Introduction
Sustainability lies at the heart of Horizon Europe, shaping projects that address critical environmental, social, and economic challenges. Far beyond a checkbox requirement, sustainability represents a strategic lens through which proposals are evaluated and long-term success is ensured. Achieving it requires integration at every stage of project design and implementation.
The European Union’s Horizon Europe framework is a cornerstone for advancing sustainability across diverse sectors. By fostering innovation and collaboration, the EU aims to address environmental challenges, promote sustainable growth, and enhance societal resilience.
Embedding sustainability into proposal design
Sustainability should underpin every objective, deliverable, and milestone in a Horizon Europe project. The key is to articulate the benefits your project brings not only during its lifespan but also beyond.
Holistic approach: Ensure that environmental, economic, and social sustainability aspects are interconnected. For instance, a project on digital agriculture might reduce water consumption (environmental), lower costs for farmers (economic), and enhance food security (social).
Systemic thinking: Address challenges by considering their ripple effects. For example, reducing pesticide use in farming also benefits biodiversity and human health.
Quantifiable metrics: Use metrics such as CO₂ reduction percentages, employment created, or resource efficiency improvements to demonstrate impact concretely.
--> Example: In a project developing energy-efficient building materials, metrics like reducing embodied carbon by 30% and achieving 20% cost savings in production could be highlighted.
--> Highlight: The LIFE project AgriAdapt exemplifies the integration of environmental, economic, and social sustainability principles into agriculture.
Circular Economy: scaling up impactful practices
The circular economy is central to Horizon Europe’s sustainability agenda, aiming to decouple economic growth from resource consumption.
Design for reuse and recycling: Develop products with end-of-life in mind, ensuring materials can be recovered or biodegraded.
Industrial symbiosis: Encourage cross-industry collaboration where one sector’s waste becomes another’s raw material, enhancing resource efficiency.
Innovative business models: Subscription models, repair services, and extended producer responsibility schemes can maximize resource life spans.
--> Example: Projects focusing on bio-based food packaging, exemplify this principle by replacing single-use plastics with fully biodegradable materials.
--> Highlight: The Horizon2020 PlastiCircle project optimizes plastic waste collection and recycling, integrating citizens, municipalities, and industries into a sustainable circular model.
Engaging stakeholders for broader impact
Sustainability isn’t achieved in isolation. Active stakeholder engagement ensures that project results align with real-world needs and are scaled effectively.
Collaborative governance: Involve end-users, policymakers, and NGOs from the outset to co-create solutions that are practical and scalable.
Policy alignment: Work closely with policymakers to ensure your innovations can be supported by regulations and funding programs.
Public awareness campaigns: Disseminate results to non-expert audiences, building trust and encouraging adoption.
--> Example: In a renewable energy project, partnerships with municipalities ensure that technologies like solar microgrids are integrated into local energy plans, benefiting communities directly.
--> Highlight: The Horizon2020 COASTAL project involves farmers, fisheries, local authorities, NGOs, and researchers in co-developing sustainable land-sea interaction strategies. These collaborations ensure that solutions are practical, region-specific, and widely supported by the communities directly affected by the policies.
Leveraging dissemination and exploitation for long-term change
Sustainability’s ultimate test lies in the longevity and scalability of project results.
Open science practices: Sharing data and methodologies fosters replication and innovation. Platforms like OpenAIRE enable wide accessibility of research outputs.
Key Exploitable Results (KERs): Focus on 2–3 core outcomes that can transform industries or communities, ensuring pathways for commercialization or policy integration.
Booster: European Commission initiative that helps bridge the gap between research and real-world impact, supporting the competitiveness of businesses and making sure communities benefit from EU-funded projects.
--> Highlight: The Horizon 2020 BIOSWITCH project focused on converting fossil-based industries to bio-based alternatives, engaging companies and consumers to ensure adoption.
Supporting the Green and Digital Transition
The EU’s twin transitions—green and digital—are inherently interlinked. By integrating advanced technologies, sustainability efforts can be optimized:
Digital tools for monitoring: IoT devices and AI algorithms enable real-time tracking of environmental indicators, such as carbon emissions or biodiversity loss.
Digital twins for testing: Simulate the environmental impact of large-scale interventions (e.g., urban development projects) using virtual models.
Blockchain for transparency: Track supply chains in bio-based industries to ensure ethical sourcing and low carbon footprints.
--> Example: A Horizon Europe-funded project might use AI to monitor forest health, combining it with drone imagery to detect threats like deforestation early.
--> Highlight: The Horizon 2020 DIH4CPS project integrates digital innovations to drive sustainability, exemplifying how digital technologies can advance green objectives, creating actionable insights and scalable solutions. DIH4CPS connects Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs) across Europe to provide SMEs and regional industries with access to advanced technologies like IoT, AI, blockchain digital twin.
Focus: sustainability in the healthcare sector
Healthcare poses unique sustainability challenges due to its reliance on resource-intensive practices, waste production, and the need for uninterrupted service delivery. Initiatives under Horizon Europe address these challenges with innovative solutions:
DAPHNE sets out to improve 6 national/regional/local authorities' capacity to design and implement better healthcare policies – focused specifically on decarbonisation. This INTERREG project will both chart a course to decarbonisation as well as identify breakthrough technologies and innovative tools that could be scaled-up to accelerate the healthcare sector's energy transition.
KitNewCare, an EU-funded Horizon Europe project, aims to help health and care systems better embrace environmental sustainability and climate-neutrality, with a focus on kidney care.
RESISTIRE not only focuses on reducing healthcare inequalities but also integrates sustainability principles by optimizing the use of resources in healthcare systems. For instance, it advocates for digital solutions to reduce paperwork and energy-efficient technologies in healthcare facilities to minimize waste.
Emerging trends in sustainable healthcare
Green hospitals: Hospitals adopting renewable energy systems, such as solar installations, to reduce operational emissions.
Waste-to-resource systems: Innovations in recycling medical plastics and biowaste.
Sustainable pharmaceuticals: Creation and use of biodegradable alternatives to reduce chemical pollutants.
--> Highlight: Grønnköpingkið is a digital hospital created by NCSH to showcase Nordic Center for Sustainable Healthcare (NCSH) solutions. The platform gathers and describes solutions and products that increase the sustainability performance of hospitals and other healthcare facilities. Launched late 2021, the hospital allows to find solutions within various categories such as waste, water, pharma and chemicals, energy efficiency, and many more.
Overcoming challenges in sustainability implementation
While sustainability is a priority, common challenges include:
Cost concerns: Sustainable solutions may require higher upfront investments. Address this by highlighting long-term savings or proposing blended funding models.
Resistance to change: Behavioral and institutional inertia can hinder adoption. Mitigate this through training and capacity-building workshops.
Technological gaps: Not all regions have equal access to advanced tools. Prioritize capacity building and inclusivity to bridge these gaps.
--> Example: In a Horizon Europe project on sustainable agriculture, pilot programs in underfunded regions ensured access to knowledge and equipment, fostering widespread adoption.
Next steps for sustainability
The EU’s success in fostering sustainability will depend on:
Scaling innovations: Ensuring that sustainable solutions are tested and implemented on a broad scale.
Policy support: Aligning project outcomes with supportive legislation.
Cross-sector collaboration: Promoting synergies across industries to maximize impact.
By learning from these examples and exploring emerging trends, stakeholders can align with Horizon Europe’s vision of a sustainable future while addressing challenges like healthcare's environmental footprint.
Conclusion
Sustainability in Horizon Europe isn’t just about meeting proposal criteria—it’s about delivering tangible benefits that endure. By embedding sustainable principles throughout the project lifecycle, applicants can ensure alignment with EU ambitions and create solutions that resonate far beyond the funding period. Thoughtful design, stakeholder collaboration, and strategic exploitation of results are the keys to leaving a lasting legacy.
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