A Mission to restore our ocean and waters by 2030

One of the five EU Mission areas is Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030. This Mission aims to protect and restore the health of our ocean and waters through research and innovation, citizen engagement and blue investments. The Mission will address the water system as a whole, with measurable and quantifiable goals for restoring ecosystems and biodiversity, zero pollution, decarbonisation and emissions reductions. 

Following the interim report published in June 2020, the Mission was launched and the Implementation Plan was published alongside this factsheet in September 2021. The plan lays out that the Mission will have been accomplished when quantifiable and measurable goals of the EU Biodiversity Strategy, the EU Action Plan Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Soil and Water and the EU Climate Law have been reached.

Main elements of Starfish mission lighthouses

Implementation


 

The Mission will strive to reach these goals by deploying innovative solutions at basin scale, with each basin focusing on a particular area in the developing and piloting phase (2021-2025). The Mission lighthouses are: 

  1. Danube river basin: protect and restore ecosystems and biodiversity (freshwater)
  2. Atlantic and Arctic coast: protect and restore ecosystems and biodiversity (marine)
  3. Mediterranean Sea: prevent and eliminate pollution 
  4. Baltic and North Sea basin: make the blue economy carbon-neutral.

Phase two (2026 - 2030) will focus on deployment and upscaling, with the replication of pilot activities. The scale-up actions would be carried out through annual calls for expressions of interest from 2025 onwards to macroregions, regions and communities looking to become Mission scale-up sites.

ERRIN input to Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030


The governance of our oceans and waters is a fragmented framework spread over all levels – from international to local. Regional and local authorities and stakeholders will be an important player in the development and steering to create more coherence and efficient cooperation both in terms of investments and research and innovation agendas.

2020

In July 2020, the Blue Economy Working Group organised a webinar to discuss the development of the Mission with the European Commission and a member of the Mission Board.

2021

Building on the webinar in 2020, ERRIN’s Blue Economy Working Group organised in June 2021 a dialogue together with the Mission Secretariat focusing on the area-based lighthouses proposed in the Mission. The event presented an opportunity for ERRIN members to come together with those working on the Mission and its Implementation Plan to discuss potential lighthouse activities, scale and governance. During the meeting, inspiring examples were presented from ERRIN members including WaterCampus Leeuwarden, North Norway, Mid-Norway, Turku Southwest Finland, Welsh Higher Education, Emilia Romagna and South Denmark. 

The report on the dialogue includes ERRIN's key messages on the scale, scope, governance and synergies of the area-based lighthouses within the Mission. 

2022

ERRIN provided its input on the Mission Charter in February 2022, which was shared with the Mission Secretariat, and shared its messages for the Horizon Europe Missions Work Programme 2023-2024 in May 2022 where the members' concerns over the rigid and narrow thematic basins of the Mission were raised. 

2023

ERRIN has through its Blue Economy Working Group continued the dialogue with the Mission Secretariat. The project tasked with developing the Mission Implementation Support Platform, in which ERRIN is a partner, kicked off in the beginning of 2023.

Latest Updates

  • By Francesca Pozzebon

Living Labs in EU Missions and Partnerships

ENoLL, the European Network of Living Labs, will hold an event on 'Living Labs in EU Missions and Partnerships', featuring expert speakers from the European Commission and successful Living Lab projects, to explore collaboration and synergies between Living Labs, innovation ecosystems connecting different stakeholders, and other EU initiatives, namely the EU Missions. The event will take place on 30 May.

  • By Silvia Ghiretti

Widening the reach of EU Missions through EEA and Norway Grants

NCP4Missions, an EU project involving the National Contact Points (NCPs) for the five EU Missions, is organising a two-day meeting on 'Widening the reach of EU Missions through EEA and Norway Grants' on 27 and 28 May. 

  • By Silvia Ghiretti

EU Missions Virtual Brokerage Event 2024

On 21 and 22 May, NCP4Missions, together with the European Commission, is organising the Horizon Europe Missions Brokerage Event on the 2024 Missions and cross-cutting calls for proposals.

  • By Randi Johanne Hoseth

Delivering the European Green Deal - towards a coherent and integrated EU ocean policy framework for offshore renewable wind energy and biodiversity

The European Green Deal (EGD) brings forth a comprehensive set of objectives and targets that are relevant to the use and protection of our oceans. A major challenge is the realisation of these ocean-related objectives. Current governance landscapes are multi-sector, multilevel and complex, and the pathway towards the achievement of the EGD ambitions for the European seas is not straightforward. In this roundtable, we will discuss the role of policy coherence and institutional integration in delivering the EGD, with a focus on offshore wind energy and biodiversity.

  • By Silvia Ghiretti

EU Missions Info Days 2024

On 25 and 26 April, the European Commission is organising Info Days dedicated to the EU Missions 2024 calls for proposals. The event will provide potential applicants with information on the new topics included in the EU Missions work programme 2024 under Horizon Europe. An update on the implementation of each Mission will also be provided.

  • By Ewa Chomicz

Policy WG meeting: Role of EU Missions in FP10

ERRIN has been actively working on the topic of EU Missions as one of the network's priorities. As we continue preparations towards the next European Framework Programme for R&I, the upcoming Policy Working Group meeting will focus on the role of EU Missions in FP10. The event will take place in person at the ERRIN premises on 23 April from 14:00-16:00.