HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-CLIMATE-01-two-stage: Dates, €5.5M Table

By Aoba Works · Published October 31, 2026 · 16 min read

• Horizon Europe
• Two-stage Call
• Innovation Action
• Deadlines

HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-CLIMATE-01-two-stage opens on 4 February 2027; stage 1 closes on 8 April 2027 and stage 2 on 14 September 2027 (REA). It is an Innovation Action with an €11 million budget for about 2 projects of €5.5 million each (Innovate UK Business Connect). Stage 1 Part B is capped at 10 pages, and invited full proposals at 40 pages, or 45 with lump-sum funding (NCP Flanders).

Which option is right for you?

Choose your first move based on where you are now. Most readers fall into one of the situations below.

Here is why. Without a PIC you can't be listed as a partner. Stage 1 is short, so researchers can start drafting right away. SMEs, utilities and NGOs fit best as partners in the demonstration and multi-actor work this topic requires.

What is HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-CLIMATE-01 and who can apply?

HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-CLIMATE-01-two-stage is a Cluster 6 open topic that funds deployable water-resilience solutions. Its full title is "Open topic: Innovative solutions for the European Water Resilience Strategy". It sits under the destination "Land, ocean and water for climate action". Consortia of legal entities from EU Member States and Associated Countries can apply.

The REA destination page lists the call HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-two-stage as having one topic and an overall indicative budget of €11 million. The CORDIS topic record says projects should deliver "breakthrough innovation" toward the three objectives of the European Water Resilience Strategy:

• Restore and protect the water cycle. This covers retaining water in natural ecosystems, restoring river habitats, building preparedness for "water scarcity, droughts and floods", and improving hydrological monitoring and access to cross-border data.
• Build a water-smart economy. This covers water-efficiency indicators for sectors such as agriculture, "water pricing systems and certification systems", technology that applies the "water efficiency first principle", and scaling up water reuse and recycling.
• Ensure clean and affordable water for all. This covers public engagement in basin management, fair access for vulnerable groups, and methods for measuring water footprints.

Who it fits: the topic text asks for a multi-actor approach involving "farmers, water intensive industries, energy producers, land managers, water governance bodies and local authorities" (CORDIS). Universities and research institutes usually lead the method work. SMEs bring technology for the demonstration sites. NGOs, utilities and municipalities act as end users and help co-design the solution.

For example, a hypothetical consortium might combine a university hydrology group, an SME that makes soil-moisture sensors, two farmer cooperatives, a river basin authority and a consumer NGO. They would test drought-retention measures in two pilot catchments. That mix matches the topic's multi-actor wording and its demand for demonstration.

Pitfalls to avoid:

• Writing a desk study. The topic asks proposals to explain how they will demonstrate, test or validate their solutions (CORDIS). A literature review plus policy recommendations will not do well in an Innovation Action.
• Duplicating related programmes. You must show complementarity with the Water4All Partnership and with the EU Missions on oceans and waters, climate adaptation and soil (same source). Name the specific projects you will build on, not only the programmes.
• Leaving out the collaboration task. Funded projects must include "a task to ensure collaboration with the other projects funded under this topic" (same source). Budget a few person-months for it.

What are the stage 1 and stage 2 deadlines for this topic?

Stage 1 closes on 8 April 2027 and stage 2 closes on 14 September 2027. The call opens on 4 February 2027.

All dates are as of October 2026. Check the "Deadline" field on the portal topic page before you submit.

Horizon Europe deadlines normally close at 17:00:00 Brussels time, and the submission system will not accept late proposals (Funding & Tenders Online Manual). Check the exact time shown on the topic page.

Watch out for conflicting dates. The REA page, Innovate UK Business Connect and the CORDIS record all list 8 April 2027 for this topic, but third-party summaries can be out of date. The portal topic page is the only date that binds you. If it changes, plan around the new date and ignore older PDFs.

Plan your work backward from 8 April. The call publishes on 4 February, which leaves about nine weeks. If you wait for the official opening to form a consortium, you will run short. Most consortia agree the concept and the partner list before the call opens, using the published work programme text.

What is the page limit for stage 1 vs stage 2 proposals?

The stage 1 Part B is capped at 10 pages. The stage 2 full proposal is capped at 40 pages, or 45 pages for lump-sum topics (NCP Flanders).

These limits come from the Horizon Europe 2026–2027 General Annexes and are summarised by NCP Flanders and criteri.ai, as of October 2026. Criteri.ai notes that the 2026–2027 template (Version 5.0, November 2025) lowered page limits and simplified sections 2.1 and 3.1 compared with earlier versions. If you reuse a Part B written before 2026, cut it down; trimming the formatting won't be enough.

Which full-proposal limit applies? It depends on whether this topic is lump-sum funded. One applicant-guide summary lists lump-sum funding under General Annex G for this topic (Microfluidics Innovation Center). Confirm it in the "Topic conditions and documents" section of the portal before you plan a 45-page stage 2.

For a section-by-section budget of those pages, see the 40-page RIA section map. IA templates use the same structure.

Common mistakes and fixes:

• Pages beyond the limit. The submission system flags excess pages, and evaluators are told to disregard them (General Annexes). Fix: check the page count in the exported PDF, not in the Word file.
• Logos or partner names in a blind stage 1. The stage 1 abstract and Part B must not contain "organisation names, acronyms, logos, or staff names" (Microfluidics Innovation Center summary). Fix: write "Partner 3 (a water utility serving 400,000 inhabitants)" instead of the utility's name. That example is illustrative.
• Using a template from another call. Fix: download Part B from the submission system for this topic only, as criteri.ai also advises.

What is the budget per project and total call budget?

The topic budget is €11 million, and the work programme expects about €5.5 million of EU funding per project, so 2 projects (Innovate UK Business Connect; REA).

The phrase "about €5.5 million" matters in practice. It is not a hard cap. However, a proposal that asks for much more than the expected contribution has to justify that, and with only €11 million available, two large proposals can't both be funded. Most applicants stay close to €5.5 million.

Here is an example calculation, with assumed numbers only. Suppose you plan 7 work packages, 12 partners and 2 pilot catchments over 48 months. Spread €5.5 million of EU funding across 12 partners and you get an average of about €460,000 per partner. Demonstration sites usually take a larger share than coordination partners. If one pilot needs €1.2 million on its own, that leaves less for everyone else. Work this out before stage 1, because stage 2 can't change the project substantially.

The two-stage rules also limit how many teams go through to stage 2. The Commission aims to invite proposals whose combined requested budget is "as close as possible to three times the available budget, and not less than two times" (NCP Flanders). With €11 million available, that means about €33 million in invited proposals. At €5.5 million each, that is roughly 6 consortia invited to stage 2, competing for 2 grants. This is an illustration based on the published rule; the real number depends on scores and on the budgets requested.

RIA vs IA: which type of action applies to this topic?

This topic is an Innovation Action (IA), not a Research and Innovation Action (RIA). For-profit partners are therefore funded at 70% of eligible costs, and non-profit legal entities can receive up to 100% (General Annexes; action type confirmed by Innovate UK Business Connect).

Sources: General Annexes 2026–2027, criteri.ai, as of October 2026.

What this means for an SME: suppose your share of eligible costs is €800,000 (an example figure). At 70%, the EU contributes €560,000 and you fund the remaining €240,000 yourself. A university partner with the same costs could receive the full €800,000. Check that your finance team can cover that 30% gap for the length of the project before you sign the consortium agreement.

If the topic is confirmed as lump sum, you still prepare a detailed cost estimate at stage 2. Payments are then made when work packages are completed, not against reported actual costs (General Annexes). That reduces cost reporting. The limitation is that a work package that isn't completed may not be paid, so define deliverables you can realistically finish.

How does the two-stage evaluation process work?

At stage 1, experts score only Excellence and Impact, with a threshold of 4 out of 5 for each. Only the best-ranked consortia are invited to submit a full stage 2 proposal, which is scored on all three criteria (General Annexes; NCP Flanders).

How it runs in practice:

1. Prepare. Every partner needs a PIC, and the coordinator creates the draft on the Funding & Tenders Portal. If you don't have a PIC yet, follow the registration guide.
2. Open the topic. Go to the Funding & Tenders Portal → "Search Funding & Tenders" → search for "HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-CLIMATE-01-two-stage" → open the topic → scroll to "Start submission".
3. Create the draft. Click "Start submission", confirm the type of action, enter your acronym and short summary, and add partners by PIC.
4. Fill in Part A and upload Part B. Complete the administrative forms, then upload the 10-page stage 1 Part B as a PDF. Use the anonymised version if the topic requires blind evaluation.
5. Submit before 8 April 2027. Click "Submit" and wait for the confirmation. You can resubmit as many times as you like before the deadline, and the last version counts (Online Manual).
6. Wait for the stage 1 result. Expect it about 3 months later. Successful applicants get general feedback, not a full Evaluation Summary Report (ESR) (NCP Flanders). Track the status under "My Proposals" (status guide).
7. Write stage 2 by 14 September 2027. Expand to the full 40- or 45-page Part B and add the full budget. Keep the core idea, the objectives and the coordinator unchanged.

How strict is a 4 out of 5 threshold? It means each criterion must be rated at least "very good". Proposals can also need a combined score of 8 or 8.5 out of 10 at stage 1 (NCP Flanders). Because of the budget rule above, the score needed to be invited can end up higher than the threshold.

Pitfalls with fixes:

• Changing the project between stages. Small consortium changes are allowed, such as one or two partners leaving. A "substantial difference" in objectives, methodology or coordinator is not allowed (same source). Fix: fix the coordinator and the pilot sites before stage 1.
• Planning stage 2 work only after the invitation. If the stage 1 result arrives in early July, you have about ten weeks over the summer holidays to write the full proposal. Fix: draft the implementation section (work packages, Gantt chart, risks) in May and June.
• Ignoring the Impact section at stage 1. Half the stage 1 score comes from Impact. Map your measures to the three strategy objectives listed in the topic. The Part B scoring map shows which sub-criteria evaluators check.

What are the eligibility and consortium requirements?

The default Horizon Europe rule applies. You need at least three independent legal entities, each from a different EU Member State or Associated Country, and at least one of them must be from a Member State (General Annexes).

On top of that baseline, this topic adds its own conditions:

• Multi-actor approach. End users have to take part in the work as real participants, not just as advisers (CORDIS; MIC summary).
• JRC participation. The Joint Research Centre can contribute expertise on drought and flood risk and on the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CORDIS). According to the MIC summary, it can take part without funding or as an associated partner.
• Copernicus and Galileo/EGNOS. If your solution uses Earth observation or positioning, use EU satellite data and services (same summary).
• Entities established in China. The MIC summary reports that they are not eligible for this topic. Check the "Eligibility conditions" text on the topic page if any partner has links to China.

Who can apply? Universities, research organisations, SMEs, larger companies, NGOs and public bodies can all be partners or coordinators, provided they are legal entities with a PIC. A single SME can't apply alone, because the minimum is three entities from three countries. Partners from other non-associated third countries can usually join. Whether they receive funding depends on the list in the General Annexes, so check before you assign them budget.

For example, a valid minimum consortium would be a Spanish university, a Dutch SME and a Norwegian water utility, since Norway is an Associated Country. To be competitive, though, most consortia for a €5.5 million demonstration project are much larger, because they need several pilot regions and several types of user.

Where can I download the official work programme PDF for this topic?

The official text is in Annex 9 of the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026–2027, "Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment". It is published on the Funding & Tenders Portal (direct PDF).

Steps to reach all the binding documents:

1. Open the topic page on the Funding & Tenders Portal.
2. Under "Topic conditions and documents", open the work programme part (Annex 9) and the General Annexes.
3. In the Annex 9 PDF, press Ctrl+F (Cmd+F on a Mac) and search for "CLIMATE-01-two-stage". The conditions table above the topic text gives the expected contribution, the indicative budget, the type of action and any specific eligibility rules.
4. Download the Part B templates only through "Start submission". The portal's "Reference documents" also link the standard application forms, but the version inside the submission system is the one that matches your topic.
5. Read the CORDIS topic page for a plain HTML copy of the topic text. Use it for reading, but quote the portal version.

One limitation: unofficial copies and third-party summaries of the work programme may contain outdated dates and budgets. Use only files hosted on ec.europa.eu. For the overall process from search to submission, see how to apply for EU funding in 7 steps.

Next steps

You can do the first three of these today. After that, decide whether you want outside help.

Do it yourself today:

1. Open the topic page and check the deadline, the type of action and whether lump-sum funding applies. Note any difference from the table above.
2. Make sure every intended partner has a validated PIC. If any don't, start registration now, because validation can take weeks.
3. Write one page that links your solution to one of the three Water Resilience Strategy objectives. Name your pilot site, your end users and your current TRL. This page becomes the basis of your 10-page stage 1 draft.

If you'd rather not do it yourself:

• National Contact Points (NCPs). These are free, official advisers in each Member State and Associated Country (NCP finder). They suit first-time applicants who want a rules check or a draft review. They won't write your proposal, and how quickly they reply varies by country.
• Enterprise Europe Network. This free network helps SMEs find partners (EEN). It is useful if you need a consortium to join. It is less useful if you already have partners and need writing support.
• Private grant consultants. They charge fees that vary widely, often a fixed fee with or without a success fee (as of October 2026; ask for a written quote). They suit consortia that have no staff time to coordinate the bid. They are a poor fit if your team can't explain its own innovation clearly, because evaluators score the substance, not the polish. No consultant can guarantee an invitation to stage 2.

Related guides on this site:

• HORIZON-HLTH-2027-02-TOOL-01-two-stage: Dates & Page Limits
• Horizon Europe Proposal Template Part B: 2026 Scoring Map
• EU Funding and Tenders Portal Helpdesk: Ticket in 5 Steps

FAQ

What templates are required for stage 1 vs stage 2 submission?

Stage 1 uses the first-stage Part B template, limited to 10 pages and covering only Excellence and Impact, plus short Part A forms. Stage 2 uses the standard Horizon Europe RIA/IA application form, or its lump-sum version, limited to 40 or 45 pages (NCP Flanders). Download both from inside the submission system for this topic.

Can SMEs apply alone to this topic or do they need a consortium?

No. An SME can't apply alone. The default rule requires at least three independent legal entities from three different EU or Associated Countries, including at least one Member State (General Annexes). For solo SME funding, see the EIC options in our SME calls guide.

What happens if I miss the stage 1 deadline?

You can't take part in stage 2. Only consortia that submitted at stage 1 and were invited can submit a full proposal, and the portal does not accept late submissions (Online Manual). If you suspect a technical problem on the portal, open a helpdesk ticket before the deadline and keep the evidence.

Is there a resubmission option if rejected at stage 1?

There is no appeal route that moves you to stage 2 within this call, apart from the formal evaluation review procedure for procedural errors described in the Online Manual. You can reuse the idea in a later call with a matching topic. This topic has a single 2027 deadline in the current work programme, so check future Cluster 6 programmes for similar water topics.

Sources

• REA – Land, oceans and water for climate action (Cluster 6 destination page)
• Funding & Tenders Portal – HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-CLIMATE-01-two-stage topic page
• CORDIS – Open topic: Innovative solutions for the European Water Resilience Strategy
• Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026–2027, Annex 9 (Cluster 6)
• Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026–2027, General Annexes
• Innovate UK Business Connect – Horizon Europe 2026–27 Cluster 6
• NCP Flanders – Horizon Europe two-stage submission infosheet
• criteri.ai – Horizon Europe page limits and Part B template 2026–2027
• Microfluidics Innovation Center – Tips for HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-CLIMATE-01-two-stage
• Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual
• National Contact Points finder
• Enterprise Europe Network

Spotted something out of date or wrong? Tell us at shigoto.ai.note@gmail.com. Guides are re-checked against official sources on a rolling schedule.