During their first two years, the EU Missions in Horizon Europe have supported the Commission’s work on the European Green Deal, making Europe fit for the Digital Age, and Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan. Since their inception, EU Missions have demonstrated their potential to accelerate change. Supported primarily by Horizon Europe funding, they have also connected and supported EU policies and programmes with local action and citizen engagement. They are on track to achieve their ambitious goals by 2030 in critical areas such as adaptation to climate change, improving the life of cancer patients, cleaning up the marine and freshwater ecosystems, making cities climate-neutral, and making soils healthy.
These are the conclusions of the Communication on EU Missions under Horizon Europe adopted today. The Communication provides a thorough assessment of progress so far, as required by the co-legislators after their first two years of operation. It highlights the main achievements of the current five individual Missions, while also identifying challenges they have encountered and proposing a set of actions to address these. In light of this balanced assessment, today’s Communication also proposes to spend 11% of the Horizon Europe Pillar 2 budget on EU Missions in the last part of the Programme (up from 10% currently). This corresponds to a total amount of over €3 billion for the period 2024-2027. It also launches preparations for a new EU Mission on the New European Bauhaus.
The Commission commits to make the EU Missions even more effective by for example:
- Intensifying discussion with political actors, notably Member States, on how to streamline EU Missions’ governance to make it more efficient, inclusive, and effective;
- Mobilising a broader portfolio of instruments to secure greater participation of the private sector, including public-private partnerships and the public procurement of innovation;
- Undertaking targeted actions to support local and national communication efforts to boost citizen engagement and raise public awareness of EU Missions.
Given the potential of the Missions instrument to galvanise change, and the fact that the New European Bauhaus initiative already shares several characteristics with EU Missions, the Commission today begins the preparatory phase for a dedicated new EU Mission, following the same process as for the first five. This includes the appointment of a Mission Board, and the drafting of a Mission Implementation Plan, both of which will help define the exact targets and milestones of the Mission.
The New European Bauhaus has already developed synergies between research and innovation investments, other funding instruments, and private sector investment. The new EU Mission would engage with people to build greater social acceptance for Green Deal policies, promoting social ownership of green solutions and encouraging behavioural changes needed to meet Green Deal targets. The Commission will work closely with the Member States and the community at large to define this approach.
EU Missions’ main achievements so far
The Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change aims at supporting at least 150 European regions to become climate resilient by 2030. Since its launch, 308 regional and local authorities have signed the Mission Charter. A dedicated Mission Implementation Platform is providing technical assistance to the regions, and 50 of them are developing a common methodology for carrying out detailed risk and vulnerability assessments.
The Cancer Mission has the ambitious goal of improving the lives of more than 3 million people by 2030, through prevention, cure and for those affected by cancer including their families, to live longer and better. At EU level, Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan together with the Cancer Mission have fostered a new dialogue with Member States. The Mission is playing a pivotal role in enabling the development of the UNCAN.eu data platform to help researchers analyse combined research, health and other relevant data at an unprecedented scale.
The goals of the Climate Neutral and Smart Cities Mission are to achieve 100 climate neutral and smart cities by 2030 and to ensure that they also act as experimentation and innovation hubs to all European cities. The Call for Expression of Interest to join the Mission closed in January 2022 and resulted in applications from 377 cities. The Mission has created a powerful community of ambitious cities that, through a Mission Platform, work in groups, exchange experience and access a knowledge repository to accelerating climate-neutral solutions.
The goal of the Restore our Ocean and WatersMission is to reconcile the protection and restoration of marine and freshwater ecosystems with the ever-growing pressures on aquatic resources. Four Mission ‘lighthouses’ in major European sea and river basins have been set up as much-needed sites to pilot, demonstrate and deploy the needed solutions at scale, making them available to over 100 European associated regions. Interest in the Mission is demonstrated by more than 480 actions that were pledged under the Mission’s Charter.
With its goal of establishing 100 Living Labs and Lighthouses by 2030, the Soil Mission aims to deliver solutions for the sustainable management and restoration of soils in rural and urban areas. Under the Mission, regional and local authorities are developing Territorial Soil Management Agreements for soil health. The Mission is advancing harmonised soil monitoring in the EU and is developing strategies for soil decontamination and regeneration as well as new business models for soil friendly and climate-neutral value chains.
Background
EU Missions are a new way to bring concrete solutions to some of our greatest challenges. They are a coordinated effort by the Commission to pool the necessary resources in terms of funding programmes, policies and regulations, as well as other activities. They also aim to mobilise and activate public and private actors, such as EU Member States, regional and local authorities, research institutes, farmers and land managers, entrepreneurs and investors to create real and lasting impact. Missions engage directly with citizens to boost societal uptake of new solutions and approaches.
Today’s Communication is accompanied by a Staff Working Document that presents the technical evidence of the EU Missions assessment. This evidence was gathered through a study which helped assess each individual EU Mission against the following dimensions: the Mission’s goal and objectives; the selection process of each EU Mission; the Mission’s governance structures and functioning; the progress towards the fulfilment of the Mission’s objectives; the Mission’ s budget and funding arrangements.
For More Information
- Mission Adaptation to Climate Change factsheet
- Mission Cancer factsheet
- Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters factsheet
- Mission Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities factsheet
- Mission Soil Deal for Europe factsheet
Implementation plans for the EU Missions
- Mission Adaptation to Climate Change Implementation Plan
- Mission Cancer Implementation Plan
- Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters Implementation Plan
- Mission Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Implementation Plan
- Mission Soil Deal for Europe Implementation PlanNew European Bauhaus: beautiful, sustainable, together
Quotes
In their first two years, Horizon Europe Missions made steady progress against the biggest challenges we face: fighting cancer, adapting to climate change, protecting our waters, making our cities climate-neutral, and restoring our soils. We now took a good look at what worked well and less well. On this basis, we reconfirm our confidence in the Missions’ potential, and propose to extend the portfolio with a Mission on the New European Bauhaus.
We need to keep innovating to tackle the climate and biodiversity crises. Healthy soils, thriving marine ecosystems, and preparing for the increasing impact of climate change are crucial for the European economy and our own wellbeing. The progress made to date with the Horizon Europe missions shows that we can deliver a better future for all Europeans.
Source – EU Commission
Q&A – Horizon Europe: EU Missions on track to meet their 2030 ambition towards a greener and healthier continent
Brussels, 19 July 2023
Why did the Commission adopt a Communication on EU Missions now?
The Horizon Europe Regulation requires the Commission to carry out an assessment of the first Missions (Article 8.5 of the Horizon Europe Regulation) and to review the Mission areas by the end of 2023. The legal base sets out that any activity of Missions beyond 2023 is conditional on the outcome of the assessment process.
To match the strategic nature of the review and assessment exercise, two documents were adopted: a Commission Communication with key political messages regarding the work developed so far and the future of Missions, and a Staff Working Document that presents detailed information on the assessment of EU Missions and the review of Mission areas.
On what grounds were the conclusions of these documents drawn?
The conclusions presented in the Communication and Staff Working document are underpinned by an external study performed by an independent contractor. This study is based on a robust methodology and relied on the consultation of a representative group of stakeholders.
Additional evidence was collected by the individual Mission secretariats as an opportunity to take stock on each Mission’s progress, its added value and research and innovation content.
What are the main messages of the Communication and Staff Working Document?
The assessment of EU Missions confirms that they are timely and inspirational initiatives that provide new impetus to important EU policy priorities, help aligning EU, national, regional and local policy efforts towards shared goals and encourage broad engagement and active participation of stakeholders.
However, EU Missions need to be further supported in reaching their long-term goals, including strengthening and better coordinating administrative governance, facilitating access to resources and funding, and continuing to support local and national efforts, boosting citizens’ engagement, and raising public awareness of the EU Missions.
The Commission recommends the preparation of a new Mission on the New European Bauhaus (NEB). With a focus on innovation, the NEB Mission would for example, aim to transform neighbourhoods across Europe for the better, making them beautiful, sustainable and inclusive by 2035. These neighbourhoods could act as ‘living labs’ for innovation. The Mission will be further defined during its preparatory phase, including with stakeholders and Member States.
Have the EU Missions achieved their objective so far?
The Communication and Staff Woking Document identify a wide range of achievements by each of the five Missions since they were officially launched in September 2021. These results are encouraging, particularly taking into account that Missions are a novel policy initiative under Horizon Europe, with less than two years of implementation.
While it is crucial to monitor their performance along the way, it should be noted that EU Missions have set highly ambitious long-term goals for 2030. Accordingly, Missions will need time to meet targets as bold as restoring our oceans or adapting to climate change.
What will the Commission do to address the identified challenges for the EU Missions ?
The Communication puts forward a number of concrete actions to address the specific challenges faced by EU Missions. For example, to improve the governance and political steer of EU Missions, the Commission will:
- Invite all political actors involved, including the Member States, to nominate high level representatives to join the Commissioners responsible for the respective EU Missions in promoting Missions to citizens, mobilising national funds etc.
- Intensify discussions, notably with Member States, on how to streamline EU Mission governance to make it more efficient, inclusive, and effective.
- Invest in strengthening joint support functions (‘back office’) for all current and future EU Missions.
In turn, to secure more and better co-investment, including from the private sector, the Commission will:
- Mobilise a broader portfolio of instruments, including public-private partnerships and the public procurement of innovation.
- Intensify discussions on alignment of Member States’ programming of EU funding with the EU Missions.
- Invite recommendations and advice on how to increase private sector involvement in, and contribution to, the EU Missions.
Finally, to enhance citizen and stakeholder engagement, the Commission will:
- Undertake targeted actions to support local and national communication efforts to boost citizen engagement and raise public awareness of EU Missions.
- Publish a new report on the implementation of EU Missions in 2025.
What is the New European Bauhaus and what are its objectives?
The New European Bauhaus (NEB) is an interdisciplinary initiative launched in 2020 by President von der Leyen in the State of the Union speech. It expresses the EU’s ambition of creating beautiful, sustainable, and inclusive places, products and ways of living. It is inspiring a number of bottom-up projects and initiatives that test and demonstrate NEB ideas and actions. The New European Bauhaus Progress Report includes further information on the achievements of the initiative over its two first years.
The NEB is a novel, innovation-based initiative – it filters innovation not only through the lens of sustainability, but also through those of equal access, affordability and acceptance.
In its September 2022 resolution on NEB, the European Parliament called for the creation of a NEB Mission under Horizon Europe, pointing to the existing points of convergence.
For More Information
- Mission Adaptation to Climate Change factsheet
- Mission Cancer factsheet
- Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters factsheet
- Mission Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities factsheet
- Mission Soil Deal for Europe factsheet