Projects on Legislative and Policy Priorities in the fields of Nature & Biodiversity and Circular Economy & Quality of Life

Programme Category

EU Competitive Programmes

Programme Name

LIFE: Environment & Climate Action

Programme Description

The LIFE Programme is the EU’s funding instrument for the environment and climate action. The general objective of LIFE is to contribute to the implementation, updating and development of EU environmental and climate policy and legislation by co-financing projects with European added value. After 22 years, €3.4 billion and 4.170 projects, the LIFE Programme continues to finance actions for the environment and climate action.

Programme Details

Identifier Code

LIFE-2026-PLP-NAT-ENV

Call

Projects on Legislative and Policy Priorities in the fields of Nature & Biodiversity and Circular Economy & Quality of Life

Summary

Point 4.1.4 of the LIFE 2025-2027 Multi Annual Work Programme indicates that under “Other Actions”, additional projects responding to the Union legislative and policy priorities could be determined on annual basis, following a consultation with Member States.

The list of specific priorities to be addressed in this call is provided below. The Section 2 of the Call document further spells out for each priority the specific needs to be addressed, the activities that can be funded, the expected impacts and any other requirement.

The lists of LIFE-2026-PLP-NAT-ENV specific priorities are:

Digitising Environmental Impact Assessments and permitting procedures
Preserving primary and old-growth forest in critical regions of Europe through mapping and awareness raising
Development and implementation of analytical methodology to distinguish between virgin and recycled polymers at custom controls
Support for reducing discharges into marine waters from exhaust gas cleaning systems (scrubbers) installed onboard ships
Capacity-building of authorities in Montenegro and North Macedonia

Detailed Call Description

Digitising environmental assessments and permitting procedures
- Implementing pilots:
  - Pilot standardised digital tools and platforms that can at a later stage be re-used by all Member States for permitting, pre-permitting and environmental assessments.
  - Ensuring seamless interoperability across borders also to facilitate data sharing between authorities as well as effective general public engagement, with a view to potential scale-up and transboundary consultation in all Member States.
  - Integrate AI and data analytics to improve data processing and support decision-making.
- Support for training and capacity building:
  - Organising workshops and knowledge-sharing events for competent authorities, project developers;
  - Developing and delivering training materials and modules on e-permitting, environmental assessments, and related EU legal frameworks such as the above-mentioned Directives.
  - Producing guidance and collecting good practices on the implementation of e-permitting systems and the digitalisation of environmental assessments processes.
  - Supporting knowledge exchange between Member States to facilitate streamlining of environmental assessments and promoting mutual recognition of assessments.
Preserving primary and old-growth forest in critical regions of Europe through mapping and awareness raising
- The project must include the following activities:
  - Development of support tools and methods (e.g. thresholds and identification criteria) based on desk research and ground surveys in model primary and old-growth forests of at least two relevant forest types;
  - Demonstration of mapping of the primary and oldgrowth forests based on the methodologies developed under point 1, covering the regions with the highest representation of such forests in the EU, namely the Boreal region, and Romania and Bulgaria.
  - Awareness-raising and training campaigns of stakeholders in the relevant countries to promote further applications of the developed methods and tools.
  - Small-scale demonstration of a funding model for long-term protection of a selected primary or old-growth forest. This activity must start by exploring and analyzing different funding models based on relevant research (including, but not limited to EU Horizon projects), including the use of voluntary market mechanisms such as nature credits. The most suitable funding model must then be applied through a small-scale demonstration pilot.
Development and implementation of an analytical methodology to distinguish between virgin and recycled polymers at custom controls
- The main scope of the project is to develop, reinforce and deploy protocols addressing materials made of PET, PE, PP and PS as described below.
- Each protocol should be developed by a minimum of three laboratories. It is expected that the protocols are developed in the following order of priority: PET, PE, PP and PS.
- To ensure reliability and representativeness and to facilitate timely advancements in verification processes across the Union, the protocols must be tested in at least the following Member States, where the largest plastics converters are established, representing over 75% of the industry: Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Poland, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
Support for reducing discharges into marine waters from exhaust gas cleaning systems (scrubbers) installed onboard ships
- The following actions are expected:
  - Mapping pollutants and effects
  - Mapping potential socio-economic and human health impacts
  - Mapping existing restrictions
  - Best-practice workshops
  - Expert support for EU Member States
  - Support regional collaboration
  - Stakeholder consultation
  - International outreach and IMO support
  - Public knowledge sharing and awareness raising
  - Exploitation and legacy plan
  - Organise targeted training for port authorities and environmental agencies
  - Develop online cost-benefit tool
Capacity-building of authorities in Montenegro and North Macedonia
- Proposals submitted under this call should include a needs analysis illustrating how to improve the capacity of the authority responsible for the LIFE programme to reach and support the different types of organisations that could be interested in participating in the LIFE calls for proposals (i.e., public bodies, research and civil society organisations, private companies). Applicants should identify the most effective activities for supporting the participation of these organisations, with a particular focus on the different action types under the LIFE programme, namely standard action projects, coordinated and support actions, strategic integrated and strategic nature projects.
- Proposals can cover all four sub programmes of LIFE, or focus only on some types of potential applicants more relevant for North Macedonia or Montenegro as resulting from the needs analysis.
- Activities included in proposals must take place within the territory of the Member State(s) or the LIFE-associated country(-ies) of the applicant(s).

Call Total Budget

€13.500.000

Financing percentage by EU or other bodies / Level of Subsidy or Loan

90%

Eligibility for Participation

Associations
Businesses
Central Government
Educational Institutions
International Organisations
Large Enterprises
Legal Entities
Legal Entities under Public Law
Local Authorities
NGOs
Non Profit Organisations
Other Beneficiaries
Private Bodies
Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions
Semi-governmental organisations
Services Providers
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
State-owned Enterprises

Eligibility For Participation Notes

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

− the coordinator must be established in an eligible country

Specific consortium requirements:

Digitising environmental assessments and permitting procedures
- The consortium must include the competent authorities at least of the regions/territories/areas in each of the countries of intervention.
- The consortium must include entities from at least three different EU Member States.
Preserving primary and old-growth forest in critical regions of Europe through mapping and awareness raising
- Not applicable
Development and implementation of an analytical methodology to distinguish between virgin and recycled polymers at custom controls
- The consortium must include participation of laboratories with expertise in chemistry for substances and molecular mass characterization, as well as capabilities in hyperspectral optics and thermodynamics for physical evaluations.
Support for reducing discharges into marine waters from exhaust gas cleaning systems (scrubbers) installed onboard ships
- Proposals must be submitted by at least three applicants (beneficiaries, not affiliated entities) from three different EU Member States.
Capacity-building of authorities in Montenegro and North Macedonia
- The competent national authority responsible for the implementation of the LIFE programme in Montenegro and/or in North Macedonia should in principle participate in the consortium as coordinator. In well justified cases it may participate in a different capacity, but it should in any case be part of the consortium. The LIFE National Contact Points of the respective countries must be closely involved.
- Consortiums may include additional entities provided that their participation is justified by the action’s objectives and their role is clearly defined.

Call Opening Date

21/04/2026

Call Closing Date

22/09/2026

National Contact Point(s)

Department of Environment
Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment
www.lifecyclamen.com.cy

Contact Persons
Marilena Papastavrou
Environment Officer, National Contact Point for Environment
Telephone: +357 22 408 926
Email: mpapastavrou@environment.moa.gov.cy

Chrystalla Papastavrou
Environment Officer, National Contact Point for Climate
Telephone: +357 22 408 962
Email: cpapastavrou@environment.moa.gov.cy

EU Contact Point

CINEA-LIFEENQUIRIES@ec.europa.eu