SILC II provides funding opportunity for climate change
The European Commission has launched the Sustainable Industry Low Carbon II (SILC II) initiative with a budget of €20m under Horizon 2020.
The new initiative aims at contributing to the achievement of the stringent EU climate and energy targets and the decarbonisation of the EU economy. In particular, in the context of the EU’s decarbonisation ambitions, breakthrough solutions for advanced low carbon manufacturing and processing are important to maintain the competitiveness of EU industries.
The SILC II initiative will fund projects which develop low carbon technology solutions, with a special focus on energy intensive industries, in order to achieve significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions in EU industry.
SILC II will support the development of new technologies, and their implementation in some ‘pilot’ industrial plants under real working conditions that will allow goods to be produced with much lower GHG emissions. Targeted industries include iron and steel, non-ferrous metals such as aluminium and copper, cement, glass, pulp and paper, chemicals and ceramics.
Michel Barnier, Acting Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship, said: “We need to tackle the problem of climate change, but we cannot give up on industrial production in Europe. Therefore, the call for proposals intends to help industry to adapt, modernise and become more energy efficient and competitive on the global markets and to maintain employment in the EU. Moreover, the projects will boost EU leadership in advanced manufacturing and low carbon technologies.”
The support of SILC II projects under Horizon 2020 will provide the opportunity to bridge the gap between research and its exploitation and overcome what is often referred to as the ‘valley of death’ by seeking to validate low carbon technologies with demonstration programmes prior to their industrial implementation.
Potential applicants are invited to submit their SILC II proposals by 2 September 2014.
