EU Puts €60M Behind Six Nature Restoration Living Lab Projects

The European Commission has opened a €60 million ($66.8 million) funding line for six projects that will build living laboratories to test ecosystem restoration solutions across the bloc — with applications due January 14, 2027.

The money sits inside a package of three new Horizon Europe research and innovation topics aimed squarely at nature restoration and carbon farming. Two of the three focus on so-called living labs: real-world settings where nature-based solutions get tested before they scale across Europe. That structure matters for practitioners, because it means the EU is funding deployment friction, not just lab science.

What does the €60M call actually fund?

The first topic — "Living labs co-creating solutions for the restoration of ecosystems addressing implementation bottlenecks and improving resilience to risks" — carries the full €60 million, split into six projects at an indicative €10 million ($11.1 million) each.

The design is prescriptive. Each project must establish three new living labs, and each lab must comprise eight to 15 experimental sites spread across at least three EU member states or associated countries. Do the math and the ceiling is substantial: six projects times three labs times up to 15 sites puts the network's potential footprint at 270 experimental sites across the continent.

Projects must pick one of two tracks:

• Using restoration to improve resilience to physical risks such as floods, droughts and wildfires.
• Developing effective restoration practices in agriculture and forestry.

That dual framing signals where the Commission sees the Nature Restoration Regulation hitting resistance — hazard-exposed landscapes and productive farmland and forest, where restoration competes with existing land use.

Why a €4M networking call sits alongside it

The second topic, "Networking to scale up living labs for nature restoration solutions and to address bottlenecks to implementation," carries a €4 million ($4.4 million) budget for a single coordination and support action.

Its job is connective tissue: linking existing and emerging restoration living labs, strengthening cooperation among researchers, practitioners and policymakers, and identifying the recurring barriers that keep solutions from scaling.

One line in the call deserves attention from anyone tracking carbon markets. The action specifically calls for facilitating Buyers Clubs to encourage market uptake of nature credits and carbon farming. That's a demand-side intervention — the Commission is trying to organize purchasing power for credits that don't yet have a liquid market.

The application deadline for both living-lab topics is January 14, 2027.

How does this connect to the CRCF Regulation?

The two Directorates-General behind the calls — DG Environment and DG Climate Action — said the funding provides opportunities for "strong synergies to the Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming (CRCF) Regulation." In practice, that means the living labs infrastructure is expected to feed verification and certification work as the CRCF framework comes into force.

A separate €12M call for carbon farming

A third topic, "Carbon farming innovation and scale-up," is fully scheduled for next year with a €12 million total budget — two expected grants at an indicative €6 million each.

This research and innovation action backs the CRCF Regulation's practical implementation as its certification framework begins to apply. The stated goal is innovations and knowledge that make carbon-farming certification more accessible, consistent and cost-effective — three words that describe exactly where the voluntary carbon market has struggled.

The planned opening date is April 20, with applications due September 23.

What to watch

The near-term milestone is the January 14, 2027 deadline for the two living-lab topics; the €12 million carbon farming call follows with its April 20 opening. Consortium formation across the required minimum of three member states typically starts months before deadlines — and the six-project, €10 million-per-project structure means this is a big-consortium game, not a niche grant.