From ideas to impact : EU and global research and innovation collaborations for accelerating clean energy transitions.
Date: 2023-07-19
Institutions: Directorate-General for Research and Innovation
Subjects: EU energy policy, Framework Programme for Research and Development, carbon capture and storage, carbon neutrality, energy research, energy technology, energy transition, hydrogen, innovation, renewable energy, smart city, smart technology

FROM IDEAS TO IMPACT: EU AND GLOBAL RESEARCH AND INNOVATION 
COLLABORATIONS FOR ACCELERATING CLEAN ENERGY TRANSITIONS

Research and Innovation is crucial to accelerate clean energy transitions. Horizon Europe, the EU R&I 
framework programme invests in clean energy solutions including through collaborations with the public 
and private sectors through Horizon Europe partnerships and European missions.  

At international level, the Commission is part of Mission Innovation a global initiative catalysing a decade of action 
and  investment  in  research,  development,  and  demonstration  to  make  clean  energy  affordable,  attractive,  and 
accessible for all. 

Mission  Innovation  launched  seven  Missions  which  bring  together  dynamic  and  delivery-focused  high  ambition 
alliances between countries, corporations, investors, and research institutes that set global stretch goals and provide 
momentum to make sure more innovation happens, more rapidly. The Commission co-leads the missions on Clean 
Hydrogen and Urban Transitions, is core member of the missions Integrated Biorefineries and Net-Zero Industries 
and support member of the missions Carbon Dioxide Removal, Green-Powered Future and Zero-Emission Shipping.  

EU and global research and innovation collaborations accelerate clean energy transitions, including in 
the following priority areas:

H

Clean Hydrogen

Urban Transitions 

In the EU, renewable hydrogen is one of the priority areas 
where  innovative  and  market-ready  technologies  are 
needed  to  accelerate  the  phasing-out  of  fossil  fuels  and 
to  ensure  economic  and  social  welfare  to  EU  citizens. 
The  EU  aims  to  produce  10  million  tonnes  of  renewable 
hydrogen  per  year  domestically  plus  an  additional 
10  million  tons  of  annual  hydrogen  imports  by  2030.   
With Horizon Europe, the Commission invests EUR 1 billion in 
the Clean Hydrogen Partnership for research and innovation 
activities with industry. With the REPowerEU Action Plan, 
the Commission invested an additional 200MEUR to 
double the number of Hydrogen Valleys across the EU 
by 2025. The Mission Innovation Clean Hydrogen Mission 
brings together 20 countries and 6 international and private 
organisations to stimulate innovation, knowledge exchange, 
and international cooperation, and facilitate investment in 
specific  areas  of  research,  innovation,  development,  and 
demonstration  to  accelerate  progress  towards  a  global 
clean hydrogen economy. It aims to reduce end-to-end 
clean hydrogen costs to USD $2 per kg by 2030 and 
establish 100 hydrogen valleys globally by 2030. 

As  hotspots  of  emissions  and  mitigation,  cities  are  main 
actors in reaching the targets of the European Green Deal: 
reduce  emissions  by  at  least  55%  by  2030  and  achieve 
climate  neutrality  in  the  EU  by  2050.  These  ambitious 
targets add to a backdrop where cities already implement 
70%  of  EU  policies  on  the  ground  and  deliver  solutions 
and  services  closer  to  local  businesses  and  citizens.  
The  European  Mission  on  climate-neutral  and 
smart  cities  is  working  with  100  European  cities 
to  become  climate-neutral  by  2030  allowing  them 
to  act  as  experimentation  and  innovation  hubs  to  put  all 
European cities in a position to become climate-neutral by 
2050. 12 cities from associated countries also participate 
in the Mission, thus extending its activities to enlargement 
countries and the EU’s neighborhood cities. Inspired by the 
EU Mission, the Mission innovation Urban Transitions Mission 
promotes  integrated  and  collective  action  for  net-zero 
cities.  It  brings  together  6  countries  and  11  international 
and private organisations and has selected a cohort of 
48  cities  as  first  step  towardsbuilding  a  cohort  of 
300  cities  worldwide  by  2024,  that  will  promote  and 
demonstrate pathways to net-zero transitions across world 
regions. 

July 2023

Research andInnovationRenewable Energy  

CO2

Carbon Dioxide Removal   

The  clean  energy  transition  is  a  key  element  of  the 
European  Green  Deal.  To  achieve  this  goal,  all  renewable 
energy technologies must increase their contribution to the 
future technology mix. The EU has set ambitious targets for 
renewable energy: by 2030, EU countries committed to 
sourcing 42.5% of its energy from renewable sources 
with a potential top to 45%. This will require massive 
investments in renewable energy production, renewable and 
hydrogen  infrastructures,  and  reinforcement  of  Europe’s 
power grids. The Mission Innovation Green Powered Future 
Mission  brings  together  brings  together  15  countries  and 
14  international  and  private  organisations.  It  strives  to 
demonstrate  that  power  systems  can  integrate  up 
to  100%  variable  renewable  energy  by  2030  while 
ensuring cost-efficiency and security.

Carbon  removals  are  a  crucial  component  of  our  climate 
strategy.  Carbon  dioxide  must  be  actively  removed  from 
the atmosphere and stored, through technology or natural 
carbon  sinks.  For  this  reason,  the  EU  Communication  on 
Sustainable Carbon Cycles provides a roadmap to promote 
carbon removal technologies and carbon farming practices. 
To  enhance  the  growth  of  carbon  removals  future  Union 
strategy will establish a market for the capture, transport, 
storage,  and  utilisation  of  CO2  by  2030.  Internationally, 
the Carbon Dioxide Removal Mission, bringing together 12 
countries  and  6  international  and  private  organisations 
aims enable carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies is 
to achieve a net reduction of 100 million tonnes of 
CO2 per year by 2030.

Net-Zero Industries  

Integrated Biorefineries   

Low-carbon  and  renewable  alternatives  to  fossil-based 
fuels,  chemicals,  and  materials  have  a  fundamental  role 
today,  especially  in  the  transport  and  chemicals  sectors, 
which  account  for  nearly  one-third  of  global  emissions. 
The  EU  supports  the  decarbonisation  of  hard  to  abate 
sectors,  including  the  aviation  and  waterborne  sectors 
through  the  EU  regulatory  framework  (for  instance  the 
REFuelEU  Aviation  Regulation,  the  FuelEU  maritime 
Regulation  and  the  EU  Emissions  Trading  System),  R&I 
investment  programmes  such  as  Horizon  Europe  and 
through  Horizon  Europe  partnerships  with  industry.  The 
Integrated  Biorefineries  Mission  aims  to  demonstrate 
innovative  solutions  to  accelerate  the  commercialisation 
of  integrated  biorefineries,  bringing  together  6  countries 
and  2  international  organisations  aims  to  develop  and 
demonstrate innovative solutions to accelerate the 
commercialisation  of  integrated  biorefineries,  with 
a  target  of  replacing  10%  of  fossil-based  fuels, 
chemicals and materials with bio-based alternatives 
by 2030.

The  European  Green  Deal  Industrial  Plan  aims  to  create 
a  more  autonomous  and  resilient  EU  industry,  with  the 
proposed Net-Zero Industry Act and Critical Raw Materials 
Act  serving  as  its  building  blocks.  The  first  aims  to  scale 
up  clean  technology  manufacturing  in  the  EU  with  
a  proposed  target  to  provide  at  least  40%  of  the 
EU’s  annual  deployment  needs  for  strategic  net-
zero technologies by 2030. The latter aims to diversify 
the  resilience  of  EU  critical  raw  material  supply  chains 
and  enhance  circularity  and  sustainability.  The  Mission 
Innovation Net-Zero Industries Mission brings together 10 
countries  and  5  international  and  private  organizations. 
With  the  same  ambition,  it  seeks  to  support  the 
worldwide implementation of at least two large scale 
demonstration projects for each innovation field and 
sector,  to  expedite  the  development  of  new  and  radical 
breakthrough  low  emissions  technologies  to  Technology 
Readiness Level 8.

Zero-Emissions Shipping  

Shipping  and  shipbuilding  are  a  high  priority  for  Europe. 
EU measures to decarbonise the maritime sector, currently 
one  of  the  largest  emitters  of  greenhouse  gases,  include 
setting milestones for zero-emission marine vessels to be 
market ready by 2030 (2020 Strategy for Sustainable and 
Smart Mobility), extending the EU Emission Trading System 
to the maritime transport sector, and promoting the use of 
sustainable alternative fuels (FuelEU Maritime Regulation). 
In line with such efforts, at the international level the Zero-
Emission Shipping Mission, bringing together 14 countries 
and  2  international  and  private  organisations  is  working 
to  demonstrate  commercially  viable  zero-emission 
ships by 2030.

EU  R&I  FLAGSHIP  PROJECTS,  SUPPORTED  BY  HORIZON  EUROPE, 
DEMONSTRATING SOLUTIONS IN THE PRIORITY AREAS OF THE MISSION 
INNOVATION MISSIONS. 

H

HEAVENN 

DUET 

Hydrogen Energy Applications for  
Valley Environments in Northern Netherlands

This large-scale demo project will bring together production, 
distribution,  storage  and  local  end-use  of  H2  into  a  fully 
integrated  and  functioning  “H2  valley”  (H2V),  which  can 
serve  as  a  blueprint  for  replication  across  Europe  and 
beyond. Based on the deployment & integration of existing 
&  planned  project  clusters  across  six  locations  in  the 
Netherlands,  the  project  is  expected  to  have  a  profound 
impact  on  the  region’s  energy  landscape.  By  showcasing 
the  integration  of  renewable  energy  sources  and  the 
coupling of electricity and gas infrastructures, the project 
demonstrates a comprehensive approach to decarbonizing 
industry, power generation, transport, and heating systems 
throughout the entire region.

Digital Urban European Twins  

The  DUET  project  aims  to  revolutionise  decision-making 
processes  in  cities,  through  the  creation  of  digital  twins, 
which are computer replicas of city systems. Digital twins 
allow city planners and officials to test their ideas and make 
more informed decisions using large open data sources and 
advanced  technologies.  The  project’s  main  objective  is  to 
leverage advanced technologies, such as cloud computing 
and  high-performance  computing,  to  transform  the 
traditional public policy-making. DUET will have a significant 
impact  on  city  management  and  will  make  public  sector 
decision-making  more  democratic  and  effective.  Today, 
the DUET Digital Twin platform (City Twin) can already be 
accessed by anyone at https://citytwin.eu/.

Budget

Total cost €96 191 883,93
EU contribution €20 000 000,00

Countries

Coordinated by the Netherlands

Duration

1 Jan 2020 – 31 Dec 2025

Budget

Total cost €4 516 957,50
EU contribution €3 965 032,50

Countries

Coordinated by Belgium

Duration

1 Dec 2019 to 30 Nov 2022

STEELANOL 

ELYGRID

Steel + Ethanol

The  STEELANOLproject,  funded  under  Horizon  2020  to 
contribute  to  competitive  low-carbon  energy,  aims  to 
demonstrate new technologies to produce advanced biofuel. 
It  proposes  an  innovative  fermenting  process  of  exhaust 
gases emitted by the steel industry that are currently used 
for electricity production or burned. Its main objective is to 
demonstrate  the  cost-effective  production  of  sustainable 
bioethanol  and  evaluate  its  potential  as  a  fuel  derivative 
for the transport sector. The environmental performance of 
the produced bioethanol will be evaluated by a Life-Cycle 
Assessment, enabling a comparison with other fuels.

Improvements to Integrate High Pressure Alkaline 
Electrolysers for Electricity/H2 production from 
Renewable Energies to Balance the Grid

ELYGRID aims to leverage wind power to produce and store 
hydrogen, which can compensate for the intermittency of 
Renewable Energy Sources and ensure a stable energy supply 
by linking wind turbines to electrolysers, storage facilities 
and fuel cells. ELYGRID focused on developing megawatt-
scale  alkaline  electrolysers  with  capacities  exceeding  0.5 
MW  to  reduce  the  cost  of  hydrogen  production  through 
electrolysis  coupled  with  RESs.  By  improving  efficiency  of 
electrolysers and reducing its costs by a quarter, the project 
contributed to reduce the cost of hydrogen production.

Budget

Total cost €14 560 736,75
EU contribution €10 192 515,73

Countries

Coordinated by Spain 

Duration

1 May 2015 – 31 Mar 2024

Budget

Total cost €3 701 178,33 
EU contribution €2 105 017,00 

Countries

Coordinated by Spain 

Duration

1 Nov 2011 – 31 Dec 2014

SEUS 

Smart European Shipbuilding project

The  EU-funded  SEUS  project  aims  to  bolster  European 
shipyards by creating a framework that integrates advanced 
shipbuilding 
life-cycle  management  with  computer-
aided  design,  manufacturing,  engineering,  and  product 
data  software.  SEUS  will  introduce  innovative  practices 
for  knowledge  management,  data-driven  AI  design  and 
intelligent  technology.  The  goal  is  to  enhance  efficiency 
across all production stages, from engineering to assembly 
and  construction  of  shipyards.  The  project  will  create  by 
2026 a digital platform that will provide software tools that 
allow  the  efficient  design,  construction,  and  operation  of 
ships, saving up to 30% of time in engineering and up to 
20% time in assembly and construction.

Budget

Total cost €8 590 667,50
EU contribution €6 992 201,50

Countries

Coordinated by Norway

HYFUELUP 

Hybrid Biomethane Production from 
Integrated Biomass Conversion

HYFUELUP is an EU-funded project that aims to develop 
an  innovative  pathway  for  the  efficient  and  cost-
effective production of biomethane. The project combines 
thermochemical technologies, which convert biomass into 
gas,  with  renewable  hydrogen,  which  enhances  the  gas 
quality.  The  project  will  integrate  these  technologies  at 
a  pre-commercial  scale  and  establish  a  complete  value 
chain  for  biomethane  production  and  distribution.  This 
comprehensive approach will contribute to wider adoption 
of  biomethane  in  the  transport  and  energy  sectors.  It  is 
expected  that  the  technology  developed  in  HYFUELUP 
can  be  replicated  throughout  the  world,  leading  to  a 
significant  reduction  in  greenhouse  gas  emissions  (over 
90% reduction compared to natural gas).

Budget

Total cost €11 573 443,92
EU contribution €10 294 334,44

Duration

1 Jan 2023 – 31 Dec 2026

Countries

Coordinated by Portugal

Duration

1 Nov 2022 – 31 Oct 2026

CO2

CarbFix2 

Creating the technology for safe, long-term 
carbon storage in the subsurface

The EU-funded CarbFix2 project provides a ground-breaking 
approach to reduce carbon emission by converting CO2 into 
stable  carbonate  rocks,  effectively  removing  it  from  the 
atmosphere. It builds upon the success of its predecessor, 
the  CarbFix  project,  well-known  for  its  safe  and  efficient 
geologic  carbon  storage  method.  CarbFix2  improved  the 
technology  by  co-injecting  impure  CO2  and  other  water-
soluble  polluting  gases  into  the  subsurface,  developing  a 
geological carbon storage method using seawater injection 
into submarine basalts and integrating the CarbFix method 
with air-capture technology.

Budget

Total cost €2 200 318,75
EU contribution €2 200 318,00

Countries

Coordinated by Iceland

Duration

1 Aug 2017 – 31 Jan 2021

MORE INFORMATION
http://mission-innovation.net/

DG RTD ENERGY PAGES
Energy (europa.eu)

@MICleanEnergyRD  
#MissionInnovation

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