Shift in R&D funding from climate fundamentals to cleantech is a mistake for some observers, a strategic adjustment for others
Photo credits: Sander Weeteling / Unsplash
EU research funding related to climate change is shifting towards the market, according to observers, with less money available for work on climate mechanisms, early-stage technologies and societal drivers. This trend is expected to increase in the next iteration of Horizon Europe, which will be closely coordinated with the new European Competitiveness Fund (ECF).
“EU policymakers nowadays frame climate policy through the lens of closing the innovation gap with the US and China,” said Virginie Robin, founder and chief executive of Euronovia, a consulting firm supporting EU projects relating to energy and climate. “Calls increasingly frame climate action as accelerating the deployment of clean technologies,” she told Science|Business.
While the late Horizon 2020 and early Horizon Europe programmes contained robust calls on topics such as sufficiency and demand reduction, social and institutional…
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