R&I in Support of the Clean Industrial Deal: Decarbonisation of energy intensive industries (IA) (Processes4Planet and Clean Steel partnerships)

The call is a flagship implementation of the EU’s Clean Industrial Deal, directly supporting the Green Deal, 2030 and 2040 climate targets, and the goal of climate neutrality by 2050.
It aims to strengthen EU competitiveness, resilience and strategic autonomy by accelerating deployment of clean tech and decarbonisation solutions in energy‑intensive industries and across energy and transport systems.

Key policy references: Competitiveness Compass, Draghi Report, Clean Industrial Deal Communication, and alignment with the Net‑Zero Industry Act (NZIA) and the Innovation Fund.
The call is designed as a horizontal instrument bridging Clusters 4 and 5, and complementing initiatives such as Processes4Planet, Clean Steel and the Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking.

Core expected impacts (both topics):

• Accelerated roll‑out and deployment of clean tech and industrial decarbonisation solutions.
  
  
• Stronger EU industrial competitiveness and technology leadership.
  
  
• More resilient, EU‑based clean tech manufacturing and value chains, reducing dependencies.
  
  
• Leveraging public and private investment along the innovation–deployment pipeline.
  
  
• Contribution to lowering energy price gaps via competitive clean solutions.
  
  

Topic 01‑01: Decarbonisation of energy‑intensive industries

Focus: first‑of‑a‑kind or newly optimised demonstrators for decarbonising processes in energy‑intensive sectors, with strong market‑oriented business cases.

Three technology areas in scope (projects must choose one main area, can integrate several):

1. Managing the carbon cycle (CCU/CCUS)
   
   
• Advanced capture, utilisation or storage of CO₂/CO from industrial installations.
  
  
• Target: ~30% reduction in energy input per tonne of CO₂/CO captured vs current technologies, with a positive LCA and credible commercial potential.
  
  
2. Clean energy use in production
   
   
• Electrification, decarbonised heat, integration of clean carriers (e.g. hydrogen), on‑site renewables, waste‑heat use and upgrade.
  
  
• Contribution to major improvements in clean energy use in energy‑intensive industries by 2035.
  
  
3. Circularity and resource efficiency
   
   
• At least 30% improvement in material/energy/water efficiency by 2035 vs current industrial values.
  
  
• Large reductions in raw material use, energy input, freshwater intake, ecosystem impact and emissions via circular value networks and use of side‑streams/end‑of‑use waste.
  
  

Additional key elements:

• Strong industry‑driven consortia, small and manageable, with clear industrial leadership for post‑project deployment; SME participation encouraged.
  
  
• Integration of relevant earlier R&I results (EU, national, regional).
  
  
• Positive LCA and commercial viability under expected future regulatory framework.
  
  
• Required “go/no‑go” milestone before demonstration: detailed engineering, techno‑economic assessment, permits, full business plan and market‑readiness strategy in place.
  
  
• Portfolio logic: at least one highest‑ranked project funded per technology area, provided thresholds are met.
  
  
• TRL: start at 6, reach 7–8 by project end.
  
  

Topic 01‑02: Clean Technologies for Climate Action

Focus: near‑market clean tech demonstrators in energy systems and key industrial sectors, with clear contribution to NZIA manufacturing goals and reduced LCOE for end‑users.

Three clean tech areas (proposals must select one main area, may combine):

1. Integrated net‑zero energy systems
   
   
• Grids, networks and systems enabling high shares of renewables and electrification.
  
  
2. Enhanced zero‑emission power technologies
   
   
• Renewable electricity, heat and energy technologies raised to full technological maturity.
  
  
3. Storage, renewable fuels, and CCU
   
   
• Batteries and other storage solutions, renewable hydrogen, advanced biofuels, synthetic renewable fuels, and CCU enabling climate neutrality.
  
  

Expected outcomes include:

• Higher circular material use rates, based on realistic baselines.
  
  
• Lower levelized cost of energy (including production, distribution and storage), across different geographic contexts.
  
  
• Reinforced EU industrial leadership and manufacturing capacity for net‑zero technologies, in line with NZIA and sourcing requirements from the EU/associated countries for components where there are strong dependencies.
  
  

Projects may also:

• Address step‑change in network/infrastructure deployment (electricity, heat, gas, hydrogen, CO₂, batteries, refuelling).
  
  
• Include advanced materials, connected process engineering, resource efficiency, circularity and recycling along value chains.
  
  
• Must avoid negative impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems.
  
  

Consortium and implementation features mirror Topic 01‑01 (industry‑driven, clear value chains combining clean tech suppliers and energy users, use of prior R&I results, explicit integration of gender‑sensitive and intersectional aspects where relevant).
TRL: activities start at 6 and should reach 8 by project end.

Scope:

The Clean Industrial Deal aims to secure the EU as an attractive location for manufacturing, including for energy-intensive industries, and to promote clean tech and new circular business models in order to meet Europe’s ambitious decarbonisation and climate neutrality targets. It focuses primarily on the competitive decarbonisation of EU industry and on the production of clean technologies in the EU.

The following three technology areas on energy intensive industries having a strong and promising growth potential in Europe are in scope of this call:

• Managing of carbon cycle (CCU and/or CCUS): further optimization and demonstration of solutions for the capture, utilization or storage of CO2 and/or CO from installations of the energy intensive industries, with significant reduction of energy input (per ton of CO2/CO) related to capture rate and purity compared to current available technologies (target figure 30% reduction), and potential of commercialization of the decarbonized products with respect to LCA (compared to state of the art), market size, and cost.
• Clean energy usage in production (electrification of the processes, decarbonated production, integration of alternative clean energy carriers – e.g. hydrogen – and technologies, on-site renewable energy storage solutions, usage and upgrade of waste heat): supporting major improvements of clean energy usage in the energy intensive industries until 2035.
• Circularity and resource efficiency (material, energy, water) of production processes: improvement by 30% until 2035 compared to current industrial value, with technological solutions which are commercially viable; and significant reduction of the overall raw material consumption, energy input, freshwater intake, impact on ecosystems and emissions, through circular value networks that convert industrial side-streams and/or end-of-use waste to new feedstock for which no low-CO2-technologies currently exist. Solutions must have an overall positive LCA and remain commercially viable under the expected regulatory and framework conditions at the end of the project.

Proposals should explicitly select one main area but can also address in an integrated way a combination of these three areas within an industrial sector, provided that it is innovative and can lead to low carbon solutions. The choice of the specific technologies addressed in the proposal is left to the project applicants who should include a thorough justification of the choices both in technological and business terms. Use of advanced, and safe and sustainable materials and processes could be also addressed as part of the selected proposals.

Proposals are expected to:

• demonstrate an adequate integration of relevant technologies in support of the Clean Industrial Deal. The integration can either be demonstrated in a direct (e.g. reduction of greenhouse emissions of a process) or an indirect (e.g. production of a new green/clean product) manner. Reduction or avoidance of harmful pollutants and impact on biodiversity may also be considered, as relevant.[1] The use of relevant results of R&I projects previously or ongoing funded at EU, national or regional level is encouraged.
• show industrial leadership in the deployment after the project. To ensure market readiness and effective collaboration amongst relevant stakeholders, the consortium should be industry driven and composed of a preferably small and manageable number of participants, and its size should be justified. The participation of SMEs is encouraged.

Business plan and market‑readiness: red‑line requirements

Both topics make a robust business plan and market‑readiness strategy mandatory and central to evaluation under “Impact”.

Business plan expectations:

• Target markets (EU and global), total addressable market size, competitive landscape.
  
  
• Financial projections (revenues, profitability, investments, cash flow).
  
  
• Clear articulation of customer/user needs and solution fit, including expected market position and competitive advantages.
  
  

Market‑readiness strategy expectations:

• Identification of obstacles and actions: investment for next phase (including synergies with programmes such as the Innovation Fund), regulatory and permitting requirements, standards, skills, industrial integration, IP strategy and user acceptance.
  
  
• Comprehensive risk assessment.
  
  
• Annual updates plus final report deliverable to ensure “fit for deployment” at project end.
  
  

Formal specifics:

• Proposal Part B page limit extended to 60 pages to accommodate business plan and market‑readiness sections.
  
  
• If using satellite EO/positioning/timing, consortia must use Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS.
  
  
• The granting authority may object, up to four years after project end, to transfer or exclusive licensing of results (protection of EU strategic interests).
  
  

The draft dissemination, exploitation and communication plan is expected to include a sound and convincing business plan and market-readiness strategy (cf. intro). These should address how to prepare and support the deployment of the proposed tech solution across relevant EU industrial sectors, and/or how to ensure a high potential for market uptake through further private/public investment (including relevant EU deployment programmes, such as the Innovation Fund). They should include a comprehensive analysis of the critical barriers (technological and non-technological) for the successful market deployment and the corresponding plan to tackle them before 2030.

Proposals are expected to include a clear go/no go moment ahead of the contracting and demonstration phase. Before this go/no-go moment, the project is expected to deliver detailed engineering plans, a techno-economic assessment, all needed permits for the demonstrator, a complete business plan and market-readiness strategy, identifying clearly the industrial partner(s) that will lead the deployment. Proposals are also expected to provide a clear and credible pathway to obtaining all needed permits for the demonstration phase of the project.

Taking into account that the Clean Industrial Deal focuses on clean tech and decarbonisation of energy-intensive industry , projects funded under this topic will be encouraged to develop synergies and coordinate on similar funded projects under the topics HORIZON-CID-2026-01-02: R&I in Support of the Clean Industrial Deal: Clean Technologies for Climate Action and HORIZON- HORIZON-CID-2027-01-02: R&I in Support of the Clean Industrial Deal: Clean Technologies for Climate Action under this call, as well as with related projects funded under the Processess4Planet, and Clean Steel and other European Partnerships.

This topic implements the co-programmed European partnerships Processes4Planet and Clean Steel.

Activities are expected to start at TRL 6 and achieve TRL 7 to 8 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.