Call: LIFE 2021 Capacity Building

The general objective of the LIFE Programme shall be to contribute to the shift towards a sustainable, circular, energy-efficient, renewable energy-based, climate-neutral and - resilient economy, in order to protect, restore and improve the quality of the environment, including the air, water and soil, and to halt and reverse biodiversity loss and to tackle the degradation of ecosystems, including by supporting the implementation and management of the Natura 2000 network, thereby contributing to sustainable development. The LIFE Programme shall also support the implementation of general action programmes adopted in accordance with Article 192(3) TFEU.

Specific objectives of the LIFE Programme are:

1. to develop, demonstrate and promote innovative techniques, methods and approaches for reaching the objectives of Union legislation and policy on the environment, including nature and biodiversity, and on climate action, including the transition to renewable energy and increased energy efficiency, and to contribute to the knowledge base and to the application of best practice, in particular in relation to nature and biodiversity, including through the support of the Natura 2000 network;
2. to support the development, implementation, monitoring and enforcement of relevant Union legislation and policy on the environment, including nature and biodiversity, and on climate action and the transition to renewable energy or increased energy efficiency, including by improving governance at all levels, in particular by enhancing the capacities of public and private actors and the involvement of civil society;
3. to act as a catalyst for the large-scale deployment of successful technical and policy-related solutions for implementing relevant Union legislation and policy on the environment, including nature and biodiversity, and on climate action and the transition to renewable energy or increased energy efficiency, by replicating results, by integrating related objectives into other policies and into public and private sector practices, by mobilising investment and by improving access to finance.

The LIFE Programme is structured as follows:

1. the field ' Environment', which includes:

• the subprogramme ' Nature and Biodiversity';
• the subprogramme ' Circular Economy and Quality of Life';

2. the field ' Climate Action', which includes:

• the subprogramme ' Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation';
• the subprogramme ' Clean Energy Transition'.

Objective:

In line with article 11(4) of the LIFE Regulation (EU) 2021/783, technical assistance projects for capacity building aim at supporting national level public bodies responsible for implementation of LIFE to improve their Member State effective participation in the Programme and increasing the quality of submitted proposals, through specific needs based activities.

Scope:

Each proposal should be based on a needs analysis. Such analysis should identify:

• the reasons for low effective participation to LIFE programme
• types of applicants (public organisations, private entities and civil society organisations) that struggle to access LIFE funding in a given Member State (and reasons for that)
• types of LIFE projects that are underused in a given Member State (and reasons for that).

Based on this needs assessment the applicants should identify the most effective activities addressing the low participation and/or the ineffective participation rate of different types of applicants (public organisations, private entities and civil society organisations) in the LIFE Programme. Activities may include:

• targeted and tailored made communication campaigns on the LIFE Programme should be addressed, among others, to public national and local authorities responsible for the implementation of environmental and climate action policies and plans at all levels and across the entire national territory (e.g. municipalities, provinces, environment protection agencies, ecological operational units responsible for the enforcement of national environmental laws, public research institutes, academia)
• tailored made workshops on writing solid proposals; actions supporting replication/ transfer of LIFE projects results; helping applicants to build (transnational) consortia; trainings on the use and monitoring of key performance indicators, etc.
• Screening of national environmental and climate actions priorities to support, through LIFE projects, the development, implementation, monitoring and enforcement of relevant Union legislations,
• Actions aimed at increasing the participation of those types of applicants that struggle to access LIFE funding in a given Member State (e.g. public organisations, private entities, civil society organisations) as identified in the needs assessment,
• Actions aimed at increasing the use of certain types of LIFE projects. In particular, in the context of increasing use of SIPs and SNAPs in a given Member State, CAP project may include actions reinforcing the mainstreaming of environmental and climate actions into other sectors, enhancing synergies between LIFE and other EU funds, supporting use of cumulative financing from other Union programmes or private sector,
• Procurement of external experts to address ad-hoc gaps in technical and process capability and in particular to provide advice and support in the preparation of a proposal,
• Gap analysis and assessment of policy uptake of LIFE project results,
• Actions for project management and quality control.

The Commission expects that the budget will be proportionate to the activities that will be implemented under each project to address the low and/or ineffective participation rate of the different types of applicants.

Expected Impact:

An increase of the effective participation and the quality of the proposals by the Member State currently registering low and/or ineffective participation rate.

In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:

• be legal entities (public or private bodies)
• be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
  • EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs))
  • non-EU countries:
    • listed EEA countries and countries associated to the LIFE Programme (participating countries) or countries which are in ongoing negotiations for an association agreement and where the agreement enters into force before grant signature

Only national level public bodies responsible for implementation of LIFE in an eligible Member State in the European Union may apply for capacity-building projects. Project consortium may include additional entities provided that their participation is justified by the project objectives and their role is clearly defined. In principle, the project should be coordinated by public bodies responsible for implementation of LIFE.

The actions included in proposals for capacity-building projects must take place primarily within the territory of the Member State of the main applicant.

Proposal page limits and layout:

Proposals must be complete and contain all the requested information and all required annexes and supporting documents:

• Application Form Part A — contains administrative information about the participants (future coordinator, beneficiaries and affiliated entities) and the summarised budget for the project (to be filled in directly online)
• Application Form Part B — contains the technical description of the project (to be downloaded from the Portal Submission System, completed and then assembled and re-uploaded)
• Part C (to be filled in directly online) containing additional project data
• mandatory annexes and supporting documents (to be uploaded):
  • detailed budget table (mandatory excel template available in the Submission System)

Page limit - Part B: 50 pages

The available call budget is EUR 9,000,000.

Range of project budgets: EUR 400,000 - 425,000