Europe confronts the steep costs of climate change – in lives lost, dwindling water resources, and cities struggling under extreme temperatures. With global temperatures hitting near-record levels, governments can no longer rely on reactive policies. Transitioning from reaction to prediction requires leveraging integrated Earth Intelligence, seasonal early warning, and coordination across sectors and governments.
To achieve this goal across Europe, the EU Invests €7.5 Million in Earth Intelligence with “e-genesis” Innovation Action (Generating Earth iNtelligence for Environmental and Sectoral Impact and Sustainability), a new Horizon Europe project, coordinated by the National Observatory of Athens (NOA) through its Operational Unit “BEYOND Centre for Earth Observation Research and Satellite Remote Sensing”, funded under the call “Delivering Earth Intelligence to accelerate the green and digital transition” (HORIZON-CL6-2025-03-GOVERNANCE-09).
The Scope
“e-genesis”, directly aligned with the EuroGEO and GEO post-2025 priorities, supports European governments and the European Commission to draw strategic policy decisions for protecting citizens, cities, natural ecosystems, societal health and critical infrastructures, while confronting the pressure due to deadly heatwaves, extreme floods, prolonged droughts, water and energy scarcity, biodiversity losses and worsening air pollution.
To help meet this major challenges, “e-genesis” builds Europe’s next generation of Earth Intelligence — actively contributing to “OneEuroGEO” vision and transforming Earth Observation, AI and environmental modelling into trusted operational services that predict seasonal environmental risks at high spatiotemporal scales.
There are 30+ integrated solutions to be opened for the daily support of governance across sectors in three (3) thematic axes as:
- Biodiversity Resilience and Informed Management of Protected Ecosystems: What is the critical extent of climate-driven disruption to natural ecosystems and wetlands in Europe over past decades, and what impact levels are projected for the next season based on current seasonal forecasts?
- Water Resilience Seasonal Outlook: Will water supplies be sufficient in the next season to satisfy drinking, industrial, agricultural, and hydroelectric demands? Europe is experiencing mounting water stresses. What precise volumes will be available from snowmelt, groundwater storage, and river runoff across the continent to help manage these heavy demands and mitigate acute water stress?
- Resilience of Urban and Energy Sectors to Climate and Anthropogenic Disasters: How resilient are Europe’s urban and energy systems to climate and anthropogenic disasters, and how can Earth Intelligence support climate-smart urban planning and household energy security? How can building-block-level intelligence anticipate sharp declines in solar and wind energy availability while reducing heat stress, air pollution, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to improve citizens’ quality of life?
Starting on 1 November 20261, this 40-month collaboration, brings together under BEYOND/NOA coordination, 21 leading organisations from 10 European countries, including 13 major research technology trailblazers ( BEYOND/NOA, ARMINES/MINES Paris PSL, IUSS, KTH, Fondazione CIMA, FMI, FORTH, CBK PAN, CNRS, GFZ, CNR, PMOD WRC), 6 pioneer SMEs ( EDGE, AG EUROPE SAS, SNOWCAP, SPATINEO OY, MURMURATION, WeMET), 1 industrial partner (CLS) and 1 governmental agency (NSO).
“Empowering People and Governance through Co-design”.
What “e-genesis” delivers, is to benefit communities from local neighborhoods and cities to broader regions and European nations. Fully engaged with the strategic objectives of EuroGEO, GEO, Copernicus and the European Commission’s Knowledge Centre on Earth Observation (KCEO), the project adopts a co-design approach that actively engages 5 EuroGEO Action Groups (AGs) (Disaster and Health, Climate, Energy, Biodiversity, and Urban), Entrusted Entities, the Copernicus User Forum and key stakeholders to ensure that its services respond to real operational and policy needs.
By fostering interoperability, knowledge exchange and the uptake of Earth Intelligence solutions across Europe, e-genesis strives to strengthen the EuroGEO ecosystem and support Europe’s collective capacity to deliver actionable intelligence for climate resilience, environmental sustainability and evidence-based decision-making.
This collaborative approach supports actively the implementation of Europe’s core environmental and climate priorities — such as the European Green Deal, the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030, the Water Resilience Strategy, and the Zero Pollution Action Plan — where they matter most.
DG RTD has entrusted the role of e-genesis Project Coordinator to Dr Haris Kontoes, Research Director at the National Observatory of Athens. As he states:
“More than just delivering innovative services, “e-genesis” seeks to establish a new European paradigm for transforming environmental information into trusted knowledge that helps governments anticipate risks, protect people, natural resources, and ecosystems, and make better decisions before crises unfold. That is the future of environmental governance, and that is the ambition of “e-genesis”.
The e-genesis project is funded by the European Union under Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Program | Grant Agreement 101293990 101293990.