COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT Accompanying the document Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliamentand of the Council on the establishment of a Programme for the Environment and Climate Action (LIFE) and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1293/2013
Date: 2018-06-01
Institutions: Directorate-General for Environment, European Commission
Subjects: EU environmental policy, EU financial instrument, EU programme, biodiversity, climate change, climate change policy, environmental cooperation, environmental protection, quality of the environment, sustainable development

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 1.6.2018 SWD(2018) 293 final  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT  Accompanying the document Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliamentand of the Council on the establishment of a Programme for the Environment and Climate Action (LIFE) and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1293/2013 {COM(2018) 385 final} - {SEC(2018) 275 final} - {SWD(2018) 292 final}  
 
 
The EU is a global leader for environmental protection and climate action and - as confirmed 
in the President Juncker's 2017 State of the Union address1 - wants to enhance this role2.  

The  LIFE  programme  is  the  only  EU  fund  entirely  dedicated  to  environmental  and  climate 
objectives.  With  its  modest  budget  it  targets  a  niche  between  EU  programmes  supporting 
research  and  innovation  on  the  one  hand  and  EU  programmes  financing  large-scale 
deployment of measures on the other hand. 

While LIFE activities tackle certain problems directly on the ground, the programme's main 
impact  is  indirect  through  its  catalytic  role  directed  to  initiate,  expand  or  accelerate 
sustainable production, distribution and consumption practices by supporting: 
   The development and exchange of best practice and knowledge; 
   The  building  up  of  the  capacities  and  the  speeding  up  of  the  implementation  of 

environmental and climate legislation and policies; 

   Stakeholders testing small-scale technologies and solutions; and 
   The mobilisation of funding from other sources. 

This  impact  assessment  accompanies  the  Commission  proposal  for  the  future  LIFE 
Programme for the Environment and Climate Action post 2020 and satisfies the requirements 
of the Financial Regulation in respect of preparing an ex-ante evaluation.  

Challenges and opportunities for the LIFE programme for the next MFF 
The recent mid-term evaluation of LIFE (MTE)3, confirmed that the current programme is on 
track to be effective4, efficient and relevant and it is providing a contribution to the Europe 
2020 strategy. Furthermore, most stakeholders see LIFE as being a very important instrument 
for addressing environmental and climate priorities.  

However, the MTE also identified opportunities to further enhance the programme’s overall 
effectiveness, which would not be realised with a continuation of the LIFE programme in its 
current format, and scale, in the period 2021-2027. They concern, in particular, opportunities 
to improve coherence between the LIFE programme and other EU funds and to enhance the 
catalytic role of the programme. Further opportunities for improvements were also identified 
in  relation  to  the  strategic  focus  of  the  programme,  as  well  as  opportunities  to  increase  the 
efficiency and simplify the management of LIFE. 

The preferred options 

To  address  the  identified  challenges,  several  options  were  identified  and  then  screened  in 
terms  of  their  effectiveness,  efficiency  and  coherence.  This  identified  a  number  of  specific 
improvement options for the new programme, as described further below. 

Three options were shortlisted in relation to the programme’s coverage and scope: 

1.  Extending  the  scope  of  LIFE  to  include  capacity  building  projects  related  to  clean 
energy by adding a sub-programme on Clean Energy Transition would provide a more 
coherent  approach  to  the  funding  of  capacity  building  projects  in  the  clean  energy 
area, whilst also improving access to a wider range of beneficiaries. 

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2  

3  

4  

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/state-union-2017_en  
An analysis of the continued need for action in the various environmental policy areas and on climate change to 
ensure compliance with the relevant EU legislation, the Paris Agreement and the implementation of the Energy 
Union is presented in Annex 4. 
EC (2017) Report on the Mid-term Evaluation of the Programme for Environment and Climate. SWD(2017) 355 
final. Ecorys (2017) Support for an external and independent LIFE Mid Term Evaluation Report 
Basing on the analysis of the Key Performance Indicators used to assess the performance of projects. 

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2.  Reinforcing  LIFE's  support  for  the  mainstreaming  of  nature  and  biodiversity 
objectives. This would enhance the financing of nature, and improve coherence in the 
overall  structuring  of  the  EU  budget  by  facilitating  an  improved  mainstreaming 
approach. It may though require additional planning and coordination efforts from the 
environment authorities. 

3.  Extending  the  eligibility  of  LIFE  to  the  EU's  Overseas  Countries  and  Territories 
(OCT),  specifically  for  nature  and  biodiversity  actions  within  the  Nature  and 
Biodiversity sub-programme,  would address a potential gap in funding of the BEST 
scheme5. 

If the budget is specifically increased to include Clean Energy Transition and/or to include a 
sub-programme for Nature, these options (option 1 and 2) should be included in the structure 
of the Life Programme. 

Nine  options  were  shortlisted  in  relation  to  the  programme’s  delivery  mechanisms,  and 
programme management 

To  improve  the  performance  and  catalytic  role  of  LIFE,  two  options  were  explored  which 
concern  the accessibility of LIFE for applicants from all  EU  Member States.  The option to 
provide centralised support to the entire NCP network instead of the present national capacity 
building projects (for only certain MSs) is assessed positively.  The option of increasing co-
financing rates would need to be further considered once the overall shape and budget of the 
LIFE programme for the next MFF will be decided and based on the demand over time. 

Four other complementary options were considered to improve the performance and catalytic 
role  of  the  Programme.  Among  them,  the  extension  of  the  Strategic  Integrated  Projects  is 
considered  to  be  the  most  powerful  mechanism  based  on  the  pilot  experience  of  integrated 
projects  in  the  present  LIFE  programme.  This  would  however,  require  additional  budget 
compared to the present Programme. 

The options to enhance replication and to increase both the flexibility of the programme and 
the possibility to target key and emerging issues through simplifying the Regulation and the 
MAWP  have  no  serious  negative  implications,  so  should  both  be  introduced.  Concerning 
financial  instruments,  it  would  beneficial  if  approaches  developed  under  the  present  LIFE 
pilot instruments were up-scaled under InvestEU. 

How will performance be monitored and evaluated? 

Performance will continue to be measured at programme and sub-programme level, building 
on  the  current  project  based  approach.  However,  additional  performance  criteria  have  been 
identified  to  strengthen  the  monitoring  and  evaluation  of  LIFE’s  catalytic  effect  and  its 
contribution  to  supporting  societal  transformation.  The  burden  of  its  application  will  lie 
mainly  with  the  Commission  so  as  to  avoid  inflating  current  reporting  requirements  and  to 
ensure accurate and robust reporting. 

Two  in-depth  evaluations  will  be  completed  at  mid-term  (by  2024)  and  on  closing  of  the 
programming period (by 2027). 

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The  BEST  –  voluntary  scheme  for  Biodiversity  and  Ecosystem  Services  in  Territories  of  European  overseas  – 
initiative  aims  to  support  the  conservation  of  biodiversity  and  sustainable  use  of  ecosystem  services  including 
ecosystem-based approaches to climate change adaptation and mitigation in the EU Outermost Regions (ORs) and 
Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs). 

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