Life Programme

What is the LIFE Programme

The LIFE programme is the EU’s funding instrument for the environment and climate action. The general objective of LIFE is to contribute to the implementation, updating and development of EU environmental and climate policy and legislation by co-financing projects with European added value.

Who can take part in a LIFE project
Beneficiaries of the Programme are public bodies, non-governmental organisations, universities and private companies. The Coordinator Beneficiary must be based in the EU, while co-beneficiaries may also be in non-EU countries subject to conditions.

Priority areas
The LIFE Programme for the 2021-2027 funding period comprises of four sub-programmes with a budget of € 5.4 billion:

Under the Environment field:

· Nature and Biodiversity

The Nature and Biodiversity sub-programme will aim at the protection and restoration of Europe’s nature and halting and reversing biodiversity loss. Thus, the LIFE Nature and Biodiversity sub-programme will continue to fund nature conservation projects, in particular in the areas of biodiversity, habitats and species. It will support projects that contribute to the implementation of the EU Birds and Habitats directives, and in particular the development and management of the Natura 2000 network, and the IAS Regulation, and will support achieving the objectives of the EU’s biodiversity strategy for 2030, part of the EU Green Deal.

· Circular Economy and Quality of Life

The Circular Economy and Quality of Life sub-programme aims at facilitating the transition toward a sustainable, circular, toxic-free, energy-efficient and climate-resilient economy and at protecting, restoring and improving the quality of the environment, either through direct interventions or by supporting the integration of those objectives in other policies.

Thus, LIFE will continue to co-finance projects in the environmental sector, in particular in the area of the circular economy, including recovery of resources from waste, water, air, noise, soil and chemical management, as well as environmental governance. The sub-programme provides mostly action grants for projects implementing innovative and best practice solutions in these areas through the so-called Standard Action Projects (SAP). It also covers the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of EU environmental policy and law through the so-called Strategic Integrated Projects (SIPs). The European Commission will continue to look for solutions that are ready to be implemented in close-to-market conditions, at industrial or commercial scale, during the project duration.

· Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation

The Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation sub-programme will contribute to the shift towards a sustainable, energy-efficient, renewable energy-based, climate-neutral and resilient economy, thereby contributing to sustainable development.

· Clean Energy Transition

Building on the success of the Intelligent Energy Europe (2003-2013) and Horizon 2020 Energy Efficiency (2014-2020) programmes, the LIFE Clean Energy Transition sub-programme continues to support the delivery of EU policies in the field of sustainable energy, in particular, the European Green Deal, the Energy Union (2030 energy and climate targets) and the European Union’s 2050 long-term decarbonisation strategy.

The LIFE Clean Energy Transition sub-programme has a budget of nearly EUR 1 billion over the period of 2021-2027 and aims at facilitating the transition towards an energy-efficient, renewable energy-based, climate-neutral and -resilient economy by funding coordination and support actions (Other Action Grants) across Europe. These are actions of high EU added-value, which are targeted at breaking market barriers that hamper the socio-economic transition to sustainable energy, and typically engage multiple small and medium-sized stakeholders, multiple actors including local and regional public authorities and non-profit organisations, as well as consumers.