In late September, the European Commission launched five new EU missions, a new and innovative way to work together and improve the lives of people in Europe and beyond. EU missions aim to tackle big challenges in health, climate and the environment, and to achieve ambitious and inspiring goals in these areas.
They are a new tool that includes a set of actions, such as research and innovation projects, policy measures and legislative initiatives, to achieve concrete goals with large societal impact and within a specified timeline. Five missions will aim to deliver solutions to key global challenges by 2030:
- Adaptation to Climate Change: support at least 150 European regions and communities to become climate resilient by 2030;
- Cancer: working with Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan to improve the lives of more than 3 million people by 2030 through prevention, cure and solutions to live longer and better;
- Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030;
- 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030;
- A Soil Deal for Europe: 100 living labs and lighthouses to lead the transition towards healthy soils by 2030.
These missions will deliver impact by putting research and innovation into a new role, combined with new forms of governance and collaboration, as well as with a new way of engaging with citizens, including young people.
For example, the Adaptation to Climate Change mission plans to make available €100 million for large-scale demonstrations to address major climate induced hazards, such as flooding, fitted to local circumstances. The Cancer mission plans to establish a novel joint governance model to ensure a systematic and effective integration of research, innovation and policy developments on cancer in Europe. The Ocean and Waters mission will create a network of lighthouses at sea and river basin scale to implement the mission and expand the networks of marine protected areas. In the Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities mission, selected cities will involve their citizens in drawing up ‘Climate City Contracts’ to help reach climate neutrality by 2030. And with the Soil Deal mission people will be stimulated to participate in citizen science initiatives to collectively improve soil health.
For more information, please visit the dedicated pages on the European Commission website and the Publications office website:
