Objectives

This call aims to support Horizon Europe Cluster 5 activities that accelerate the twin green and digital transitions, transform the economy, industry and society towards climate neutrality and resilience in Europe by 2050, and increase European competitiveness. It combines topics under Batteries, renewable energy, buildings and industrial heat. In batteries, the call contributes to a clean and sustainable transition of the energy and transport sectors towards climate neutrality through cross-cutting solutions.

The topics seek to increase competitiveness and strategic autonomy of a complete EU value chain while maximising sustainability, reduce dependency on imported battery-grade raw materials, create European value chains for next-generation materials, and support EU-India cooperation in recycling EV batteries, improving sustainability, safety and affordability of innovative recycling processes. In renewable energy, the call supports innovative technologies and solutions to improve wind energy systems and advance the SET Plan’s research and innovation priorities and targets for wind energy; expected outcomes include increased performance, reduced cost, improved reliability, sustainability, operation and maintenance, safety, robustness and security, and a higher contribution of wind energy to the energy system with minimal impacts on health and environment.

For efficient, sustainable and inclusive energy use, the call addresses smart buildings, deep renovation, whole-life carbon data platforms, affordable sustainable housing and industrial process heat. It seeks to improve evidence on how users interact with smart building systems, demonstrate cost-effective deep renovation approaches, improve data availability and interoperability for whole life carbon assessments, support policies and business models increasing affordable renovation, and demonstrate recovery and upgrade of locally available heat for industrial processes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, air pollutants and fossil-fuel use.

Actions

This call covers the following topics:

HORIZON-CL5-2026-09-D2-01: Producing battery-grade materials for electrodes through sustainable processing and refining of raw materials or developing bio-based materials (BATT4EU Partnership)

HORIZON-CL5-2026-09-D2-04: Coordinated topic with India on recycling of EV batteries

HORIZON-CL5-2026-09-D3-03: Innovative technologies and solutions to improve wind energy systems supporting the Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan on wind

HORIZON-CL5-2026-09-D4-01: Researching the technical, social & economic factors impacting the energy performance of Smart Buildings (Built4People Partnership)

HORIZON-CL5-2026-09-D4-02: Low disturbance prefabrication approaches for deep renovation of multi-storey buildings (Built4People Partnership)

HORIZON-CL5-2026-09-D4-03: Advanced data platforms to integrate whole life carbon in building information tools, assessments, and certification (Built4People Partnership)

HORIZON-CL5-2026-09-D4-04: Validating policies and business models for affordable and sustainable housing (Built4People Partnership)

HORIZON-CL5-2026-09-D4-08: Full-scale demonstration of heat upgrade solutions in industrial processes