Commission funds 171 new LIFE projects in environment and climate across Europe with over €396 million
The European Commission has today approved 171 new projects across Europe under the LIFE Programme for environment and climate action, worth more than €396 million. Thanks to the programme’s co-funding requirements, it will mobilise a total investment of more than €722 million, which represents a 28,5 % increase compared to last year. Projects from almost all EU countries will benefit from EU support under the following sub-programmes: nature and biodiversity; circular economy and quality of life; climate change mitigation and adaptation; and clean energy transition.
LIFE projects contribute to reaching the European Green Deal’s broad range of climate, energy and environmental goals, including the EU’s aim to become climate-neutral by 2050. They support biodiversity and nature restoration, improve the quality of life of Europeans by reducing pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions, increase circularity in the economy and climate resilience, and accelerate the transition to clean energy across Europe.
Examples of awarded projects
One of the biggest nature and biodiversity projects involves 13 EU Member States and other European countries tackling fishing bycatch in the North Atlantic, Baltic and Mediterranean waters. Led by The Netherlands, the project aims to minimise – and where possible eliminate – bycatch in the regions involved in line with the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030.
To promote a more circular economy and quality of life, one project in Bulgaria will promote sustainable consumption, prevention and separate collection of waste involving local authorities, businesses and citizens. The project aims to show how Bulgaria’s traditional landfill dumping can be replaced by new ‘pay as you throw’ door-to-door waste collection and recycling schemes.
Supporting climate mitigation, a French project aims to demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of an innovative and cost-efficient photovoltaic system before bringing it to the market. The technology consists of bifacial solar panels that are suspended above unexploited sites such as canals, basins and reservoirs. This technology will help generate more renewable energy, decrease greenhouse gas emissions and reduce competition for land use.
A new multi-country project will also support the clean energy transition in the HORECA (hotel, restaurant, catering) value chain in seven EU countries. The project aims to train over 500 workers and engage around 10 000 stakeholders in the accommodation and food service industry to save the equivalent energy of 390 million light bulbs a year.