The European Commission has opened a €230 million Horizon Europe call for research into biodiversity, pollution, ecosystem restoration and nature-related health risks, grouping ten topics under its 2026 nature programme.
Announced on 2 October, the call ranges from PFAS pollution and invertebrate decline to wildlife trafficking, invasive species and global ocean observation. It is aimed at consortia able to connect scientific evidence with practical monitoring, restoration or policy tools.
What is included in the €230 million call?
The ten topics cover several distinct research problems rather than one general biodiversity pot. The Commission highlighted work on the effects of persistent PFAS chemicals, the impact of clean and digital industries on nature, drivers of biodiversity change and the decline of invertebrates.
Other areas include living laboratories for ecosystem restoration, approaches to wildlife trafficking and invasive alien species, improved biodiversity monitoring, One Health research and support for the Global Ocean Observing System. Applicants need to match a specific topic and its expected outcomes; the total budget is not a single award available to one project.
Why combine technology, pollution and biodiversity?
Economic transitions can reduce one environmental pressure while creating another. New mining, infrastructure, data centres, energy systems or chemical processes can affect land, water and species even when their main purpose is to cut emissions or digitise services.
Research can help decision-makers see those trade-offs earlier. Life-cycle evidence, better monitoring and common assessment methods allow projects to compare alternatives instead of shifting damage from one region or ecosystem to another.
What does One Health mean here?
One Health treats human, animal and environmental health as connected. Changes in habitats, pollution and wildlife contact can influence disease risks, food systems and exposure to harmful substances. A research programme using this frame may combine ecology, veterinary science, public health and social evidence.
The value is practical as well as academic. Shared surveillance and compatible data can help authorities recognise a problem before it appears separately in hospitals, farms and environmental monitoring.
Why are monitoring and ocean observation priorities?
Biodiversity policy depends on knowing what is changing, where and why. Yet species records and ecosystem measurements are often inconsistent across countries or collected at different scales. Modern sensors, satellite data, environmental DNA and community observations can improve coverage, but only when methods and data are interoperable.
Ocean observation presents an especially demanding case because conditions change across vast, difficult-to-sample areas. Stronger global systems can support climate science, fisheries management and early warning while reducing duplication between research programmes.
Who should pay attention?
Universities and public research institutes are obvious participants, but many Horizon Europe topics also require government bodies, civil-society organisations, technology suppliers, land managers or businesses. That breadth reflects the distance between discovering a problem and putting a workable response into practice.
Potential applicants should read the official work programme for scope, eligibility, expected impacts and deadlines. A compelling scientific idea can still be ineligible if it does not answer the chosen topic or assemble the required mix of partners.
What would count as a useful result?
The strongest outcomes would be evidence and tools that others can use: validated monitoring methods, openly described datasets, restoration approaches tested in real landscapes and decision frameworks that make uncertainty visible.
Publication counts alone will not show whether the investment improved policy or practice. Follow-up adoption by agencies, conservation groups and businesses will be an important measure of whether research crossed the gap between diagnosis and action.
Reporting basis
This article is based on the European Commission’s 2 October 2026 call announcement and its biodiversity research and innovation overview. Applicants should use the official funding portal and work programme for binding requirements.
Featured image: Scotty Turner via Unsplash.