Supporting the implementation of the Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission

Energy efficient urban and sub-urban public transport, complemented by shared mobility <div class="eui-u-mt-l>"><h4>General conditions</h4><div><h4>1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout</h4><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p><strong><em></em></strong>described in <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-call/2026-2027/wp-15-general-annexes_horizon-2026-2027_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Annex A</a> and <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-call/2026-2027/wp-15-general-annexes_horizon-2026-2027_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Annex E</a> of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.</p><p><strong>Proposal page limits and layout:</strong> described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System.</p></div></div><div><h4>2. Eligible Countries</h4><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>described in <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-call/2026-2027/wp-15-general-annexes_horizon-2026-2027_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Annex B</a> of the Work Programme General Annexes.</p><p>A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/guidance/programme-guide_horizon_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Horizon Europe Programme Guide</a>.</p></div></div><div><h4>3. Other Eligible Conditions</h4><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>The following additional eligibility criteria apply:</p><p>At least three lead cities, represented by a local authority or by an entity with an explicit consent from the local authority, from different Member States or Associated Countries along with at least three follower cities, must participate ensuring a good geographical balance. Follower cities can be from the same Member State or Associated Country as the lead cities. At least one of the three lead cities must be one of the 112 cities selected for the EU Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities[[The EU Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities aims to deliver 100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030 and ensure that these cities act as experimentation and innovation hubs to enable all European cities to follow suit by 2050. On 28 April 2022, the Commission announced the 100 EU cities that will participate in the Mission. In addition, 12 cities have been selected from countries associated or expected to be associated the Horizon Europe programme.]].</p></div><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>Subject to restrictions for the protection of European communication networks.</p></div><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>described in <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-call/2026-2027/wp-15-general-annexes_horizon-2026-2027_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Annex B</a> of the Work Programme General Annexes.</p></div></div><div><h4>4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion</h4><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>described in <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-call/2026-2027/wp-15-general-annexes_horizon-2026-2027_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Annex C</a> of the Work Programme General Annexes.</p></div></div><div><h4>5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds</h4><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>are described in <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-call/2026-2027/wp-15-general-annexes_horizon-2026-2027_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Annex D</a> of the Work Programme General Annexes.</p></div></div><div><h4>5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes</h4><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>are described in <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-call/2026-2027/wp-15-general-annexes_horizon-2026-2027_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Annex F</a> of the Work Programme General Annexes and the <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/common/guidance/om_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Online Manual</a>.</p></div></div><div><h4>5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement</h4><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>described in <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-call/2026-2027/wp-15-general-annexes_horizon-2026-2027_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Annex F</a> of the Work Programme General Annexes.</p></div></div><div><h4>6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants</h4><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>Grants awarded under this topic will be linked to the following action(s):</p><p>HORIZON-MISS-2021-CIT-02-03</p><p>Collaboration with the Cities Mission Platform[[Set up by Horizon 2020 project NetZeroCities - Accelerating cities' transition to net zero emissions by 2030, Grant Agreement n. 101036519, and scaled up through topic <em>HORIZON-MISS-2021-CIT-02-03: Framework Partnership Agreement (FPA) for the Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission Platform.</em>]] is essential and projects must ensure that appropriate provisions for activities and resources aimed at enforcing this collaboration are included in the work plan of the proposal. The collaboration with the Cities Mission Platform must be formalized through a Memorandum of Understanding or a collaboration agreement to be concluded as soon as possible after the project starting date.</p></div><div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>described in <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-call/2026-2027/wp-15-general-annexes_horizon-2026-2027_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Annex G</a> of the Work Programme General Annexes.</p></div></div></div><div class="eui-u-mt-l"><h4>Specific conditions</h4> <div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p>Not applicable.</p></div></div><div class="eui-u-mt-l"><div class="eui-u-mt-s"> </div><h4>Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA):</h4> <div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p><strong>Application form templates</strong> <em>— the application form specific to this call is available in the Submission System</em></p><p><a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/temp-form/af/af_he-ria-ia_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Standard application form (HE RIA, IA)</a></p><p><strong>Evaluation form templates</strong> <em>— will be used with the necessary adaptations</em> </p><p><a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/temp-form/ef/ef_he-ria-ia_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)</a>&#xa0;</p><p><strong>Guidance</strong></p><p><a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/guidance/programme-guide_horizon_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">HE Programme Guide</a>&#xa0;</p><p><strong>Model Grant Agreements (MGA)</strong></p><p><a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/common/agr-contr/general-mga_horizon-euratom_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">HE MGA</a>&#xa0;</p><p><a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/agr-contr/unit-mga_he_en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">HE Unit MGA</a>&#xa0;</p><p><strong>Call-specific instructions</strong>&#xa0;</p><p>Not applicable.</p></div><h4>Additional documents:</h4> <div class="eui-u-mt-s"><p><a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportuni