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  1. An institution, body, office or agency established by or based on the Treaty on European Union and the Treaties establishing the European Communities.

    All education and training facilities for people of different age groups.

    An intergovernmental organization having legal personality under public international law or a specialized agency established by such an international organization. An international organization, the majority of whose members are Member States or Associated Countries and whose main objective is to promote scientific and technological cooperation in Europe, is an International Organization of European Interest.

    A person with legal rights and obligations. Unlike a legal entity, a natural person does not have a legal act (e.g. association, limited liability company, etc.).

    An NPO is an institution or organization which, by virtue of its legal form, is not profit-oriented or which is required by law not to distribute profits to its shareholders or individual members. An NGO is a non-governmental, non-profit organization that does not represent business interests. Pursues a common purpose for the benefit of society.

    A partnership, corporation, person, or agency that is for-profit and not operated by the government.

    Any government or other public administration, including public advisory bodies, at the national, regional or local level.

    A research institution is a legal entity established as a non-profit organization whose main objective is to conduct research or technological development. A college/university is a legal entity recognized by its national education system as a university or college or secondary school. It may be a public or private institution.

    A microenterprise, a small or medium-sized enterprise (business) as defined in EU Recommendation 2003/361. To qualify as an SME for EU funding, an enterprise must meet certain conditions, including (a) fewer than 250 employees and (b) an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 50 million and/or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 43 million. These ceilings apply only to the figures for individual companies.

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  1. Governance, partnership: Projects aimed at increasing the application of multilevel and transnational or cross-border governance, designing and testing appropriate governance structures and mechanisms. Also cooperation between public institutions on any theme.

    Innovation capacity and awareness-raising: Actions that increase a person’s or organisation’s capacity for innovation (not innovation as such), and that establish the capacity to diffuse and apply innovation; projects that stimulate innovation in different areas and innovation capacities; strengthening and empowering of innovation networks.

    Institutional cooperation and cooperation networks: Projects working on the improvement of institutional cross-border co-operation and capacities, on renewing and simplifying administrative management through long term cooperation between institutions (e.g. Euregion), on establishing and sharing regional knowledge and intercultural understanding and cohesion. It also deals with cooperations between universities, health care facilities, schools and sports organisations, as well as with management and capacity building.

    Activities focussing on agricultural products, organic farming, horticulture, as well as forest management and wood products; furthermore the development of the food sector, food chains, organic food production, and seafood products and any topics related to animals and fishing.

    Agriculture and fisheries and forestry: Projects focussing on agricultural products (i.e. fruits, meat, olives, etc.), organic farming, horticulture, as well as forest management and wood products. Also the development of the agro-food sector, food chains, organic food production, and seafood products. Any topics related to animals (i.e. health, management) and fishing (i.e. sustainable fishery, aquaculture).

    Soil and air quality: Projects that deal with any topic against soil and air pollution, except water pollution, for example, reduction of soil and air contamination, pollution-management systems, but also prevention and eradication of soil erosion, new ways of improving air quality (also indoors) and soil/air knowledge in general.

    Climate change and biodiversity projects assisting mitigation and adaption to climate change and environmental impacts of climate change. Development of low carbon technologies and strategies, reduction of CO2 emissions from all sectors. Promotion of biodiversity, new instruments to enhance biodiversity and natural protection.

    Soil and air quality projects that deal with any topic against soil and air pollution, except water pollution, for example, reduction of soil and air contamination, pollution-management systems, but also prevention and eradication of soil erosion, new ways of improving air quality (also indoors) and soil/air knowledge in general.

    Water management projects about management and distribution of drinking water, integrated sustainable water management, monitoring systems for water supply and improving drinking water quality; also water treatment (wastewater), in particular, innovative technologies to improve wastewater, treatments in the purification of industrial and domestic wastewater and water reuse policies. Waterways, lakes and rivers: This deals with any topics on waterways, lakes and rivers, from improving water quality, protecting and developing of ecosystems or sustainable wetland management.

    Activities that protect, promote and enhance cultural and natural heritage, increase the attractiveness through preservation and valorisation of common cultural and natural heritage in a sustainable manner, and improve and develop cultural and natural heritage objects, services and products. Cultural heritage management, art and culture, (maritime) heritage routes, access to cultural and natural heritage. Also all topics on cultural services such as festivals, concerts, art workshops.

    Cultural heritage and arts projects that protect, promote and enhance cultural and natural heritage, increase the attractiveness through preservation and valorisation of common cultural and natural heritage in a sustainable manner, and improve and develop cultural and natural heritage objects, services and products. Cultural heritage management, art and culture, (maritime) heritage routes, access to cultural and natural heritage. Also all topics on cultural services such as festivals, concerts, art workshops.

    Tourism projects dealing with the promotion of natural assets, and the protection and development of natural heritage, as well as increasing the touristic attractiveness through the better use of natural, cultural and historical heritage. Also projects about improved tourist services/products, development of ecotourism models, tourism development strategies.

    Sustainable management of natural resources projects focussing on the protection, promotion and valorization, and sustainable management and conservation of natural areas (habitats, geo parks, protected areas, etc.). Also projects focussing on preserving and enhancing cultural and natural heritage and landscape, as well as protecting the marine environment.

    Projects on waste management (innovative services and strategies), ecological waste treatment, treatment techniques/systems; waste disposal and recycling (improvement of recycling, innovative recycling technologies, recovery of organic waste, repair & re-use centres and networks); also prevention of pollution and pollution control (ecological and circular economy, marine littering, etc.).

    Labour market and employment: creating employment opportunities and/or optimising jobs, academic (un)employment and job mobility, workforce attraction and improvement of employment conditions for different groups.

    SME and entrepreneurship: strengthening SME capacities, boosting entrepreneurial activities in different sectors and for different groups, supporting social entrepreneurship, creating business support/advisory systems for start-ups/spin-offs/incubators, improving the competitiveness of SMEs, and promoting new business processes.

    Community integration and common identity projects that build identity, create a more cohesive society, promote positive relations through an increased provision of shared spaces and services.

    Demographic change and immigration is about projects tackling major societal challenges like demographic change in different areas and migration, in particular, aging society (active aging, best agers, silver economy strategies) and related new public services (adaptation of key services and infrastructure), social and spatial segregation, and brain drain. Also all topics on migration (policy tools, strategic planning, integration).

    All projects where ICT has a significant role, including tailor-made ICT solutions in different fields, as well as digital innovation hubs, open data, Internet of Things; ICT access and connecting (remote) areas with digital infrastructure and services; services and applications for citizens (e-health, e-government, e-learning, e-inclusion, etc.); services and applications for companies (e-commerce, networking, digital transformation, etc.).

    This is about the mitigation and management of risks and disasters, and the anticipation and response capacity towards the actors regarding specific risks and management of natural disasters, for example, prevention of flood and drought hazards, forest fire, strong weather conditions, etc.. It is also about risk assessment and safety.

    Education and training projects on expanding educational opportunities, reducing barriers in the field of education, improving higher education and lifelong learning, training and labour mobility, educational networks, higher vocational education, common learning programmes.

    Topics on energy management, energy-saving methods, evaluating energy efficiency measurements, energy rehabilitation/efficiency in buildings / public infrastructure, promotion of energy efficiency, cooperation among experienced energy efficiency firms, institutions and local administrations, co-generation.

    Projects focussing on wind, solar, biomass, hydroelectric, geothermal and other renewable energy, increasing the production of sustainable renewable energy and improving research capacities in biomass. Also projects focussing on storage and management of renewable energy, new technologies, sustainable regional bioenergy policies and financial Instruments for investments on renewable energy.

    Social projects concerning people with disabilities and excluded groups; enhancement of the capacity of children, young people, women and elderly; creation of infrastructure to improve access for disabled people, integration of socially vulnerable people; innovate in the care of victims of gender violence, social inclusion of women, etc.

    This deals with the development of health and social services and improved accessibility and efficiency for different groups (elderly, children, etc.). It is also about new healthcare models and medical diagnosis and treatments (dementia, cancer, diabetes, etc.), hospitals, care management, and rare diseases, as well as improving wellbeing and promoting sports.

    Projects about (organised) crime, efficient and secure borders, such as enhancing the effectiveness of the police in the prevention of drug crimes, the development of safety services, or tackling security and organised crime issues.

    Activities related to:

    • Transport and mobility covering all sorts of transport (incl. urban transport) and mobility.
    • Improving transport connections dealing with traffic and/or transport connections, rehabiliation/modernisation, better connectivity, improving accessibility/connections, but also public transport.
    • Multimodal transport and logistics and freight transport focusing on using different means of transport, developing multimodal connections, optimising intermodal transport chains; offering multimodal logistics solutions and providing access to clean, efficient and multimodal transport corridors and hubs; establishing cooperation among logistic centres and developing multimodal mobility strategies.

    Activities related to:

    • urban development, such as planning and design of cities and urban areas, urban renewal, urban-rural links (climate, sustainable mobility, water efficiency, participation, sustainable land use, smart cities, public urban areas, regeneration)
    • regional planning and development, such as the implementation of regional development policies/instruments and programmes, sustainable land use management plans, integrated regional action plans, spatial planning, and marine protected area management.
    • rural and peripheral development, referring to remote, sparsely populated areas, rural community development, and rural economics, in particular access to remote areas and policies for rural areas.
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Call key data

Circular Economy, resources from Waste, Air, Water, Soil, Noise, Chemicals, Bauhaus

Funding Program

LIFE - sub-programme “Circular Economy and Quality of Life”

Call number

LIFE-2023-SAP-ENV-ENVIRONMENT

deadlines

Opening
18.04.2023

Deadline
06.09.2023 17:00

Funding rate

60 %

Call budget

€ 74,000,000.00

Estimated EU contribution per project

between € 2,000,000.00 and € 10,000,000.00

Link to the call

Link to the submission

Call content

short description

The aim of this call is to facilitate the transition toward a sustainable, circular, toxic-free, energy-efficient/climate-resilient economy and toward a toxic-free environment as well as to protect, restore and improve the quality of the environment.

Call objectives

The specific objective is to cover one or more of the following topics:

  • Circular Economy and Waste
  • Air
  • Water
  • Soil
  • Noise
  • Chemicals
  • A new European Bauhaus

Expected effects and impacts

All LIFE projects will have to report on their expected outputs and impacts taking into account the LIFE Key Performance indicators (KPIs). These KPIs will contribute to evaluating the impact of the LIFE project on an environmental but also socio- economic level (e.g. via actions impacting the local economy and population). Please review the indicators in Part C of the eGrant application and complete them with the estimated impact of the project. More detailed information will be requested during the project implementation time.

Expected results

Activities that can be funded:

  • Circular Economy and Waste
    • Recovery of Resources from Waste
      • Implementation of innovative solutions to support value-added recycled materials, components or products
    • Circular Economy and the Environment
      • Implementation of business and consumption models or solutions to support value chains, particularly the key product value chains set out in the new EU Action Plan for the Circular Economy, aiming at reducing or preventing resource use and waste
  • Air: The thematic priority “Air” focuses on the implementation of air quality legislation and a comprehensive approach to related urban, industrial and rural environmental problems.
    • Air quality and the NEC Directive: Where not explicitly stated otherwise, air quality projects should generally focus on urban areas, or on approaches for rural areas with a large replicability potential in the EU, in order to cover as many people as possible.
      • Air quality improvement and emission reduction of particulate matter (PM)
      • Sustainable road transport mobility aiming at emissions of air pollutants, the reduction of which is essential for helping meet air quality standards
      • Sustainable mobility, other than road transport, including maritime transport, ports, aviation and Non Road Mobile Machinery (NRMM) mobility, including their supporting infrastructure and logistics
      • Reduction of ammonia, methane and PM emissions from agriculture in support of the implementation of the upgraded UNECE Code of Good Practice for reducing emissions from agriculture
    • Industrial Emissions Directive: Application of pollution prevention and abatement techniques referred to in the Industrial Emissions Directive as emerging techniques or development and application of pollution prevention and abatement techniques, which could qualify as candidate emerging techniques under the Industrial Emissions Directive’s BREFs review process. Projects will focus on the reduction of air pollutants and should notably address PM2.5, NOX, SO2, NH3 and/or NMVOCs generated by industrial installations regulated by the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED).
  • Water: Green Deal strategies may support: reduction of pollution through the Farm to Fork Strategy and the Zero Pollution Action Plan, restoration of aquatic nature through the Biodiversity Strategy, addressing sources of chemicals pollution through the Circular Economy Action Plan and the Chemicals Strategy, shift to renewables (except small hydropower) as a result of stepped up climate action, etc.
    • Water quality & quantity
      • Improvement of water quality
      • Implementation of flood and/or drought risk management actions
      • Innovative projects addressing hydro morphological pressures identified in River Basin Management Plans and originating from land or water uses in order to achieve good water status or potential as required by the Water Framework Directive objectives and attain the objectives of the EU Biodiversity Strategy. This could include projects working on development of sediment transport management techniques and solutions, ensuring ecological flow, removal of obstacles, etc.
      • Implementation of innovative water saving measures in order to reduce the quantitative and qualitative pressures on water bodies/resources. This includes measures for reduction of over-abstraction of water taking into account circular economy measures.
    • Marine and coastal water management
      • Application of innovative solutions (tools, technologies or practices) to ensure the protection and conservation of the seas, oceans and their coasts, by fostering sustainable human activities within the marine environment. This would include initiatives aimed at reducing the pressure of human activities on the marine environment.
    • Water services
      • Application of innovative technologies and tools for drinking water and urban wastewater treatment systems
      • Application of innovative tools ensuring the resource efficient provision of water services compliant with the revised Drinking Water Directive and the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive to population living in rural areas
      • Improvement of the efficiency and effectiveness of innovative solutions and/or innovative treatment options regarding recycled/reclaimed water
  • Soil
    • Implementation of actions to protect the quality of EU’s soil
    • Restoration, protection and improvement of soil health and prevention of soil degradation including soil loss also through innovative actions
  • Noise: Under this heading, priority will be given to projects in urban areas in order to improve the situation for a maximum number of persons.
    • Substantial reduction of noise inside densely populated urban areas through solutions with high environmental and economic sustainability; for instance, by using low noise surfaces and/or tyres having life cycle costs comparable to those of standard surfaces and/or tyres, low height barriers with low landscape impact and eco-friendly materials, or lowering noise from railway traffic or airports.
  • Chemicals
    • Prevention and Reduction of the impact on the environment or human health, of hazardous substances
    • Prevention and Reduction of the impact on the environment or human health of chemical production and use across the value chain
    • Digital innovations for advanced tools, methods and models, and data analysis capacities to also move away from animal testing.
    • Implementation of safe- and sustainable-by-design solutions, including through the development, commercialisation, deployment and uptake of safe- and sustainable-by-design substances, material and product.
    • Facilitation of the implementation of the Seveso III Directive (Directive 2012/18/EU) on the control of major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances through deployment of particularly cost-effective methodological tools for carrying out human health and environmental risk mapping, and for addressing domino effects. Projects shall foresee the demonstrative application of these tools by different duty holders and implement risk preventing or reducing measures on their basis.
  • A new European Bauhaus
    • Proposals focussed on a holistic reduction of environmental impacts of new buildings
    • Proposals on circular districts involving creation of circular value chains to boost urban economies whilst producing urban and territorial regeneration.
    • Proposals for maintaining or restoring biodiversity that contribute to the implementation of the New European Bauhaus initiative. This may include, for example, demonstrating biodiversity friendly practise for the energetic isolation of buildings, innovative architectural approaches for wildlife-friendly buildings, etc.

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Eligibility Criteria

Regions / countries for funding

EU Member States, Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT)
Moldova (Moldova), Iceland (Ísland), Ukraine (Україна)

eligible entities

Education and training institution, International organization, Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) / Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Private institution, incl. private company (private for profit), Public Body (national, regional and local; incl. EGTCs), Research Institution incl. University, Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME)

Mandatory partnership

No

Project Partnership

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 (associated countries) or countries which are in ongoing negotiations for an association agreement and where the agreement enters into force before grant signature (list of participating countries)
  • the coordinator must be established in an eligible country

Natural persons are NOT eligible (with the exception of self-employed persons, i.e. sole traders, where the company does not have legal personality separate from that of the natural person).

International organisations are eligible. The rules on eligible countries do not apply to them.

EU bodies — EU bodies (with the exception of the European Commission Joint Research Centre) can NOT be part of the consortium.

other eligibility criteria

Financial support to third parties is allowed under the following conditions: 

  • the calls must be open, published widely and conform to EU standards concerning transparency, equal treatment, conflict of interest and confidentiality

Additional information

Topics

Administration & Governance, Institutional Capacity & Cooperation, 
Agriculture & Forestry, Fishery, Food, Soil quality, 
Air Quality, Biodiversity & Environment, Climate & Climate Change, Water quality & management, 
Circular Economy, Natural Resources, 
Disaster Prevention, Resilience, Risk Management, 
Mobility & Transport, 
Rural & Urban Development/Planning

Relevance for EU Macro-Region

EUSAIR - EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, EUSALP - EU Strategy for the Alpine Space, EUSBSR - EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, EUSDR - EU Strategy for the Danube Region

UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs)

project duration

between 24 and 120 months

Additional Information

Proposals must be submitted electronically via the Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission System (accessible via the Topic page in the Search Funding & Tenders section. Paper submissions are NOT possible.

Project acronym — Your project acronym must include the word LIFE. 

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 
    • participant information 
  • Optional annexes
    • letters of support
    • cofinancing declarations
    • Maps
    • Description of sites
    • Description of species and habitats
    • Activity Annual report
    • Other annexes (for example: lifecylce analysis, business plans etc.)

Proposals are limited to maximum 120 pages (Part B).

Contact

European Climate Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) - LIFE
Website

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