Grants to support Projects in fields of Nature & Biodiversity and Circular Economy & Quality of Life

Grants to support Projects in fields of Nature & Biodiversity and Circular Economy & Quality of Life

Grants to support Projects in fields of Nature & Biodiversity and Circular Economy & Quality of Life

Deadline: 19-Sep-24

The European Commission is pleased to launch a call for proposals for EU action grants in the fields of Environment under the Programme for Environment and Climate Action (LIFE).

This call for proposals concerns LIFE Other Action Grants (OAGs) and more specifically − Projects addressing ad hoc Legislative and Policy Priorities (PLP) determined following a consultation with Member States.

The LIFE Programme is structured in two fields and four sub-programmes:

Environment:

• sub-programme Nature and Biodiversity
• sub-programme Circular Economy and Quality of Life

Climate Action:

• sub-programme Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation
• sub-programme Clean Energy Transition

Objectives

• Nature and Biodiversity
• to develop, demonstrate, promote and stimulate scale up of innovative techniques, methods and approaches (including nature-based solutions and ecosystem approach) for reaching the objectives of the EU legislation and policy on nature and biodiversity, and to contribute to the knowledge base and to the application of best practices, including through the support of the Natura 2000.
• to support the development, implementation, monitoring and enforcement of EU legislation and policy on nature and biodiversity, including by improving governance at all levels, in particular through enhancing capacities of public and private actors and the involvement of civil society, also taking into due consideration the possible contributions provided by citizen science
• to catalyse the large-scale deployment of successful solutions/approaches for implementing EU legislation and policy on nature and biodiversity, by replicating results, integrating related objectives into other policies and into public and private sector practices, mobilising investment and improving access to finance.
• Circular Economy and Quality of Life
• to develop, demonstrate and promote innovative techniques, methods and approaches for reaching the objectives of the EU legislation and policy on environment, and to contribute to the knowledge base and, where relevant, to the application of best practices.
• to support the development, implementation, monitoring and enforcement of the EU legislation and policy on environment, including by improving governance at all levels, in particular through enhancing capacities of public and private actors and the involvement of civil society
• to catalyse the large-scale deployment of successful technical and policy-related solutions for implementing the EU legislation and policy on environment, by replicating results, integrating related objectives into other policies and into public and private sector practices, mobilising investment and improving access to finance.

Priorities

NEW E-BOOK

• Support for mapping, condition assessment and restoration of marine habitats
• Expected project duration: 36 months
• Maximum Funding rate and maximum EU contribution
• Maximum funding rate: 90%
• Maximum EU contribution: EUR 1.30 million
• Extended Producers Responsibility (EPR)
• Expected project duration: 24 months
• Maximum Funding rate and maximum EU contribution
• Maximum funding rate: 90%
• Maximum EU contribution: EUR 1 million
• Capacity building and training of private sector stakeholders in implementing the EU Regulation on Deforestation-free products
• Expected project duration: 36 months
• Maximum Funding rate and maximum EU contribution
• Maximum funding rate: 90%
• Maximum EU contribution: EUR 1 million
• Holistic orientations towards environmental new infrastructures in Ukrainian cities — Debris
• Expected project duration: 24 months
• Maximum Funding rate and maximum EU contribution
• Maximum funding rate: 90%
• Maximum EU contribution: EUR 1 million
• Holistic orientations towards environmental new infrastructures in Ukrainian cities — Water
• Expected project duration: 24 months
• Maximum Funding rate and maximum EU contribution
• Maximum funding rate: 90%
• Maximum EU contribution: EUR 1 million
• Developing best practices in low tillage farming without herbicides
• Expected project duration: 48 months
• Maximum Funding rate and maximum EU contribution
• Maximum funding rate: 90%
• Maximum EU contribution: EUR 1.2 million
• Circular Europe Hotspot, a new governance model for the ECESP, with a focus on Circular Business model mainstreaming
• Expected project duration: 36 months
• Maximum Funding rate and maximum EU contribution
• Maximum funding rate: 90%
• Maximum EU contribution: EUR 1.8 million
• Support for actions to address degassing of NMVOCs in inland waterway and maritime transport
• Expected project duration: 30 months
• Maximum Funding rate and maximum EU contribution
• Maximum funding rate: 90%
• Maximum EU contribution: EUR 1 million
• Testing and promoting high-quality biodiversity certificate and credit schemes in EU wetlands
• Expected project duration: 24 months
• Maximum Funding rate and maximum EU contribution
• Maximum funding rate: 90%
• Maximum EU contribution: EUR 1 million

Funding Information

• The estimated available call budget is EUR 10,300,000.00
• The project requested grant amount is not more than EUR 60 000.

Eligibility Criteria

• Eligible participants (eligible countries)
• 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)
• the coordinator must be established in an eligible country.
• Beneficiaries and affiliated entities must register in the Participant Register — before submitting the proposal — and will have to be validated by the Central Validation Service (REA Validation). For the validation, they will be requested to upload documents showing legal status and origin.
• Other entities may participate in other consortium roles, such as associated partners, subcontractors, third parties giving in-kind contributions, etc.
• Specific cases
• Exceptional funding — Entities from other countries (not listed above) are exceptionally eligible, if the granting authority considers their participation essential for the implementation of the action.
• Natural persons — 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 — International organisations are eligible. The rules on eligible countries do not apply to them.
• Entities without legal personality — Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees for the protection of the EU financial interests equivalent to that offered by legal persons.
• EU bodies — EU bodies (with the exception of the European Commission Joint Research Centre) can NOT be part of the consortium.
• Associations and interest groupings — Entities composed of members may participate as ‘sole beneficiaries’ or ‘beneficiaries without legal personality’. Please note that if the action will be implemented by the members, they should also participate (either as beneficiaries or as affiliated entities, otherwise their costs will NOT be eligible).
• Countries currently negotiating association agreements — Beneficiaries from countries with ongoing negotiations for participation in the programme may participate in the call and can sign grants if the negotiations are concluded before grant signature and if the association covers the call (i.e. is retroactive and covers both the part of the programme and the year when the call was launched).

Ineligibility Criteria

• Applicants which are subject to an EU exclusion decision or in one of the following exclusion situations that bar them from receiving EU funding can NOT participate:
• bankruptcy, winding up, affairs administered by the courts, arrangement with creditors, suspended business activities or other similar procedures (including procedures for persons with unlimited liability for the applicant’s debts).
• in breach of social security or tax obligations (including if done by persons with unlimited liability for the applicant’s debts).
• guilty of grave professional misconduct (including if done by persons having powers of representation, decision-making or control, beneficial owners or persons who are essential for the award/implementation of the grant).
• committed fraud, corruption, links to a criminal organisation, money laundering, terrorism-related crimes (including terrorism financing), child labour or human trafficking (including if done by persons having powers of representation, decisionmaking or control, beneficial owners or persons who are essential for the award/implementation of the grant).
• shown significant deficiencies in complying with main obligations under an EU procurement contract, grant agreement, prize, expert contract, or similar (including if done by persons having powers of representation, decision-making or control, beneficial owners or persons who are essential for the award/implementation of the grant).
• guilty of irregularities within the meaning of Article 1(2) of Regulation No 2988/95 (including if done by persons having powers of representation, decision-making or control, beneficial owners or persons who are essential for the award/implementation of the grant).
• created under a different jurisdiction with the intent to circumvent fiscal, social or other legal obligations in the country of origin or created another entity with this purpose (including if done by persons having powers of representation, decision-making or control, beneficial owners or persons who are essential for the award/implementation of the grant).

For more information, visit European Commission.

Grants to support Projects in fields of Nature & Biodiversity and Circular Economy & Quality of…