Deadline: 06-Oct-21
European Commission is calling for proposals for Impact and Dependence of Business on Biodiversity.
Scope
- Key economic sectors depend on and have a direct and indirect, positive or negative impact on biodiversity. Biodiversity is directly at the centre of many economic activities, and a healthy biodiverse planet is a precondition for humankind to exist – and thus for businesses to grow and for the economy to recover following a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Keeping nature healthy is critical for the economy, both directly and indirectly.
- The World Economic Forum ranks biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse as one of the top five threats humankind will face in the next ten years. Businesses rely on biodiversity as inputs into their production processes, with over half of global GDP – some €40 trillion – dependent on nature and the services it provides.
Funding Information
Grant amount is equal to or greater than EUR 500 000 except for:
- public bodies (entities established as a public body under national law, including local, regional or national authorities) or international organisations; and
- cases where the individual requested grant amount is not more than EUR 60 000 (lowvalue grant).
Expected Outcomes
- In line with the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030, the topic aims to support the development of policies, business decisions and knowledge generation, to tackle the indirect drivers of biodiversity loss, and accelerate biodiversity-relevant transformative changes in businesses and their society.
- Successful proposals will help integrate biodiversity into business decisions to improve:
- public health and well-being and to tackle inequalities, create new jobs and sustainable growth in rural, post-industrial and coastal areas; strengthen resilience against environmental and climate stressors; minimise the risks of future diseases linked to business activities, with disastrous health, economic and social impacts, and
- corporate decision making and business resilience and to minimise investment risk and thereby play a key role in the sustainable transition of the economy.
- Projects should produce all following outcomes:
- A better understanding and awareness of how businesses depend, and impact upon, biodiversity and ecosystem services, based on past and ongoing knowledge, also from practical business experience (by private companies), to feed into business decision making.
- Making available knowledge (e.g. meta-studies, publications) for the production of the IPBES methodological assessment on business and biodiversity, which is planned to be adopted in 2024-25, following a fast-track approach. Putting in place capacity building, policy support, and science brokerage of the projects, including after the release dates of the IPBES assessment, through effective and impactful dissemination.
Eligibility Criteria
- Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from non-associated third countries or international organisations (including international European research organisations) is eligible to participate (whether it is eligible for funding or not), provided that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation have been met, along with any other conditions laid down in the specific call topic.
- A ‘legal entity’ means any natural or legal person created and recognised as such under national law, EU law or international law, which has legal personality and which may, acting in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity without legal personality.
- To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e:
- the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions;
- the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States;
- eligible non-EU countries:
- countries associated to Horizon Europe
- low- and middle-income countries
For more information, visit https://bit.ly/2UvvLak
