LIFE project development assistance for sustainable energy
Grants covering up to 95% of technical-assistance costs to prepare and launch substantial energy-efficiency or renewable-energy investments in LIFE participating countries.
Tato příležitost je nyní dostupná v angličtině.
LIFE Project Development Assistance supports public and private project promoters preparing sustainable-energy investment pipelines. It funds preparation such as bundling projects, technical studies, energy audits, financing assessments, legal advice, tender preparation and stakeholder engagement.
The 2026 topic has an €8 million budget. The Commission considers an EU contribution of €1–1.5 million suitable, but explicitly allows other requested amounts. The grant reimburses 95% of eligible costs, leaving the remaining eligible costs and any ineligible expenditure to be financed from other resources.
Investments must actually launch during the project. Each €1 of grant must lead to at least €15 of investment, reduced to €10 only where the project exclusively targets residential buildings. Identify the initial pipeline and the evidence you will deliver, such as signed works or investment contracts. A general agreement giving access to finance alone is insufficient. The project must also demonstrate an innovative organisational approach or financing solution with potential for wider use.
Eligible sectors include renovations of existing residential and non-residential buildings; decarbonisation of existing district heating/cooling, local electricity grids and public infrastructure; industry and services; and decentralised renewables replacing solid or fossil fuels. New-building construction is outside scope. Extensions of district heating/cooling must be fully based on low-temperature renewables or waste heat. Local-energy infrastructure needs a demonstrated energy-efficiency or renewables case. Industry and renewable-energy proposals must go beyond business as usual in organisational and financial innovation; the renewables strand excludes technologies not yet fully commercially available.
The grant generally reimburses eligible costs actually incurred, with specified unit-cost and flat-rate elements. It can cover staff, subcontracting, travel, equipment and other goods, works and services. Equipment is charged through depreciation; land purchases and onward grants to third parties are excluded. Separate project websites are eligible only if justified by project objectives. Indirect costs use a 7% flat rate on eligible direct costs, excluding volunteer costs and specified exceptions. Non-deductible VAT can qualify, except VAT paid by public bodies acting as public authorities.
The same action normally cannot receive another EU grant, and the same costs cannot be declared twice. The exception for combining EU grants applies only to actions formally flagged as EU Synergy actions in the grant agreement. Complementary funding alone does not create this status. Applicants must inform the granting authorities about multiple EU funding sources; the authorities assess the arrangements to prevent double funding, and combined actual funding cannot exceed 100% of eligible costs. See the official grant-agreement guidance, Article 6.3 for the conditions and contact the granting authority about designation. An EU operating grant can coexist only where this project is outside its work programme and accounting separates the costs. The final grant cannot generate a profit and may be reduced for non-compliance.
Eligible unpaid volunteer work can be budgeted using a fixed allowance per volunteer instead of actual expenditure. Adding those allowances can bring reimbursement up to 100% of the normal costs, meaning the cost categories other than volunteer allowances; the 95% funding rate itself remains unchanged. Other free in-kind contributions are cost-neutral and cannot be declared as costs.
Eligibility
Public or private legal entities established in EU Member States, including their overseas countries and territories, or in Iceland, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia or Ukraine can apply. The coordinator must be established in an eligible country. A single applicant, including a project entirely within one eligible country, is allowed.
Individuals are excluded except self-employed sole traders whose business has no separate legal personality. International organisations are eligible without the country restriction; other entities without legal personality can participate exceptionally with representatives able to undertake obligations and equivalent financial safeguards. Other-country entities may exceptionally receive funding if their participation is essential. Applicants from countries negotiating association can receive a grant only if the association is concluded in time and covers this call; the published country list identifies Serbia as negotiating, not already associated.
Activities normally take place in eligible countries. Work elsewhere must be necessary for EU environmental/climate objectives and the effectiveness of interventions within eligible countries. This is a project-location exception, not unrestricted worldwide eligibility.
Applicants need sufficient finances, skills and resources to complete the work and provide their contribution. The normal coordinator financial-capacity check excludes public bodies, international organisations and requested grants of no more than €60,000; other checks or guarantees may still be required. Bankruptcy-type proceedings, unpaid tax/social-security obligations and specified serious misconduct can bar funding. EU restrictive measures bar participation; Hungarian public-interest trusts covered by EU conditionality measures and their maintained entities cannot participate in funded roles. EU bodies are excluded except the Commission’s Joint Research Centre.
The incorporated territorial rules for Israeli entities also apply. Israeli regional/local authorities and other legal entities must have their registered physical address within Israel’s pre-1967 borders. National public authorities are exempt from this establishment rule, but their funded activities, like those of other covered Israeli entities, must not take place wholly or partly in the Golan Heights, Gaza Strip or West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Natural persons are exempt from these territorial tests, while the call’s other applicant rules still apply. The activity restriction has an exception for work benefiting protected persons under international humanitarian law in those territories or promoting the Middle East peace process in line with EU policy.
How to apply
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- The 2026 call is closed.
The 2026 single-stage window opened on 21 April and closed on 16 September at 17:00 Brussels summer time. Submit through the EU Funding & Tenders Portal using the forms inside its submission system. Register beneficiaries and affiliated entities for a Participant Identification Code before submission. Provide the administrative/budget form, technical proposal, project indicators and required annexes, including the mandatory investment table; Part B is limited to 65 pages.
Set out the investment pipeline, measurable energy and emission impacts, investment-launch evidence and results expected at project end and five years later. Work normally starts after grant signature. An earlier start is exceptional and cannot precede proposal submission; completed projects are rejected.
After signature, the usual initial advance is 30% of the maximum grant, though it may be lower or absent. Payment is normally due 30 days after entry into force or any required financial guarantee, whichever is later. Further advances depend on reports; this topic has no interim cost-reimbursement payments. At project end, the authority calculates the final grant: excess advances must be repaid. Payments go to the coordinator, and outstanding EU debts may be offset. Keep records of work and declared costs.