Life Programme

Are you working on a project which benefits the environment or the climate?

It might be eligible for a subsidy under the LIFE programme.

LIFE has a total budget of EUR 3.4 billion from 2014 to 2020.

Companies, public organisations and NGOs can receive alluring grants for demonstration and pilot projects.

LIFE is divided into two sub-programmes: LIFE Environment and LIFE Climate Action. If you want to know whether or not your project is eligible for LIFE, our specialists are eager to help.

Even though single applicants are allowed, LIFE projects generally are executed by a partnership. The programme puts emphasis on replicability/transferability, long-term sustainability, and an EU added value of the project results.

LIFE is not focused on research. For traditional LIFE projects there are no specifications for project budgets. LIFE has co-funded large ambitious projects with total costs of more than EUR 5 million several times in the past. However, proposals for small projects with total costs below EUR 500,000 have rarely been selected in the evaluation due to the limited output and consequently a low added value.

LIFE Environment

With 75% of the budget, LIFE Environment is the bigger of the two sub-programmes. It focuses on the following areas

• Nature and biodiversity: nature conservation projects in particular in the areas of biodiversity, habitats and species (up to 60-75% co-funding).
• Environment and resource efficiency: projects in the environmental sector in particular in the areas of air, chemicals, green and circular economy, industrial accidents, marine and coastal management, noise, soil, waste, water, and the urban environment. (up to 55% co-funding).
• Environmental governance and information: awareness raising, environmental training and capacity building, legislative compliance and enforcement, knowledge development and public and stakeholder participation (up to 55%).

Projects can be as follows:

• Best-practice projects in which proven methods are developed and replicated;
• Demonstration- and pilot projects in which new methods and approaches are further tested and developed ;
• Communication projects that are, for example, meant to spread awareness (environmental governance and information).

LIFE Environment uses a two-stage application procedure. The first stage is a concept note, i.e. an outline of the proposal (max. 10 pages). Only if this is approved, a full proposal can be prepared and submitted (stage 2). This means that the concept note needs to be concise and convincing, as only the best concept notes are accepted to stage 2.

For the full proposal, it is important to take heed of the received feedback which is based on the concept note.
 

Timeline – LIFE Environment

2 April 2020: call open
Mid-June 2020: submission of concept notes
October 2020: pre-selection of concept notes invited to submit full proposals
February 2021: submission of full proposals
June 2021: information about results
September 2021: start of the projects