Europe aims to become climate neutral by 2050, with intermediate targets of a 55% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and 90% by 2040 (compared to 1990). With the Clean Industrial Deal, the EU puts research and innovation at the centre of efforts to increase energy and resource efficiency, decarbonise industrial processes, and secure Europe’s competitiveness.
Rising energy prices and geopolitical tensions put Europe’s energy security and competitiveness under pressure. To address this, the EU is investing in clean energy, decarbonising energy-intensive industries, modernising infrastructure, and reinforcing circular economy practices.
The Clean Industrial Deal provides clear incentives to develop lead markets for clean technologies and heavy industries such as chemicals, cement and steel. It aims to accelerate clean energy deployment, create sectoral transition pathways and strengthen circularity across the economy.
A new Horizon Europe call under the 2026–2027 Work Programme will support this ambition with an indicative budget of 600 million euros for R&D projects. It will fund deployment-ready demonstration projects that combine technological excellence with market readiness, bridging the gap between research results and large-scale deployment. The call for research and innovation projects follows a bottom-up, industry-led approach and includes two main open topics:
- Clean Tech for Climate
- Decarbonisation of Energy-Intensive Industries
50 million euros from the whole budget will be dedicated to calls in the Research Fund for Coal and Steel.
This horizontal call complements Horizon Europe’s Pillar II (“Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness”) and connects to sector-specific actions under Cluster 4 (Digital, Space, Industry) and Cluster 5 (Climate, Energy, Mobility), including initiatives such as the Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking.
R&D projects are expected to be both technologically and commercially viable, with strong business and market-readiness plans, supporting the full innovation chain toward deployment.
Expected impacts include:
- Accelerated deployment of clean and decarbonised technologies across industrial sectors, e.g. energy intensive industries, manufacturing, energy and transport
- Strengthened EU competitiveness in clean tech
- Enhanced resilience and strategic autonomy
- Mobilisation of public and private investment
- Reduction of Europe’s energy price gap
Agenda:
- 2:00 p.m. | Welcome
Margit Noll | FFG
Petra Schefzig | Federation of Austrian Industries (IV) - 2:10 p.m. | The Clean Industrial Deal Call in Horizon Europe
Alessandra Colli | European Commission
Philip Hawkins | European Commission - 2:40 p.m. | Q & A
- 2:55 p.m. | Services of FFG
Mihaela Albu | FFG - 3:00 p.m. | End of the event
In cooperation with the Federation of Austrian Industries (IV)
