EU opens three CRCF-aligned Horizon Europe project calls

Three Horizon Europe calls for proposals closely aligned with the EU’s Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming regulation will accept applications through January 14, 2027 or September 23, 2027, giving projects two separate closing windows.

The European Union opened the opportunities under the Horizon Europe Programme. They support work closely aligned with the regulation across ecosystem restoration, living labs, nature credits, and carbon-farming certification and scale-up. Each call carries a specific set of requirements and closes in 2027, but the program covers three distinct project objectives.

The EU enacted the CRCF regulation on December 6, 2024. It establishes the first EU-wide voluntary framework for certifying carbon dioxide removals, carbon farming, and CO2 storage in products. The calls now channel support toward activities that the EU says closely relate to those goals, with ecosystem-restoration monitoring and carbon-farming deployment at their center.

What do the three calls cover?

The first opportunity supports living labs for ecosystem restoration, including work to improve monitoring and reporting of biodiversity impacts from carbon farming. The second promotes networking and the scale-up of living labs. The third targets carbon-farming innovation and scale-up. The three calls differ more in project function than in timing: two concern restoration labs and networks, while the third concerns certification tools, and all close in 2027.

Together, the calls seek both evidence and market infrastructure: measured restoration sites, a European network for nature credits, and technology capable of supporting carbon-farming certification.

What must the restoration call deliver?\n

The EU formally launched the first call as “Transformative change towards a nature-positive economy and society.” It will support initiatives that co-create, deploy and replicate viable ecosystem-restoration steps leading to wider uptake. Proposed work must also address implementation bottlenecks and financing issues.

The binding project requirement is the setup of three new living labs, each with 8 to 15 experimental sites. The call sets that numerical scale as a core requirement. Applications close January 14, 2027.

How does the second call target market uptake?

The second call narrows the target to proposals that facilitate market uptake of nature credits and carbon farming in EU carbon removals Buyers Clubs. Its central criterion asks applicants to organize a European network of living labs and lighthouses dedicated to nature restoration.

The EU says that network must support cohesive development and the effective uptake of validated deployment frameworks. Applicants therefore need both organizational reach and a route for tested restoration approaches to move into wider use.

Applications for this market-uptake call also close January 14, 2027, putting it on the same timetable as the restoration-lab call.

What certification work does the third call support?

The third call backs solutions that facilitate carbon-farming certification through integrations with innovative technologies and communication enhancement. The EU presents those tools as a way to unlock scale in the sector, shifting the emphasis from establishing projects to making certification work at greater volume.

This opportunity remains active until September 23, 2027, giving carbon-farming certification proposals a later deadline than the two restoration-focused calls.

What milestones decide what happens next?

The first checkpoint is January 14, 2027, when applications for ecosystem-restoration labs and the European living-lab and lighthouse network close. The second is September 23, 2027, when the carbon-farming certification call closes. Those dates now govern when applicants can enter the relevant funding rounds.

What follows will test whether the projects can supply the CRCF framework’s operational pieces: monitored restoration sites, coordinated networks, validated deployment frameworks and technology-integrated certification. The market test is equally concrete, because the second call targets uptake of nature credits and carbon farming through EU carbon removals Buyers Clubs.

The application deadlines and subsequent selection decisions will determine which work advances toward wider deployment under the EU’s voluntary regime. For carbon-farming operators, that is the immediate regulatory and commercial milestone.