Can grants be the place where ecology, economics, technology and active citizenship meet?

The hope is that it will be a greener, more digital and more resilient Europe. NextGenerationEU is one of the vehicles through which the objectives of the European Green Deal are pursued. This Green Deal programme will pave the way for and support the double digital and green transformation of Europe’s society and economy for the benefit of citizens and businesses. Its other major aim is to accelerate economic recovery. Nevertheless, opening grant schemes and making them available to businesses and other organisations is only the first step of the journey towards transforming a crisis into an opportunity. Without the mobilization of willing, motivated grant-seekers including local authorities, companies, associations, administrations and R&D actors across the whole EU, the transition from theory to action would be impossible.

Thankfully, as can be seen in the diversity of recent EU grant winners, various organisations are showing more and more interest in applying for funding to bridge the gap between their exponential growth and digitalization agenda and their climate neutrality goals. Hence, making digital technology more environmentally responsible is not merely an ambition of the EU, but a goal that can be practically attained and achieved.

The landscape of funding opportunities currently being deployed as part of the EU’s green strategy is quite broad. One knock-on effect of the strategy is that the European Commission is also committed to supporting a significant economic boost, as well as an active citizenship reinforcement, across European societies. Economic growth has often meant unsustainable practice, resource extraction and carbon emissions, but the EU is now trying to make green growth possible. Below, I shed light on some of the calls from the Horizon Europe, the EU’s framework funding programme for research and innovation in which ecology, economics, technology and active citizenship intersect, proving that opposites really do attract.

Call #1: Urban planning and design for just, sustainable, resilient and climate-neutral cities by 2030

This call is designed to support a diverse range of urban areas across Europe. The goal is help urban authorities, as well as other stakeholders and citizens, to identify, plan, design, fund, roll out and replicate solutions and measures in order to achieve climate neutrality, sustainability and resilience and to significantly reduce carbon emissions across the most relevant sectors by 2030.

Call #2: Designing inclusive, safe, affordable and sustainable urban mobility

The aim of this call is to contribute to the agenda of the Climate Neutral and Smart Cities Mission by accelerating the transition of European cities towards climate neutrality through the promotion of zero-emission, shared, active and human-centered mobility. Another key objective is to ensure that common lessons are drawn and learned at the European level from the expansion and acceleration, and upscaling of those innovative and sustainable urban mobility solutions. Ultimately, the hope is that the lessons learned from this process will also contribute to the priorities of the Zero Pollution Action Plan, the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy and the EU road safety policy framework 2021-2030, the last of which includes a 50% reduction target for deaths and serious injuries on the road by 2030.

Call #3: Positive clean energy districts

This call addresses the objectives of the Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission to support, promote and showcase 100 climate-neutral and smart European cities by 2030. The goal is for these first 100 cities to become experimentation and innovation hubs, capable of modelling of climate-neutral initiatives for other European cities. The European Commission’s long-term objective here is to ensure all European cities are in a position to become climate-neutral by 2050. The call will thus contribute to the double green and digital transition promoted by the European Green Deal. It will allow a subset of innovating cities to lead by example in speeding up the necessary transformation towards urban climate neutrality.

We should note that these grants are part of a strategy in which responsible innovative solutions are encouraged. The projects to be funded by these grants proposals will, of necessity, showcase different possibilities for achieving climate neutrality and zero pollution goals through various business activities across the EU and beyond. Furthermore, if we keep in mind the cross-sector ambitions of the EU’s green funding – the desire to accelerate risky business innovations as much as to support necessary public infrastructure – it becomes clearer why the EU has paved the way for more and more stimulus schemes articulated around the convergence of the digital and the green transitions: the goal is not merely to ensure recovery but to promote green growth.

Hence, the process by which grant programmes are designed can facilitate the dissemination of the best and most replicable practices which in turn, it is hoped, will lead to the upscaling of the digital and green transition. In this sense, good grant development activity is the result of cooperation and exchange between grant makers and grant seekers that transcends national and regional boundaries, mobilizing organisations in the private and public sectors in the service of new sustainable models for cross-sector collaboration and community-building and work. Accordingly, can grant-funded projects be the place where ecology, economics, technology and active citizenship meet? Definitely!

The EU’s actual green roadmap and funding measures, in effect, advocate for the convergence of digital and environmental transitions as a prerequisite for a responsible digital economy. To this end, its political and economic decision-makers are trying to ensure that organisations become more aware of the importance of sustainability in order to pass it on to future generations. We should always remember that any small action taken together can have a big impact on our planet. All organisations – including businesses, local governments, schools, charities – can play a key role in the “new world after Covid-19.” All in all, the EU’s grant funding is demonstrating its effectiveness through the influence it exerts on the green and digital course of growth across the union.

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