On the 1st of June, the European Commission has announced the opening of the 2015 Call for proposals of the LIFE Programme.
LIFE (the Financial Instrument for the Environment) is the funding programme that since 1992 aims to achieve the objectives of European environmental policy.

The call covers various types of projects under the two LIFE sub-programmes for Environment and for Climate Action.

The sub-programme Environment consists of three priority areas:

1. Nature & Biodiversity
2. Environment & Resource Efficiency
3. Environmental Governance & Information

The sub-programme Climate Action instead focuses on the following priority areas:

1. Climate Change Mitigation
2. Climate Change Adaptation
3. Climate Governance & Information

Specifically, the 2015 action grants will finance the following types of projects:

• Traditional projects, comprising best-practice, demonstration, pilot or information, awareness and dissemination projects.

Best-practice projects apply techniques, methods and approaches that are state-of-the art and cost-effective.
Demonstration projects put into practice, experiment and assess actions, methodologies or approaches that are new or unknown in the specific context of the project.
Pilot projects apply a technique or a method never applied and experienced before or elsewhere, offering potential environmental benefits compared to the current best-practice.

• Preparatory projects are identified mainly by the Commission in cooperation with the Member States to meet specific needs related to the development and implementation of EU policy and legislation on environment and climate;

• Integrated projects aim at improving the implementation of environmental and climate policy and their integration into other policies, in particular through a coordinated mobilization of other EU funding, and of national and private funds for environmental and climate objectives. Integrated Projects operate on a large territorial scale and are geared to the implementation of environmental and climate action plans or strategies required by environmental or climate legislation.

• Technical assistance projects provide financial support to help applicants to prepare Integrated Projects.

• Capacity-building projects provide financial support to the activities necessary to strengthen the capacity of Member States in order to enable them to participate more effectively in the LIFE Programme (eligible only for certain categories of countries).

Proposals may be submitted by legal persons registered in the EU. Eligible beneficiaries include the following entities:

– public bodies;
– private commercial organisations;
– private non-commercial organisations (including NGOs).

Under LIFE, there is no minimum number of beneficiaries set and transnationality is not a requirement.

Transnational projects that bring an added value from the collaboration are encouraged and will receive extra points in their evaluation.

The overall budget available is 240.811.337 euro. The funding for the sub-programme Environment amounts to 184.141.337 euro, while 56.67 million euro have been allocated to the sub-programme Climate Action.

The maximum rate of EU co-financing for projects is up to 60% of eligible costs. Exceptions are projects “focused” on concrete conservation actions for priority species or habitat, where co-financing can increase to 75% of eligible costs, and capacity building projects for Member States, benefiting a rate equal to 100%.

Applicants must submit their proposals using the web tool eProposal available via the LIFE web page. The deadline for submitting applications varies according to the category of the projects.

Traditional projects:
– Climate Change Mitigation; Climate Change Adaptation; Climate Governance & Information: 15 September 2015
– Environment & Resource Efficiency: 1 October 2015
– Nature & Biodiversity; Environmental Governance and Information: 7 October 2015

Preparatory projects: 30 October 2015
Integrated projects: phase I (concept note): 1 October 2015; phase II (full proposal): March/April 2016
Technical Assistance Projects : 15 September 2015
Capacity building projects: on a rolling basis until 30 September 2015

All application packages for the preparation of the proposals are available on the web page:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/funding/life2015/