Improving climate resilience of navigable inland waterways, their surroundings and related water infrastructure
Open
Status as published by the data source.
Expected Outcome:
Successful proposals will support the implementation of the EU Adaptation Strategy, the EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change, the European Water Resilience Strategy, the EU Preparedness Strategy and the upcoming European Climate Adaptation Plan. Proposals are expected to contribute to all of the following outcomes:
• Navigable inland waterways, their surroundings and related infrastructure are managed in a more integrated and sustainable manner across Europe and become more climate-resilient
• Climate and environmental risks to water infrastructure (e.g. droughts, flooding, slow onset events, ecological degradation and cascading and compound events) are more effectively addressed in a systemic way. Safe, efficient and reliable navigability conditions are improved.
• Cost-efficient and environmentally friendly measures -- especially nature-based solutions -- are identified with the involvement of stakeholders. They improve climate resilience of inland waterways while supporting integrated co-benefit and avoiding competing water uses, including between countries and regions. Scope:
Rationale
There are about 42,000 kilometres of navigable inland waterways in the EU, with a network spanning 25 Member States. In 2022, 122.1 billion tonne-kilometres were transported through inland waters, making up 5,1% of the total land freight transport volumes within the EU. Inland waterways are one of the most carbon efficient mode of transportation for freight and their role should be boosted, as highlighted in the 2021 Commission Communication (NAIADES III).
While inland waterways, their surroundings and related infrastructure are at the heart of the green transition, they are also threatened by climate change and ecological degradation, which can cause severe disruptions. Adverse effects of climate change include slow-onset and seasonal changes in water availability and quality, increased flooding and prolonged periods of water scarcity and drought. The goal of this topic is to better understand and improve the climate resilience of navigable inland waterways and related interdependent systems.
Activities of the projects
Projects are expected to address all of the following aspects:
• Address the lack of a common climate modelling framework for EU waterways and improve predictions and projections to optimise waterway management in the short to long term.
• Conduct a comprehensive climate risk assessment of the EU's navigable waterway from the Trans-European Transport network (TEN-T). This assessment should cover mobility, supply chain security, critical infrastructure, geographical and economic interdependencies and multifunctional water resilience.
• Estimate the investments that are required to adapt to climate change, as well as the costs of inaction.
• Provide actionable information to guide effective climate adaptation solutions, that maximise co-benefits (including for biodiversity) and ensure integrated management of inland navigable waterways.
• Develop adaptation solutions on various waterways. Nature-based solutions and solutions supporting nature restoration should be explored as a priority, in line with the Mission Implementation Plan.
• Enhance stakeholder collaboration mechanisms
• Work closely and coordinate with the other projects funded under this topic, to maximise synergies and avoid duplications. Links to the Mission and to other projects and initiatives
Proposals should build (when relevant) on existing knowledge and adaptation solutions developed by previous projects[1] and explore synergies with ongoing projects from EU and national programmes as well as the International River Commissions.
Proposals should include a mechanism and the resources to establish operational links and collaboration with the Mission Implementation Platform (including on monitoring), and other relevant knowledge platforms such as PLATINA4Action. Projects funded under this topic will be expected to participate in the Mission Community of Practice and to share relevant knowledge to feed the work of the project stemming from HORIZON-MISS-2026-01-CLIMA-02.
Applicants should acknowledge these elements and already account for them in their proposal, making adequate provisions in terms of resources and budget to engage and collaborate with the Mission.
[1] Projects that are particularly relevant include those funded under HORIZON-CL5-2021-D6-01-09, HORIZON-CL5-2026-01-D6-10 or Transport Inland Waterway Portfolio of Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).
- Status
- Open
- Deadline
- (time not stated)
- Opens
- Published
- Total budget
- €12,000,000
- Grant range
- €6,000,000 – €6,000,000
- Country
- European Union (EU-wide)
- Programme
- Horizon Europe (HORIZON)
- Official page
- Open at the source portal
Other calls under Horizon Europe (HORIZON)
- PV based electrification of the economy: Designing & optimising PV systems supporting industrial electrification and promoting participation in electricity markets (EUPI-PV Partnership)
- Advanced TSO control rooms to enhance grid observability, stability and resilience
- Advanced Distribution Management Systems (ADSM) for more efficient and flexible distribution grids
- Community of practice - Data-Driven Decision-Making in Energy
- Industrial processes and equipment for innovative, reliable and scalable tandem technologies (EUPI-PV Partnership)
- Integrated Approaches for Retrofitting Infrastructures with Innovative Energy Storage Technologies
- Demonstration of hydropower technologies for efficient and forward-looking refurbishment of existing hydropower plants
- Delivery of industrial CCUS clusters – Societal Readiness pilot
All calls under this programme
Similar opportunities
- Demonstrating transformative solutions to increase cross-border climate resilience
- Standardising and supporting climate services for climate adaptation
- Facilitating implementation of actionable solutions for climate adaptation of regions and local authorities
- Demonstrating solutions to protect and preserve cultural heritage from the impacts of climate change
- Advancing understanding, modelling and prediction of extreme events in a changing climate
- Increasing riparian and coastal areas resilience to climate change, including in waterfront cities and islands.
Where this came from
- Source document
- https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/data/topicDetails/horizon-miss-2026-01-clima-06.json
- Document fingerprint
c5094b4ed6570b58(SHA-256, first 16 hex characters)- Retrieved
- First recorded here
What has changed
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- deadline first recorded as 2026-09-23 on
- opens_on first recorded as 2026-02-04 on
- published_on first recorded as 2025-12-12 on
- status_basis first recorded as source_status on
- status first recorded as open on
- title first recorded as Improving climate resilience of navigable inland waterways, their surroundings and related water infrastructure on
Data source
© European Union, 2026. Source: EU Funding & Tenders Portal. Reused under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU — CC BY 4.0.
Retrieved from the source on .
The source last updated this document on Tue, 28 Jul 2026 06:18:04 GMT.
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