations to facilitate the adoption of modular loading units and the integration of sustainable logistics measures into broader urban circular economy strategies across European cities and regions.
Collaboration with the Cities Mission Platform – through the CIVITAS initiative[6] – and the CCRI is essential. Proposals should include appropriate provisions for activities and resources to support clustering activities and cooperation with the Cities Mission Platform, the CCRI, and the CIVITAS initiative[7]. Proposals should also plan for an active collaboration amongst the projects selected under this topic - for dissemination, evaluation and coordination - facilitated by and within the above mentioned initiatives. Moreover, proposals are expected to ensure that their dissemination and exploitation strategies feature dedicated actions for promoting their results and lessons learned across the Cities Mission Platform, CIVITAS and CCRI websites.
This action supports the follow-up to the July 2023 Communication on EU Missions assessment[8].
Technology Readiness Level - Technology readiness level expected from completed projects
Activities are expected to achieve TRL 7-8 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.
[1] Regulation - EU - 2025/40 - EN - EUR-Lex
[2] Circular Cities and Regions Initiative
[3] CCRI Projects (e.g. Rewrap: Challenging the Dominance of Single-Use Plastic Wraps | DEFINITE-CCRI)
[4] The DUT Partnership
[5] E.g. within the Sustainable urban mobility planning
[6] https://civitas.eu/
[7] The CIVITAS initiative should establish, through a collaboration agreement set up together with the Cities Mission Platform, clear links with the Mission portfolio for synergies and complementarities.
[8] COM(2023) 457 final and SWD(2023) 260 final
Who can apply, in detail
- Purpose
- Research and innovation
- R&D relevance
- 3 of 3
- Poland eligible
- Yes
- Country limit
- —
- Region
- Any
- Consortium
- Unclear
- Readiness level (TRL)
- —
- Topics
- Circular urban logistics
- Reverse logistics
- Reusable transport packaging
- Modular loading units
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.
- Applicant restriction
- China-established entities are generally barred from Innovation Actions in any capacity, subject to justified case-by-case exceptions. Chinese public universities administered or supervised by MIIT are ineligible for every action under this work programme. Other sanctions, capacity and funding-country conditions still apply.
- Applicant restriction
- The own-topic critical-technology IA rule also excludes eligible-country entities directly or indirectly controlled by China or a China-established legal entity. This is additional to the China-established-entity IA and universal MIIT-university restrictions.
- Application restriction
- Planned opening9February2027; deadline 7October2027 at17:00Brusselslocaltime. ResponsibleDirectorGeneral may move opening by up to one month earlier/later and delay deadlines up to two months; budget subject to appropriations.
- Application restriction
- Use Portal PartA, PartB and mandatory annexes. Coordinator mandate, declarations and applicant capacity/eligibility are required. The actual submission template controls the required documents.
- Eligible project scope
- Develop modular reusable/recyclable packaging/loading units reducing single-use urban freight waste. Develop digital tracking/optimisation and secure stowage/transport/handling using IoT, edge, AI and data platforms, considering sovereignty/energy efficiency. Co-design with authorities, logistics, retailers/citizens, including lockers/microhubs and reverse flows for repair/reuse/remanufacture/repurposing/recycling.
- Eligible project scope
- Pilot in at least two different urban environments, each covering at least two types of goods, with logistics providers, cities and e-commerce actors. Include reverse logistics/return/reuse. Evaluate environmental/social/economic impacts, business models/incentives and emissions/material savings. Co-create enabling policies and market incentives with local authorities; recommend modular-unit and circular-logistics uptake.
- Expected number of grants (planning estimate)Captured SEDIA planning estimate for exact topic HORIZON-MISS-2027-04-CIT-CCRI-04
- 3 count
Expected funded-project/grant count in the exact provider topic budgetOverview. Indicative planning metadata, not guaranteed awards, maximum accepted projects, staffing or consortium size. It does not replace any differently expressed work-programme planning range.
- Other condition
- Innovation Action.
- Other condition
- Budget essential collaboration via CIVITAS, CitiesMissionPlatform and CCRI, active coordination across selected projects and dedicated dissemination/exploitation on their websites. Build on prior projects/regional circularityhubs and DUT complementarities.
- Other condition
- Grant linked to HORIZON-MISS-2021-CIT-02-03. Essential CitiesMissionPlatform collaboration needs work-plan activities/resources and a MemorandumofUnderstanding or collaboration agreement concluded as soon as possible after project start. Budget clustering and cross-project collaboration.
- Other condition
- Full-stage criteria each score to5, individual threshold3 and total10. IA ranking gives Impact weight1.5. Passing thresholds enters budget-limited ranking, not a guaranteed award.
- Partner requirement
- Three independent beneficiary legal entities in three different countries: at least one EU Member State entity and at least two others in different Member States or Associated Countries. Affiliates do not count towards this minimum. Topic-specific required actors are additional.
- Partner requirement
- At least three cities must participate as beneficiaries, each from a different MemberState/AssociatedCountry, represented by a local authority or entity with explicit local-authority consent. At least one city must be among the112CitiesMission cities. This city requirement is additional to the independent-entity consortium baseline.
- Technology readiness level at end, maximum
- 8 TRL
Expected technology readiness at project end, not an entry prerequisite or employment qualification.
- Technology readiness level at end, minimum
- 7 TRL
Expected technology readiness at project end, not an entry prerequisite or employment qualification.
Amounts and costs
- Indicative budget
- €22,500,000
Topic budget as stated in the portal's budget table. Lump-sum and per-project limits are in the call conditions.
- Eligible cost
- Eligible costs take lump-sum form. Detailed budget estimates follow basic cost eligibility and the embedded funding-rate method. Interim payments concern accepted completed packages; final balance may conditionally cover partial packages. No separate actual-payroll reimbursement rate or salary ceiling is prescribed.
- Eligible cost
- General indirect costs are a25% flat rate of eligible direct costs, excluding subcontracting, FSTP and unit/lump-sum amounts already including indirect costs. This is a project budget cost rule, not salary overhead or a wage rate.
- Funding intensity, maximum
- 100 percent of eligible costs
Only nonprofit legal entities may receive up to100% for this IA; not a universal rate. For this lump-sum topic, the rate is applied in the amount-setting methodology, not as an additional actual-payroll reimbursement rate.
- Funding intensity, maximum
- 70 percent of eligible costs
Ordinary IA maximum, subject to actual grant and eligible costs; nonprofit exception separate. For this lump-sum topic, the rate is applied in the amount-setting methodology, not as an additional actual-payroll reimbursement rate.
- Indirect cost flat rateGeneralAnnexG indirect costs for this Horizon action/grant methodology
- 25 percent of the named eligible-direct-cost base
Base: total eligible direct costs excluding subcontracting, financial support to third parties and any unit costs/lump sums already including indirect costs. Apply only within the relevant grant/budget methodology; for lump sums this contributes to amount-setting, not an extra actual-cost payment or wage rate.
- Expected contribution per project
- €7,500,000
Expected indicative contribution, different amounts may be selected. Not a hard cap.
- Topic allocation
- €22,500,000
Indicative total topic allocation, not a project cap or remaining balance.
Source documents
Call facts
- Opens
- 9 Feb 2027
- Deadline model
- Single-stage
- Programme
- Horizon Europe · 2021 - 2027
- Call
- HORIZON-MISS-2027-04 · Supporting the implementation of the Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission
- Types of action
- HORIZON Innovation Actions
- Keywords
- Circular economy
- Climate change mitigation
- circular logistics strategies
- decarbonisation
- e-commerce
- urban logistics
- urban mobility
- urban planning
- waste reduction
- Source
- ec.europa.eu
- Checked
- 23 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.