LIFE Environment plan implementation grants

• Apply as a partnership with at least two beneficiaries. The authority responsible for implementing the plan must participate and normally coordinate the project; another coordinator is possible in a well-justified case.
• Beneficiaries normally must be public or private legal entities established in EU Member States, including their overseas countries and territories, or Iceland, Moldova, North Macedonia, Montenegro or Ukraine. The coordinator must be established in an eligible country. Serbia may participate under the call’s association-negotiation conditions, but grant signature depends on an agreement that covers this call. International organisations are exempt from country rules; entities from other countries can receive exceptional funding if CINEA considers them essential. Individuals cannot apply, except sole traders whose business has no separate legal personality. Other entities without legal personality can participate exceptionally if their representatives can undertake legal obligations and provide equivalent protection for EU financial interests. EU bodies cannot join the partnership, except the European Commission Joint Research Centre.
• Activities must normally take place in eligible countries. Work elsewhere must be necessary for EU environmental and climate objectives and for the effectiveness of work in eligible countries.
• Target an eligible plan on a large, representative area, such as a region, several regions or a country. Multi-city or smaller areas can qualify for air-quality or noise projects with substantial impact. Projects based on local air-quality plans should coordinate at least five cities with such plans. Smaller noise-project areas must have people exposed to noise above 55 dB Lden (the day-evening-night noise level); projects addressing noise sources in border regions should cooperate with the neighbouring Member States. The plan must be approved by the full-proposal deadline; if submission to the European Commission is legally required, it must also have been reviewed and found at least acceptable. A draft must accompany the concept note if approval is pending. If a replacement plan is not yet adopted but an earlier plan remains in force, provide both that current plan and the latest draft and explain the situation for assessment.
• Mobilise and coordinate non-LIFE funding for separate measures needed to implement the same plan. With the full proposal, submit at least one letter signed by the funding authority confirming available or committed complementary funds. Funds already granted or spent before this call generally do not count as mobilised; exceptions need explicit justification, and funds granted or spent before 24 April 2025 cannot count. Other LIFE projects can contribute to the plan but cannot meet this non-LIFE funding requirement.
• Show sufficient resources to deliver the project and your contribution, and experience and qualified staff for projects of comparable scale. Involve the key stakeholders, deliver a plan for training and retaining knowledge, and produce an After-LIFE plan stating the actions and funding for completing the wider plan.
• LIFE does not fund clean-up work that the polluter must pay for. Keep EU-funded actions and their cost items separate: the same cost cannot be declared to two EU grants.
• EU sanctions bar participation. EU conditionality measures exclude affected organisations from funded roles; the call identifies Hungarian public-interest trusts established under Act IX of 2021 and entities they maintain.

If the budget cannot cover all passing proposals, priority goes to Member States without a strategic project funded under this same subprogramme in 2021–2027. Transnational strategic projects are not assigned to one Member State for that priority rule. A transnational project must implement a plan that is explicitly transnational or covers regions in more than one country. It is expected to include each country or region’s competent authority, represent beneficiaries and funding use in a balanced way, and deliver substantial benefits in all participating areas.

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• The concept-note intake is closed. Only successful first-stage applicants may submit invited full proposals; their deadline is indicatively 4 March 2027 at 17:00 Brussels time.

The 2026 concept-note stage is closed to new applications. Only successful first-stage applicants are invited to submit a full proposal; the call gives 4 March 2027 at 17:00 Brussels time as the indicative full-proposal deadline.

Invited applicants submit through the Funding & Tenders Portal using the invitation link. Register all participating organisations to obtain their participant identification codes (PICs), complete the portal forms and upload the required proposal and annexes, including the plan and complementary-funding declaration. Check that you receive the submission confirmation email: without it, the proposal has not been submitted.