The LIFE program of the European Commission makes it possible to finance projects in the fields of the environment, biodiversity and climate. There are no current calls, please follow this section for new openings.
What is LIFE?
LIFE programme is the EU’s funding instrument for the environment. Its general objective is to contribute to the implementation, updating and development of EU environmental policy and legislation by co-financing pilot or demonstration projects with European added value.
The total budget for funding projects during the period covered amounts to €1.1 billion under the sub-programme for Environment and €0.36 billion under the sub-programme for Climate Action.
What is the budget?
For the 2021-2027 period, the budget for this program increased by 60% (€ 5.4 billion against € 3.2 billion for 2014-2020).
The main supported areas
- Clean energy: (“Clean energy transition” sub-program, support activities focused on energy efficiency;
- Protection of nature and biodiversity (“Nature and biodiversity” sub-program)
- The circular climate economy (“Circular economy” sub-program) and climate change mitigation.
- Climate change mitigation and adaptation sub-program: achievement of important EU strategic objectives, such as the transition to a circular economy, the protection and improvement of air and water quality in the within the EU, the implementation of the climate and energy framework for action by 2030 and the respect of the EU’s commitments under the Paris Agreement.
- The new program is simpler, more flexible and allows wider geographic access. It emphasizes the development and implementation of innovative solutions to meet environmental and climate challenges.
What LIFE for housing? Some project examples:
- Climate Proofing Housing Landscapes by Groundwork London
- LIFE HEROTILE – High Energy savings in building cooling by ROof TILEs shape optimization toward a better above sheathing ventilation
- Montado-adapt – Montado & Climate; A need to adapt
- UrbanProof – Climate Proofing Urban Municipalities
- LOCAL ADAPT – Integration of climate change adaptation into the work of local authorities
Eligibility
Any entity registered in the EU can make a proposal for LIFE traditional, integrated, preparatory, and technical assistance projects
- Public body operating under a national government’s authority, e.g. local authority, national administration etc.
- Private commercial organisation
- Private non-commercial organisation (NGOs etc.)
GREEN ASSIST advisory service launched
The European Commission just launched GREEN ASSIST, the Green Advisory Service for Sustainable Investments Support under InvestEU. It will be funded with EUR 30 million from the LIFE Programme. GREEN ASSIST can help you to prepare green or greener investment projects, for instance by integrating nature-based solutions or circular economy principles.
GREEN ASSIST will provide free, easy-to-access, tailor-made advisory services to help to invest in environmental priorities and green their projects, and to achieve tangible benefits from better integrating environmental considerations. Project promoters and/or their investment teams, financial institutions, and their intermediaries will be able to count on the services of experts registered on a roster of experts to support them in developing their projects even at an early stage (i.e. capacity building, project design, pre-investment phase, etc.).
For what kind of support?
It is an on-demand, free, customized (i.e., on-the-ground & hands-on) Advisory Service that effectively results in the generation of a pipeline of Green Investment projects.
How to apply?
There are no current calls, please follow this section for new openings.