The Commission signed grant agreements of €1.1 billion with seven large-scale projects via the EU Innovation Fund, funded by revenues from the EU's Emissions Trading System (ETS). These projects aim to reduce emissions by over 76 Mt of CO2eq during the first ten years of operation. The seven projects are deploying innovative low-carbon technologies at industrial scale, covering key sectors such as hydrogen, steel, chemicals, cement, solar energy, biofuels, and carbon capture and storage.

In 2021, the European Commission launched the latest Research Framework programme: Horizon Europe. Horizon Europe will run from 2021 to 2027 with a budget of 95.5 billion Euros targeting researchers and innovators in pursuit of Europe’s strategic goals, with a focus on the green and digital transition.  The first set of calls for proposals (for 2021-2022) were published in June of last year, with 846 different calls addressing areas such as civil security, digital industry, climate and energy, bioeconomy, health and innovative ecosystems.

Consortia of interested organizations including national standards bodies and CEN and CENELEC can submit proposals. If selected, the consortia will receive the relevant EU funding to run the project.