Mission: A Soil Deal for Europe: Research and Innovation and other actions to support the implementation of Mission 'A Soil Deal for Europe'

As part of the vision to achieve healthy soils by 2050, outlined in the EU soil strategy for 2030, the European Commission proposed a Directive on Soil Monitoring and Resilience, addressing key threats such as erosion, floods and landslides, loss of soil organic matter, salinisation, contamination, compaction, sealing, and loss of soil biodiversity. The Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’, the Mission, is recognized as a key instrument for its implementation, aiming to establish 100 living labs and lighthouses by 2030.

The Mission is structured around four operational objectives:

build capacities and the knowledge base for soil stewardship;
co-create and upscale place-based innovations to improve soil health in all places;
develop an integrated EU soil monitoring system and track progress towards soil health;
engage with the soil user community and society at large.

Significant investments via the 2021-2024 Work Programmes have advanced the Mission's objectives, establishing a solid infrastructure to support its projects and objectives. This has led to major progress in the EU soil health monitoring framework, with data and knowledge from Mission projects feeding into the EU Soil Observatory and the European Soil Data Centre (ESDAC), aiding Member States in implementing the future Directive. The first EU-wide soil health observatory dashboard, launched in March 2023, provides 19 key soil health parameters and maps degradation processes across Europe. Efforts continue to develop cost-effective indicators and methodologies for monitoring soil health at local, regional, and EU levels, leveraging digital and earth observation technologies.

Call Topics with the deadline 04 Sep 2025 (first stage), 18 Feb 2026 (second stage)

HORIZON-MISS-2025-05-SOIL-01-two-stage: Living labs to enhance soil health in Continental, Boreal and Alpine biogeographical regions
HORIZON-MISS-2025-05-SOIL-02-two-stage: Broadening the living labs approach for soil health in Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)

Full text from the work programme " Missions" (2025) can be found here.