On the 4^th of May, the Information & Networking Day on the 2018 LIFE call for project proposals will take place. The event is open to potential applicants presenting project proposals on green technology, nature protection and climate action.

LIFE programme pursues the following general objectives:

• to contribute to the shift towards a resource–efficient, low–carbon and climate–resilient economy, to the protection and improvement of the quality of the environment and to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, including the support of the Natura 2000 network and to tackle the degradation of ecosystems;
• to improve the development, implementation and enforcement of the Union environmental and climate policy and legislation, and to act as a catalyst for, and promote, the integration and mainstreaming of environmental and climate objectives into other EU policies and public and private sector practices, including by increasing the public and private sectors’ capacity;
• to support better environmental and climate governance at all levels, including better involvement of civil society, NGOs and local actors;
• to support the implementation of the 7^th Environment Action Programme.

The LIFE programme consists in two sub–programmes.  The sub–programme for Environment and the sub–programme for Climate Action.

Under each category, best–practice, demonstration, pilot or information, awareness and dissemination projects, known as traditional projects, are funded.

THE SUB PROGRAMME FOR ENVIRONMENT

It covers the following priority areas: Environment and Resource Efficiency, Nature and Biodiversity and Environmental Governance and Information. Each of the priority areas covers several thematic priorities:

• LIFE Environment and Resource Efficiency. Projects shall pursue the specific objective: to develop, test and demonstrate policy or management approaches, best practices and solutions to environmental challenges. It includes the development and demonstration of innovative technologies, suitable for being replicated, transferred or mainstreamed, also with respect to the link between the environment and health, and in support of resource efficiency–related policy and legislation, including the Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe.

Thematic priorities:

• Water, including the marine environment;
• Waste;
• Resource Efficiency, including soil and forests, and green and circular economy;
• Environment and Health, including chemicals and noise;
• Air quality and emissions, including urban environment.

LIFE Nature & Biodiversity will co–finance action grants for best practice, pilot and demonstration projects that contribute to the implementation of the Birds and Habitats Directives and the Union Biodiversity Strategy to 2020, and the development, implementation and management of the Natura 2000 network.

Thematic priorities:

• Nature;
• Biodiversity.

LIFE Environmental Governance and Information. The project topics corresponding to this priority area shall pursue the specific objective to promote awareness raising on environmental matters, including generating public and stakeholders support of the Union policymaking in the field of the environment, and to promote knowledge on sustainable development and new patterns for sustainable consumption.

Thematic priorities

• Information, communication and awareness–raising campaigns
• Activities in support of effective control process as well as measures to promote compliance.

THE SUB PROGRAMME FOR CLIMATE ACTION

It covers: climate change mitigation, adaptation and governance and communication priority areas. Each priority area contains a number of policy areas, which are considered of particular interest throughout the period covered by the present Multiannual Work Programme.

• LIFE Change Mitigation will co–finance action grants for best practice, pilot and demonstration projects that contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions; that contribute to the implementation and development of the Union policy and legislation on climate change mitigation, including mainstreaming across policy areas, in particular by developing, testing and demonstrating policy or management approaches, best practices and solutions for climate change mitigation; that improve the knowledge basis for the development, assessment, monitoring, evaluation and implementation of effective climate change mitigation actions and measures and that enhance the capacity to apply that knowledge in practice; that facilitate the development and implementation of integrated approaches, such as those for climate change mitigation strategies and action plans, at local, regional or national level; and that contribute to the development and demonstration of innovative climate change mitigation technologies, systems, methods and instruments that are suitable for being replicated, transferred or mainstreamed.
• LIFE Climate Change Adaptation will co–finance action grants for best practice, pilot and demonstration projects that contribute to supporting efforts leading to increased resilience to climate change; that contribute to the development and implementation of the Union policy on climate change adaptation, including mainstreaming across policy areas, in particular by developing, testing and demonstrating policy or management approaches, best practices and solutions for climate change adaptation, also, where appropriate, ecosystem–based approaches; that improve the knowledge base for the development, assessment, monitoring, evaluation and implementation of effective climate change adaptation actions and measures, prioritising, where appropriate, those applying an ecosystem-based approach, and to enhance the capacity to apply that knowledge in practice; that facilitate the development and implementation of integrated approaches, such as for climate change adaptation strategies and action plans, at local, regional or national level, prioritising, where appropriate, ecosystem-based approaches; and that contribute to the development and demonstration of innovative climate change adaptation technologies, systems, methods and instruments that are suitable for being replicated, transferred or mainstreamed.
• LIFE Climate Governance and Information will co–finance action grants for information, awareness and dissemination projects that promote awareness raising on climate matters, including generating public and stakeholders support of the Union policy–making in the field of the climate, and to promote knowledge on sustainable development; that support communication, management, and dissemination of information in the field of climate and to facilitate knowledge–sharing on successful climate solutions and practice, including by developing cooperation platforms among stakeholders; and that promote and contribute to more effective compliance with – and enforcement of – the Union climate legislation, in particular by promoting the development and dissemination of best practices and policy approaches.

TYPE OF FUNDED ACTIONS

These “traditional” types of projects funded are:

• “Pilot projects” means projects that apply a technique or method that has not been applied or tested before, or elsewhere, and that offer potential environmental or climate advantages compared to current best practices and that can subsequently be applied on a larger scale to similar situations;
• “Demonstration projects” means projects that put into practice, test, evaluate and disseminate actions, methodologies or approaches that are new or unknown in the specific context of the project, such as the geographical, ecological, socio–economic context, and that could be applied elsewhere in similar circumstances;
• “Best practice projects” means projects that apply appropriate, cost–effective, state–of–the–art techniques, methods and approaches taking into account the specific context of the project;
• “Information, awareness and dissemination projects” means projects aimed at supporting communication, dissemination of information and awareness raising in the fields of the sub–programmes for Environment and Climate Action.

BENEFICIARIES

Entities participating in the proposal may fall into three types of beneficiaries: public bodies, private commercial organisations and private non–commercial organisations (including NGOs).

A LIFE proposal may also involve one or more associated beneficiaries and/or one or more project co-financiers. The associated beneficiary must always contribute technically and financially to the proposal and hence be responsible for the implementation of one or several project actions. Exceptionally, an associated beneficiary may be legally registered outside the European Union. This is allowed if the actions outside the EU it is responsible for are necessary to achieve the EU environmental objectives and to ensure the effectiveness of interventions carried out. The coordinating beneficiary of the project in any case must be based in the EU.

EU CO–FINANCING

The maximum EU co–financing rate for “traditional” LIFE projects is 55% of the total eligible project costs. An exception is made for “traditional” LIFE projects in the priority area Nature and Biodiversity under the sub–programme Environment for which the EU co-funding rate can go up to 60%, or 75% in specific cases.

SUBMISSION PROCEDURE

For the first time, project submission procedure under the Sub–Programme Environment is in two stages:

• Stage 1: Concept note
• Stage 2: Full proposal

Concept notes should be submitted through the online tool eProposal. The concept note includes: general project information, description of beneficiaries and action assigned, environmental problem addressed, actions and means involved, expected results, sustainability of project results and the project budget, EU added value. While the concept note needs to be submitted in English. Should you be admitted to Stage 2, you will be able to submit full proposal in any of the official EU languages, except Irish or Maltese.

The earliest possible starting date for these projects are:

Environment and Resource efficiency: 1 July 2019

Nature and biodiversity: 15 July 2019

Governance and Information: 1 July 2019

Proposals addressing the Sub–Programme Climate Action are full stage and the earliest possible project starting date is 15 June 2019

Deadlines:

Sub–Programme Environment

Deadlines for applicants to submit concept notes are:

• Environment and resource efficiency: 12 June 2018
• Nature and biodiversity: 14 June 2018
• Governance and Information: 14 June 2018

Notification to the application to submit the full proposal is expected to be published in October 2018.

Sub–Programme Climate Action

Deadline for submitting project proposals is 12 September 2018

Allocation of funds

Sub–Programme Environment: 217.000.000 euro

Sub–Programme Climate Action: 48.739.000 euro