Horizon Europe’s future energy R&I to focus on European Green Deal

The focus for the Horizon Europe climate, energy and mobility ‘cluster’ for its forthcoming three years is on the green and digital transitions and EU resilience.

The strategic plan for Horizon Europe for 2025-2027 sets out the overarching driver for the climate, energy and mobility ‘cluster’ to achieve a fair transition to climate neutrality and build resilience in the EU by 2050.

This entails the transition to low, zero and negative emissions technologies and systems in the energy and mobility sectors by 2050 at the latest while boosting their competitiveness and benefit for users and civil society and reducing their environmental footprint.

In addition to the European Green Deal, the cluster will contribute to the Commission’s priorities for digital and for an innovation-based economy including the creation of quality green jobs.

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“Becoming a leading player in fast-expanding global markets for sustainable technologies and services is imperative for the competitiveness of the European economy and the energy and transport sectors in particular,” the Horizon Europe document states.

Moreover, many challenges in the energy and transport sectors are closely interlinked and must be addressed in a holistic, inclusive and mission-driven approach.

The 2025-2027 strategic plan for Horizon Europe-supported research and innovation (R&I) in the energy sector identifies four specific areas:

1. Clean and sustainable transition of energy and transport sectors towards climate neutrality

R&I activities will develop more performant, safe, affordable, sustainable and circular battery technologies and other storage solutions according to sectoral needs.

This will cover mobility sectors where next-generation batteries that go beyond the current Li-ion solution can propel the EU to the global forefront. It will also cover stationary storage applications, where new large-scale and high-capacity solutions, such as flow batteries or alternative chemistries, can have a fundamental role in the development of resilient energy grids.

Supporting local and sustainable battery production capacity, including equipment and skills development, will be an important driver to secure European independence. Nevertheless, R&I will also focus on second life, replacement, recycling and life-cycle management of batteries and raw materials recovery and on reducing social and environmental impacts across the life cycle and value chain.

2. More efficient, sustainable, secure and competitive renewable and decarbonised energy supply

R&I actions will support the just energy transition through new solutions for smart energy systems based on renewable energy and decarbonisation solutions.

R&I activities are needed on renewable energy generation from e.g. solar, wind, geothermal, ocean, hydropower, and sustainable energy vectors like biomethane, advanced biofuels, solar and synthetic renewable fuels as well as on other strategic technologies such as heat pumps and on unconventional renewable energy technologies.

In this connection, a new ‘Solar photovoltaics’ co-programmed European Partnership is planned with a joint EC-private research agenda.

Furthermore, R&I activities are needed to underpin the modernisation of energy networks, markets and services, support the integration of the renewable energy system and accelerate electrification and digitalisation.

Thus, R&I actions will advance the technological readiness of demand side response and energy storage solutions for industrial-scale and domestic applications.

R&I actions also will accelerate the research and deployment of carbon capture, utilisation and storage in electricity generation, industry applications and greenhouse gas removal technologies.

3. Using energy in buildings and industry in an efficient, affordable and sustainable way

R&I actions will facilitate affordable, cost-effective and resource-efficient energy renovation to foster energy savings, with reliable performance measurement, modelling and validation.

The integration of renewable sources, including thermal and decarbonisation of heating and cooling at building and district levels will also be pursued.

R&I is needed to achieve the electrification of technical building systems with the integration of grid-compatible, digital, secure, and flexible solutions that involve demand response management, energy sharing and storage, and electric vehicle charging.

R&I should also address behavioural aspects and go hand in hand with social innovation, affordability, inclusiveness and user centricity.

As regards industry, efficient use of renewable energy should be optimised at all levels, with a focus on the integration of renewable electrical and/or thermal energy sources with low or no emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants. It should also address the recovery, storage, upgrade and optimisation of energy flows across integrated industrial installations and the wider energy system.

4. Sustainable, inclusive and competitive transport modes

Greater R&I activities are needed across all transport modes, i.e. road, aviation and marine, and in line with societal needs and preferences for the EU to reach its policy goals towards net zero greenhouse gas emissions, to significantly reduce air pollutants and noise towards the zero-pollution ambition, and to support and accelerate positive developments.

Electrification of all modes of transport plays a key role in this process, and a rapid deployment of the European battery value chain is a major priority to achieve this aim.

R&I actions will also contribute to the shift to zero-emission road transport, targeting inter alia smart static and dynamic charging infrastructure and the integration of these vehicles into a resilient mobility system and in the renewable, smart energy grid.