EU Mission: Restore our Ocean and Waters
With a 2030 target, the EU Mission “Restore our Ocean and Waters” aims to protect and restore the health of ocean and waters through research and innovation, citizen engagement and blue investments. The Mission’s new approach will address the ocean and waters as one and play a key role in achieving climate neutrality and restoring nature.
Cross-cutting enabling actions will support this objective, in particular broad public mobilisation and engagement and a digital ocean and water knowledge system, known as Digital Twin Ocean.
The Mission supports regional engagement and cooperation through area-based “lighthouses” in major sea/river basins: Atlantic-Arctic, Mediterranean Sea, Baltic-North Sea, and Danube-Black Sea. Mission lighthouses are sites to pilot, demonstrate, develop and deploy the Mission activities across EU seas and river basins.
Mission Charter
EU is calling on Member States, regions and a wide range of stakeholders to endorse the Charter and pledge actions that will contribute to the successful implementation of the Mission and its lighthouses.
To endorse the Charter and pledge actions click here.
The one-stop-shop Mission Portal
The EU Mission Ocean and Waters’ online Portal is a one-stop-shop for stakeholders involved and interested in implementing the Mission.
You can:
- keep track of the Mission’s progress toward its objectives
- follow the actions and activities across Mission Lighthouses
- find financial and investment opportunities related to the Mission
- access the Mission library to learn about and share innovative solutions for oceans and water restoration
- engage with citizens and stakeholders through outreach, dissemination and Mission events.
Funding opportunities
On 17 April 2024, the Commission adopted an amendment to the 2023-24 Work Programme of Horizon Europe to mobilise previously unallocated Horizon Europe funding to increase the 2024 budget by nearly €1.4 billion to a total of €7.3 billion. This amendment includes an investment of nearly €650 million in the EU Missions to enable the implementation of the Communication “EU Missions two years on: assessment of progress and way forward”, adopted on 19 July 2023.
Under the Mission Restore our Ocean and waters, new opportunities to support your work are now published on the Funding and Tenders Portal, under the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2023-2024 with closing date of 18 September 2024.
Portfolio Analysis
The European Commission has published a Portfolio Analysis Report identifying over 800 EU-funded projects, from 16 EU funding programmes, contributing to the objectives of the EU Mission “Restore our Ocean and Waters”. The analysis has been performed with the assistance of 12 independent experts and the projects analysed belong to 16 EU funding programmes. The analysis has produced a Report and a Dashboard.
The Dashboard, which is updated annually, allows users to interact with the data by visualising and filtering from general to more detailed information, according to specific interests.
For an easier use of the Dashboard, check the Quick Guide.