Upscaling innovative payments to support farmers in the delivery of agri-environment-climate public goods

The main goal of this opportunity is to develop and expand innovative payment systems that help farmers provide environmental and climate benefits. It aims to support climate action and biodiversity by encouraging better governance and business models in agriculture. The focus is on result-based, collective, and spatially coordinated payment schemes, mobilizing private funding, and ensuring fair pay for farmers. Projects should also work on strong monitoring, overcoming barriers to implementation, and providing training for sustainable farming. The thematic scope covers climate and biodiversity objectives, with connections to EU-wide initiatives, but no specific geographic regions are indicated.

• Design and upscale results-based, collective or spatially coordinated payment schemes that support farmers’ voluntary delivery of agri-environment-climate public goods (e.g., biodiversity, water, soil health, mitigation).

• Utilize evidence from public/private initiatives to propose practically designed and cost-effective payment mechanisms, overcoming barriers to adoption.

• Pilot and demonstrate innovative environmental service payments in diverse real-world settings to validate impact and scalability.

• Engage farmers, policymakers, public authorities, and multi-actor networks in co-design and validation of payment models.

• Include economic, social, and environmental assessments, tracking outcomes on targeted public goods delivery and farmer income.

• Provide policy recommendations for EU and national-scale rollout of result-based agrienvironment schemes.

Example projects:

• A project that brings together farmers, tech companies, and researchers to test new payment schemes for biodiversity in rural areas.
• An initiative where SMEs and farmer groups develop and pilot a collective payment model for climate-friendly farming practices.
• A partnership between agricultural businesses and universities to monitor and reward spatially coordinated environmental services.

• Grants to third parties for testing and piloting solutions (up to 60,000€ per third party)
• Costs related to engaging SMEs in project activities
• Expenses for capacity building, training, and education in sustainable farming
• Monitoring and evaluation of environmental services
• Development and implementation of innovative business models
• Collaboration activities with other Horizon Europe projects
• Activities involving Social Sciences and Humanities
• Project management and coordination costs
• Dissemination and communication activities

Restrictions: No more than 10% of EU funding can be used for financial support to third parties. Each third party can receive a maximum of 60,000€.

• Budget for this Call: 12.000.000€
• Number of Grants attributed: 2
• Budget per project: 6.000.000€

• Applicants must use a multi-actor approach, including farmers, researchers, businesses, and SMEs.
• SMEs, especially those led by farmers, should be actively involved in developing, testing, or piloting solutions.
• Financial support can be given to third parties (mainly SMEs) for testing and piloting, with clear selection rules.
• The Joint Research Centre (JRC) can be a consortium partner.
• Applicants must be from eligible countries as specified in the Horizon Europe program.
• Projects must plan for collaboration and complementarity with other initiatives under this topic.
• Social Sciences and Humanities must be included in the project activities.