What the Ocean and Waters Mission deals with

The goal of the Mission on Ocean is to restore our ocean and waters by 2030

Man-made changes are putting our ocean and waters at serious risk leading to pollution, biodiversity loss and extreme weather events such as floods, droughts and heatwaves.

Therefore, the 3 Mission objectives are :

1. Protect and restore marine and freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity in line with EU biodiversity strategy.
2. Prevent and eliminate pollution of our ocean, seas and waters in line with the EU action plan towards zero pollution.
3. Make the blue economy carbon neutral and circular in line with the European Climate law.

Ocean Mission Implementation Plan

The Ocean Mission Implementation Plan aims to be the operational blueprint for how the Commission will deliver on the overall objective of the Mission on Ocean.

Mission Ocean, Seas and Waters : open calls

In early 2022, the first calls for proposals under Horizon Europe will make available €114 million to support the rolling out of the Mission. Alongside Horizon Europe the Mission also mobilises the European Maritime Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF), InvestEU and other EU programmes. Together they will provide around €500 million in seed funding during 2021-23.

Open & forthcoming Ocean and Waters Mission calls can be consulted on the Funding & Tenders Portal. Forthcoming and open calls under the Ocean Mission are published here. On 17 February 2023 the Commission organised the first Ocean Mission Annual Forum. You can rewatch the Forum here. 

Results of EU-funded Water-related projects 

A portfolio of projects & results on water research and innovation funded under past framework programmes FP6 (2002-2006), FP7 (2007-2013) and Horizon 2020 (2014-2020) and the current Horizon Europe framework programme (2021-2027) can be found in the CORDIS database.

A Synergy Info Pack showcases 34 research projects funded through the complementary programmes of Horizon 2020 (including SME Instrument), LIFE and EMFF. 

Ocean and Water-related projects supported by European Regions can be found in the KOHESIO database.

First assessment of the Oceans Mission

The Commission has made its first assessment of the EU Missions in a Communication published in the 3^rd quarter of 2023. It expresses the Commission’s support for the continuation of the 5 EU Missions. An external assessment of EU Missions was commissioned to underpin the Commission assessment, including a review of the Oceans Mission. You can find the summary of this review here & the full review is available here.

What are Missions?

Find it out here.