On 25 Sept EUREC sent (or letters like it) to 12 Member States.
The letter had the support of 14 associations or NGOs. They allowed their logo to be added to it and some suggested edits.
The meeting targeted was the second day of the Competitiveness Council, 27 Sept, where Ministers discussed “the role of research and innovation in achieving climate targets”
The letter calls on Research Ministers to call on the European Commission to
1) use its announced “plan for a future-ready economy, our new industrial strategy” to remove doubt around its intention to reach the target to spend 35% of the Horizon Europe budget on climate-relevant work (currently something that may be done “where appropriate”). The plan should declare that in view of political and popular support it is appropriate to spend 35% on climate action.
2) set up a mechanism to keep climate-relevant spending on track throughout the Horizon Europe programme. The mechanism should include the possibility to increase funding to the Climate, Mobility and Energy cluster when climate spending is below a plausible trajectory.
3) be much more transparent in the way it classifies climate-related work in its work programmes and the topics or projects funded under them. The European Court of Auditors criticised the Commission for not respecting the regulatory requirement for the Horizon 2020 multiannual work programme to include an indication of the amount of climate-related expenditure in either 2014-2015 or 2016-2017. Nor was this done for the work programme 2018-2020.
It also calls on Research ministers themselves to Increase funding to the Climate, Energy and Mobility Cluster in Horizon Europe. The Cluster accounts for roughly 15% of the budget under the Commission’s proposal. To realistically reach the overall climate target of 35%, the share for Climate, Energy and Mobility needs to be higher.