Annex 14

Scoping Paper for

Horizon 2020 Societal Challenge 'Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials'

Important Notice: Working Document

This paper is a working document. It is sent to the Programme Committee for the Horizon 2020 Specific Programme for discussion in the context of the preparation of the Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2016-2017. As such, information and descriptions of activities indicated in this document may not appear in the adopted Work Programme 2016-2017, and likewise, new elements may be introduced.

1. Context The orientations outlined below were identified involving the following inputs:  Advisory Group solutions-oriented research and innovation (R&I) agenda (April 2014), for the whole of Horizon 2020, and subsequent input (June 2014) on strategic orientations for 2016-2017;  open consultation of external stakeholders (incl. European Technology Platforms, industry sectors, academia, financial organisations, foundations, NGOs, regions), resulting in around 140 responses;  Strategic Implementation Plans of the European Innovation Partnerships (EIPs) on Raw Materials and Water. The overall objective of the Societal Challenge Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials is to contribute to achieving the Europe 2020 goal of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth via helping to realise a green economy, i.e. a circular economy in sync with the natural environment. Environmental, climate and resource pressures are increasingly threatening economic growth, EU competitiveness and prosperity. In future, sustained prosperity and ecological and social welfare will depend on increasing resource productivity, underpinned by R&I. This objective supports the Europe 2020 Innovation Union and Resource Efficiency Flagship initiatives.

The Work Programme 2014-2015 focused on investing in innovation for a green and climate-resilient economy and a sustainable supply of raw materials, with an emphasis on R&I opportunities to help Europe exit the crisis, while also addressing critical gaps in the knowledge base. Waste and water were selected as topical priorities, reflected in two dedicated Focus Area calls, due to their substantial potential for business opportunities and job creation while tackling important resource efficiency challenges. The call, ‘Growing a Low Carbon, Resource Efficient Economy with a Sustainable Supply of Raw Materials’, covered other aspects of this approach. Activities were also funded in the calls ‘Blue growth: unlocking the potential of the oceans’, ‘Energy-efficiency’ and ‘Disaster-resilience: safeguarding and securing society, including adapting to climate change’. 2. Strategic Orientations for 2016-2017 For the R&I activities on climate change, environment and resource efficiency, a step change is proposed in respect to a traditional research portfolio, to achieve the greatest possible impact. To this end, this societal challenge will prioritise R&I which takes a systemic 1 | P a g e Annex 14

approach to promoting a more resource efficient, greener and more competitive economy as a key part of smart, inclusive and sustainable growth, and also delivering on Horizon 2020’s climate and sustainability goals and the objectives of the General Union Environment Action Programme to 2020. A systemic approach – the overriding message from the external stakeholder consultation – implies not only developing new technologies, but also addressing business models, financing options, governance structures and social innovation including behavioural change. Within this approach, the Societal Challenge Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials will focus on R&I which unlocks private and public investment in future solutions for a resource efficient, climate smart economy with a sustainable supply of raw materials. There is a consistent need to demonstrate Europe's potential for systemic innovation and market uptake of technological and non-technological solutions through large-scale demonstration projects, especially at the level of cities as living labs. A transformative agenda on this scale requires major behavioural change and a trans- disciplinary approach, with multi-stakeholder participation and the particular involvement of social sciences and humanities. Complementary R&I activities will be organised around the demonstration projects, paying clear attention to opportunities for international co-operation. This approach and the emerging orientations identified below were endorsed strongly by the Advisory Group and responses to the external stakeholder consultation. The cross-cutting nature of the issues addressed by this Societal Challenge results in a number of R&I areas which can most effectively be developed jointly with other Horizon 2020 parts (Societal Challenges and Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies, i.e. LEITs), and in complementarity with other programmes e.g. LIFE. Coherence and synergy with actions at national, regional or local levels, via the ESIF and links to EU Presidencies, and with other initiatives such as the EIT’s KICs, will be reinforced. Clustering of projects will be promoted. The use of instruments other than grants is also targeted. The main areas for investment proposed in 2016-2017 are: a) Systemic eco-innovation for a circular economy: The objective is to achieve environmental sustainability and economic growth – ‘living well, within the limits of our planet’ – by positioning Europe as a front runner in a circular economy and society. A new, systemic approach to eco-innovation will boost sustainable and inclusive growth and promote new modes of production and consumption, triggering a disruptive change for a resource efficient society. This contributes to the objectives of the Commission's Communication ‘Towards a circular economy: A zero waste programme for Europe’ of 2 July 2014, the ‘General Union Environment Action Programme to 2020’ of 20 November 2013, and other key EU policy priorities1, as well as the EIPs on Water and on Raw Materials, the SPIRE contractual Public-Private Partnership (cPPP), Water and Bio-based Industries Joint Technology Initiatives, and the ERA-NET on Eco-innovation (ECO- INNOVERA). There are clear opportunities for interactions across different pillars of Horizon 2020, to maximise impact, and strong potential for uptake by and leverage of industry – including SMEs – to strengthen Europe's industrial base, tap new sources of green growth, and thereby give a new boost for jobs, growth and investment. A systemic eco- innovative approach can also be a determinant added value for the competitiveness and global leadership of the European economy and its exports.

1 Commission Communications 'Green Employment: The Need for an Integrated Approach' and 'Green action plan for SMEs' (2 July 2014), the Eco-innovation Action Plan (15 Dec. 2011), EU Council Conclusions on Clean- tech of Oct. 2013 and March 2014, and the Smart Specialisation Strategy for EU regions; in all these, research and innovation are recognized as main drivers for attaining the desired objectives. 2 | P a g e Annex 14

b) Climate Services: The objective is to build Europe's resilience to climate change by strengthening significantly the nascent global market for climate services. The recent IPCC Fifth Assessment Report has shown very clearly that collective, urgent action is needed to keep the planet’s climate within tolerable levels of warming. Keeping the world within the 2°C warming boundaries is estimated to cost between 0.04% and 0.14% of GDP per year during this century, but to create huge benefits. President Junker's commitment of leading ‘the fight against global warming […] in line with the objective of limiting any temperature increase to a maximum of 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels’ calls for a transformation and deep decarbonisation of the whole economy, A ‘forward-looking climate policy’ implies the reduction of fossil fuel emissions by 80 to 95% by 2050 [and their complete phase-out by 2100] and significant adaptation efforts. In this overall context, there is increasing demand for customised climate-related tools, products and information (‘climate services’) that will enable climate-smart, strategic decisions at various levels for a range of end-users (businesses, the public sector, and individuals). The growth of the climate services market will make the EU a world leader in this sector and contribute to wealth and job creation. c) Nature-based Solutions: The objective is to position Europe as world leader in innovation through nature based solutions (i.e. solutions inspired by, using or supported by nature) for improving society’s economic, social and environmental resilience. There is particular scope – and urgency – for action in urban areas (complementing the ‘Smart Cities and Communities’ initiative) in this respect, as well as for building resilience to climate change, natural hazards and environmental degradation in rural and natural areas. The nature-based solutions pursued are cost-effective, resource efficient, multi-purpose and multi-beneficial, contributing to the green economy and local employment, reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, and providing long term and systemic responses. The expected impacts are economic (new products, services, mobilization of new investments), social (jobs, well-being, community solidarity and health) and environmental (preservation and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystem services, sustainable land use and less land take) resilience. At present, fragmented evidence on cost-effectiveness and benefits has prevented the extensive use of ‘green’ nature-based solutions versus traditional ‘grey’ ones. This area supports the implementation of the ‘General Union Environment Action Programme to 2020’ of 20 November 2013 as well as a number of other key EU policies and strategies2 as well as international commitments, notably in the UN framework3. d) Raw Materials: The EU is highly dependent on raw materials that are crucial for a strong European industrial base, an essential building block of the EU's growth and competitiveness. However, Europe is confronted with a number of challenges along the entire raw materials value chain, from exploration, extraction, processing and recycling, as well as substitution, to secure a sustainable access to non-energy non-agricultural raw materials used for industrial purposes, including Critical Raw Materials. The EIP on Raw Materials has developed a Strategic Implementation Plan with a set of concrete targets and actions defined through a public consultation in 2011 and the work of its governance groups in 2013. Actions under Horizon 2020 are expected to contribute to the EU Raw Materials

2 'Innovation Union' and 'Resource Efficient Europe' Flagship Initiatives of the Europe 2020 Strategy, EU Biodiversity Strategy, EU Strategy on adaptation to climate change, Soil Thematic Strategy, Communication on 'Green infrastructure' and ‘Blueprint to safeguard Europe’s waters', Common Agricultural Policy and Rural Development Policy, and areas of the EIP Water 3 Convention on Biological Diversity; the Rio+20 process; UN Convention to Combat Desertification; future agreements under the UNFCCC; Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services; Inter-governmental Technical Panel on Soils; the (future) UN post-Hyogo Framework For Action 3 | P a g e Annex 14

policy, the 2020 objectives of the EU’s Industrial Policy –increasing the share of industry to 20% of GDP – and also the objectives of the flagship initiatives ‘Innovation Union’ and ‘Resource Efficient Europe’. In addition, the following themes are recognised as a priority for the Work Programme 2016- 2017: i) Earth Observation: The objective is to enable business sectors in Europe to seize the opportunities offered by the wealth of sophisticated Earth Observation data – ‘big Earth data’ – to develop information products that can provide vital inputs to help decision makers, industry and citizens adapt to changes affecting the Earth's systems. Free, full and open access to space-based, airborne and in-situ Earth Observation data globally is becoming a reality through the implementation of GEOSS and the launching of the operational phase of Copernicus. Environmental information is necessary for sustaining the economic sectors in Europe and worldwide (e.g. transport, energy, agriculture, fisheries, tourism, construction) and for facilitating the transition to a green economy, and the global markets for related products are growing. ii) Water: The objective is to harness water's strong potential for European industry (including SMEs) to become global market leader by continuing the efforts undertaken in the 2014-2015 Focus Area call ‘Water Innovation: Boosting its value for Europe’, i.e. bringing innovative water solutions to the market and supporting the implementation of the EIP and Joint Programming Initiative on water. Water is a key resource and intervention at EU level is crucial to meet water demand from increased urbanisation and agriculture, and to manage the competition for scarce water from multiple uses and the water/energy nexus. It therefore needs to be addressed across the entire Horizon 2020 structure and integrated in the work programmes of LEITs and of several Societal Challenges. Moreover, water, as part of the Sustainable Development Goals agenda, can provide additional opportunities for international co-operation (e.g. in the Mediterranean region). iii) Cultural heritage for sustainable growth: The objective is to harness the full potential of cultural heritage as a strategic resource for a sustainable Europe. A renewed agenda is needed. The focus will therefore be on placing cultural heritage as an integral part of a successful and vibrant society, contributing to Europe’s well-being and being a production factor in Europe via its remarkable economic potential: tourism generates revenues of EUR335 billion p.a. and accounts for 9.7 million jobs in the EU – many directly or indirectly linked to cultural heritage. Renovation and maintenance represent 26% of the value of Europe’s construction industry while the conservation market is EUR5 billion annually. However, being a shared resource and a common good, cultural heritage is vulnerable to over- exploitation and under-funding, resulting in possible decay. This area supports the Communication ‘Towards an integrated approach to cultural heritage for Europe’ of 22 July 2014, Council Conclusions of 20 May 2014 and a number of EU policies4, and links to the Joint Programming Initiative on Cultural Heritage and Global Change, the Energy-efficient Building (EeB) cPPP, and the cultural heritage focus of the European Construction Technology Platform (ECTP FACH). iv) The Arctic: The Arctic region5 is particularly affected by global warming: sea ice is diminishing and permanently frozen ground is thawing, with strong geo-political and geo- economic consequences, including opening up of new transport routes and previously

4 European Agenda for Culture; Communications on Green Infrastructure, A European Strategy for more Growth and Jobs in Coastal and Maritime Tourism; EU cohesion and rural development policies; Directives on Energy Efficiency and the Energy Performance of Buildings 5 Council conclusions of 12 May 2014 on developing a European Union Policy towards the Arctic Region 4 | P a g e Annex 14 inaccessible natural resources. In addition to new socio-economic opportunities and local environmental challenges and threats, change in the Arctic has global consequences such as sea-level rise, changing weather patterns and more extreme weather events, with socio- economic impact on the EU.

3. Translation into calls 2016-2017 I. Contribution to cross-cutting focus areas i) Industry 2020 and Circular Economy This focus area will be at the heart of how Horizon 2020 contributes to boosting and renewing Europe's industrial capacities and the real economy, by taking a circular economy approach, ensuring economic, environmental and social sustainability. It has the strategic objective of demonstrating the economic and environmental feasibility of the circular economy approach and at the same time giving a strong impetus to the re- industrialisation of the EU, by developing and deploying new approaches and technologies. The focus area will implement Communications ‘Towards a circular economy: A zero waste programme for Europe’ (COM(2014)398) and ‘European Industrial Renaissance’ (COM(2014)14), reflect the Council conclusions of March and June 2014, in particular the Council's call for cleantech, and contribute to two of the next Commission's 10 priorities: ‘A new boost for jobs, growth and investment’ (including the goal of increasing the weight of EU industry to 20% of GDP) and ‘A resilient Energy Union with a forward-looking climate change policy’. The expected impact of this focus area is a leap towards a more resource-efficient and hence competitive European industrial economy, through a reduction of costs, energy, emissions and raw materials, optimisation of processes, as well as exploring new markets. Systemic solutions will be examined, developed and demonstrated throughout value chains, and by addressing all influencing factors (policies and framework conditions, business models, industrial manufacturing and processing, developing new skills, eco-innovation in a wide sense, energy efficiency, reduction of CO2 and other GHG emissions, new and efficient use of raw materials, finance, organisation, social innovation, and new forms of consumer behaviour). While the engagement of industry is essential, full success will depend upon a systemic approach, including new production, consumption and behaviour patterns, with strong multi-stakeholder involvement, engagement of civil society and the active contribution of social sciences and humanities disciplines. Actions in this focus area will include research and innovation tackling the gap between potential solutions and their societal and industrial take-up and deployment. Actions will have an integrated and cross-sectoral approach and address different levels of implementation, from plant up to regional scale. Exchanges of best practice at international level will be pursued to the benefit of European business: to foster the potential of strong markets for European technologies and businesses. In addition to grants, the instruments used will include financial instruments, prizes, possibly PCP and PPI, as well as ERA-NETs, while capitalising on effective synergies with ESIF. Major contributions will come from this Societal Challenge (as support for the overall goal of circular economy and systemic eco-innovation) and the LEIT Nanotechnologies, Advanced Materials, Biotechnology and Advanced Manufacturing and Processing (NMBP) part (as support to the process and manufacturing industries via the cPPPs SPIRE and Factories of the Future). These will be complemented by a set of activities designed to implement the proposed policy initiative of Additive Manufacturing (“3D Printed in Europe”); and 5 | P a g e Annex 14 nanotechnology pilot lines. Clean-tech will be specifically addressed in the waste and water sectors and in support of sustainable manufacturing. Societal Challenge Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy will contribute with the bio-economy aspects. Further contributions from Societal Challenge Secure, clean and efficient energy (related to energy efficiency in the process industry) and LEIT-ICT are being explored. A set of support actions will complete the focus area, designed to address, e.g., standardisation, Social sciences and humanities issues, clustering of projects and industry-targeted dissemination. ii) ‘Smart Cities and Communities – with Nature-Based Solutions’ The objective of this focus area is to bring together cities, industry and citizens to improve urban socio-ecological and economic functioning through sustainable, integrated, energy and resource efficient solutions and to develop business models, innovative financing modalities and appropriate governance modes for integrated solutions including nature-based innovations. Actions funded by this Societal Challenge will launch large scale demonstration projects in cities, as ‘living laboratories’ for the deployment, testing, replication and scaling up of innovative, systemic and yet locally attuned solutions and thus provide evidence for economically, socially and environmentally viable alternatives to tackle simultaneously various challenges cities are facing. These demonstration projects would combine technological and social innovation – including new governance and business models – induce new market opportunities and meaningful jobs, and help empower citizens to tackle societal challenges. The expected impact of these actions is to make the EU worldwide leader of a new market for re-naturing, energy and resource efficient solutions in cities, resulting in the creation of new green jobs, increased energy efficiency and reduced energy consumption, increased resource efficiency and reduced waste, improved air quality, improve mobility conditions, increased resilience to environmental risks such as floods and heat island effects, restored and sustainable managed biodiversity and ecosystems, increased human health and decreased social tensions. Contributions to this focus area are expected from the LEIT Information and communication technologies (ICT) part, Societal Challenge Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy (on urban agriculture), Societal Challenge Secure, clean and efficient energy (on increasing the overall energy efficiency of cities), and Societal Challenge Smart, green and integrated transport. iii) ‘Blue Growth – demonstrating an ocean of opportunities’ Societal Challenge Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials will contribute with actions that focus on the Arctic, supporting international efforts combining Earth observation with modelling to understand critical polar processes, so to provide better climate models and services for people and companies based in the Arctic, elsewhere in Europe and beyond.

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II. Contribution to focus areas with centre of gravity in other Horizon 2020 parts i) Contribution to Focus Area ‘Sustainable Food Security – Resilient Agri-food Chains’ Societal Challenge Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials will contribute with actions addressing, for example, cross-value chain environmental foot- printing of food products, crop prediction linked to Earth Observation, or water in agriculture/food production. ii) Contribution to LEIT-ICT Focus Area ‘Internet of Things’ Societal Challenge Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials could make a minority contribution to a specific action addressing sustainability and environmental objectives. Environmental and carbon footprint as well as energy and water consumption can be substantially reduced by optimized management, both along or across value chains. Examples might be agricultural products (from farming to consumers via manufacturing, transport and storage) or industrial products “from cradle to cradle” including appropriate dismantling, reuse or recycling. A systems approach would help maintain targeted values, within the context of the many variables. III. Calls within Societal Challenge Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials Call on specific priority areas (final title tbc) This call will complete the coverage of the priority orientations identified in part 2 above: - Raw Materials: Activities will build on the first R&I actions and the Co-ordination and Support Actions launched in 2014-2015, aiming at developing sustainable solutions at lower Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) (3-6), mobilising and integrating the EU raw materials community and engaging relevant international partners. Actions will further address developing new technological solutions along the whole raw materials value chain from exploration, extraction, processing and recycling. They will also target the first large innovative pilot actions at higher TRL levels demonstrating the viability of the cost-effective, environmentally sound and safe production of primary and secondary raw materials and unlocking a substantial volume of various raw materials within the EU. For the pilot actions the opportunities to harness funding from ESIF will be explored. Further R&I will be aimed at finding substitutes for applications of certain scarce raw materials. Co-ordination and Support actions will target the framework conditions for primary and secondary raw materials production that would provide a stable and competitive supply from the EU sources; building the EU knowledge base of primary and secondary raw materials; better co-ordination of the Member States' R&I programmes and funded activities; as well as international co-operation with countries producing and using raw materials. - Climate services: Actions will invest in the development of a pan-European market for cutting-edge customized climate services that will enable public and private sector actors to mitigate climate risks, increase resilience, take advantage of business opportunities and thereby create jobs and growth in various sectors, ranging from agriculture, transport systems or supply chain management to services like insurance. Special emphasis will be given to the co-development (providers and users) of services and products, greater involvement of private sector and SMEs, increasing the quality and relevance of climate and other relevant information and risk assessment tools at local/regional level, as well as enhancing and widening European capabilities. The above-mentioned actions will also contribute to a proposed new policy initiative on ‘climate –smart Europe’, in view of achieving a resilient Energy Union with a forward- 7 | P a g e Annex 14 looking climate change policy. Actions under this initiative will steer a longer-term, broad, multi-disciplinary effort to come to an authoritative, IPCC-type, view on the most favourable scenarios and options for the decarbonisation of Europe by 2050. Actions will also design feasible and cost-effective technological and non-technological options of deep decarbonisation pathways and address the consequences of those pathways with respect to the production and consumption of goods and services as well as the societal consequences and trade-offs in Europe and beyond. - Nature-based solutions for resilience: The objective is to build territorial, socio-economic and ecological resilience and coherence in rural and natural areas to cope with climate change, natural hazards and ecosystem degradation. The emphasis will be on addressing both long- term and short-term climate related risks and threats to ecosystems in particularly sensitive areas (e.g. coastal zones, mountainous areas, rural zones/forests) through enhanced governance capacities using ecosystem management and nature-based solutions. This will promote the integration of ecosystem-based approaches in land use planning in a cost- effective and optimal way that links the reduction of risks with local and regional sustainable development objectives. Actions will include pilot and demonstration projects to scale up nature-based solutions for further systemic transition, as well as the use of targeted financial instruments. Activities will also include multi-stakeholder Public Private Partnerships (PPP), sustainable public procurement schemes, prizes etc. More targeted projects will develop tools and illuminate aspects of governance and social innovation (including public engagement and creativity), new business models and financial innovation. Multi-stakeholder and multi-level (local, regional, national and EU) platforms and partnerships will also be set up, collaborating – where relevant – with strategic partners from emerging/developing countries. - Earth Observation: The aim is to demonstrate to European companies the business case for tapping into Earth observation global datasets in order to develop innovative services that support more sustainable production and consumption patterns and resilient societies. The first step is actions to make available an operational information system, enabling sharing, discovery and full, open and unrestricted access to Earth observation datasets, through engaging with the private sector to leverage emerging technologies and develop services. Actions will address European companies dealing with ‘big data’, in co-ordination with LEIT parts (Space, ICT). Further actions will encourage the private sector to then take advantage of these Earth observation assets and data sources to develop useful and attractive products and services, also via PPP. - Cultural heritage for sustainable growth: Actions will focus on new cultural services, governance, business models, finance models, forms of experience, and putting culture in sync with nature. Certain objectives covered in the WP 2014-2015 will also be integrated and continued. Social sciences and humanities disciplines are already embedded in cultural heritage R&I (e.g. archaeology, history, anthropology, geography, urban studies, economics etc.) and their active involvement remains essential. The opportunities to harness funding from ESIF will be explored, as EU cohesion and rural development policies can be used to promote the sustainability of cultural heritage. Innovation in SMEs may be supported with dedicated actions in the field of cultural services and products. The potential of European cultural heritage as a unique selling point as well as the advancement of cultural heritage research worldwide can be explored with an emphasis on international co-operation. Actions will be co-ordinated with those relating to cultural heritage expected from the Horizon parts research infrastructures, LEIT-NMPB, Societal Challenge Europe in a changing world – inclusive, innovative and reflective societies, Societal Challenge Secure societies and the Joint Programming Initiative on cultural heritage, the EeB cPPP and ECTP FACH.

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- Water: Actions to boost water innovation for Europe and beyond and addressing other water-related issues (e.g. found in areas addressing the circular economy, renaturing cities, climate-smart Europe, resilience etc. and in other parts of Horizon 2020) will be highlighted and cross-referenced in a dedicated part of the Work Programme 2016-2017 to maintain the momentum of the 2014-2015 Focus Area ‘Water Innovation: Boosting its Value for Europe’. In addition, Societal Challenge Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials might contribute to other initiatives with strong potential impact on its core areas of activity, such as cross-challenge activities on ‘Sustainable Subsurface Economy’ (cross- challenge ERA-NET on applied geosciences).

Note on the general approach to all parts of the Societal Challenge Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials work programme Societal Challenge Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials will act as trailblazer for ensuring that the investment across the whole Horizon 2020 Framework Programme of 35% for climate action and 60% for sustainable development will deliver maximum impact for economic, environmental and social sustainability. Potential synergies with other Horizon 2020 parts (incl. Future and Emerging Technologies) and other EU programmes such as LIFE, the NCFF, the European Structural and Investment Funds, as well as national funding programmes, will be explored to promote collaboration, synergies and complementarities, avoid duplication and enhance the overall impact. Selected international co-operation activities will be launched to boost the effectiveness of the actions promoted, within a scale-and-scope approach, e.g.: support to GEO, the Rio+20/post2015 process, the IPCC and the Belmont Forum, thus contributing to the next Commission's priority ‘A Stronger Global Actor’. Third countries and regions will be selected in order to maximise the impact and accelerate progress, e.g. synergies for benchmarking best practices and tackling knowledge or technology gaps for sustainable urbanisation might be explored with China, and synchronized R&I initiatives on nature-based solutions for resilience will be explored with strategic international partners (e.g. USA, South East Asia, Brazil) or programmes.

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