Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL establishing a Programme for the Environment and Climate Action (LIFE) and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1293/2013
Date: 2018-06-11
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, 11.6.2018  COM(2018) 385 final/2 2018/0209 (COD)  CORRIGENDUM This document corrects document COM(2018) 385 final of 1.6.2018. Concerns the French, English and German versions. Deletion of yellow highlightings. The text shall read as follows:  Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL establishing a Programme for the Environment and Climate Action (LIFE) and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1293/2013 (Text with EEA relevance) {SEC(2018) 275 final}  - {SWD(2018) 292 final}  - {SWD(2018) 293 final}  
 
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

1. 

CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 

This proposal provides for a date of application as of 1 January 2021 and is presented for a 
Union  of  27  Member  States,  in  line  with  the  notification  by  the  United  Kingdom  of  its 
intention  to  withdraw  from  the  European  Union  and  Euratom  based  on  Article  50  of  the 
Treaty on European Union received by the European Council on 29 March 2017. 

• 

Reasons and objectives  

Environmental and climate problems impact on health and the quality of life of EU citizens, 
and  on  the  availability  and  status  of  natural  resources,  implying  social  and  economic  costs. 
The transition to a low-carbon and circular economy is a project of economic modernisation 
for Europe and a priority of the Juncker Commission. The transition to a modern, clean and 
more circular economy requires major shifts in investments towards new infrastructures, new 
technologies,  new  business  models,  and  new  modes  of  production  and  consumption  of  all 
types of goods and services, including food and natural resources.  The EU is a global leader 
for environmental protection and climate action. Over the past 40 years, it has put in place a 
broad  range  of  environmental  policies,  funds  and  tools,  amounting  to  the  most  modern 
standards in the world. The EU wants to maintain and enhance this role.  

Living well, within the limits of our planet is a necessity and a priority. LIFE plays a catalytic 
role  in  helping  the  transformation  of  the  Union  into  a  clean,  circular,  energy  efficient,  low 
carbon and climate resilient society. Through its targeted support to policy and market uptake 
actions, the LIFE programme preserves, protects and improves the quality of the environment, 
protects human health and pursues the prudent and rational utilisation of natural resources.  

Furthermore,  LIFE  also  provides  a  contribution  to  the  EU's  commitments  under  the  Paris 
Agreement  on  Climate  Change,  the  Energy  Union  and  the  2030  energy  and  climate  policy 
framework  and  the  long-term  decarbonisation  objectives.  It  is  also  consistent  with  the  EU's 
ambition to become a global leader in renewable energy.  

As advocated in the "Next steps for a sustainable European future", the United Nations 2030 
Agenda  on  Sustainable  Development  and  the  17  Sustainable  Development  Goals  are  an 
essential  guiding  framework  for  all  EU  policies  and  as  such,  shall  be  mainstreamed 
throughout the future Multi-annual Financial Framework. 
While activities under the LIFE Programme for 2014 to 20201 tackle certain problems directly 
on the ground, the programme's main impact is indirect through its catalytic role: the support 
for  small  scale  actions  intended  to  initiate,  expand  or  accelerate  sustainable  production, 
distribution and consumption practices, and protection of natural capital, by: 

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facilitating the development and exchange of best practice and knowledge;  

building up the capacities and speeding up the implementation of environmental and 
climate legislation and policies and facilitating the clean energy transition; 

helping stakeholders to test small-scale technologies and solutions, and 

mobilising funding from other sources. 

Regulation (EU) No 1293/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 on 
the  establishment  of  a  Programme  for  the  Environment  and  Climate  Action  (LIFE)  and  repealing 
Regulation (EC) No 614/2007 (OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 185). 

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This approach should be further pursued under the Multiannual Financial Framework for the 
period 2021 to 2027. 

Climate  mainstreaming  across  all  instruments  of  the  next  Multiannual  Financial  Framework 
will  increase  the  funding  available  for  the  needed  innovation,  social  adjustment,  and 
empowerment of business, employees and citizens to develop the capacities and skills to help 
tackle climate change. The LIFE programme will contribute to small scale innovation, helping 
citizens to take action on the climate and for their communities. 

• 

Consistency with other Union policies 

The  LIFE  programme  is  the  only  EU  fund  dedicated  solely  to  environmental  and  climate 
objectives.  With  its  relatively  modest  budget,  it  is  targeted  at  a  niche  between  EU 
programmes  supporting  research  and  innovation  on  the  one  hand  and  EU  programmes 
financing  large-scale  deployment  on  the  other  hand.  Thus  the  programme  bridges  the  gap 
between the development of new knowledge and its implementation. 

including 

the  regional  development 

At EU level, large investments in environmental and climate actions are primarily funded by 
major  funding  programmes,  integrating  environmental  and  climate  aims  in  their  objectives 
(mainstreaming), 
rural 
development  funds,  maritime  and  fisheries  funds,  the  research  and  innovation  programme 
Horizon Europe, the Connecting Europe Facility, as well as external policy instruments and 
Union  financial  instruments,  whereas  LIFE’s  main  impact  is  indirect  through  its  role  as  a 
catalyst  supporting  small-scale  actions  intended  to  initiate,  expand  or  accelerate  clean  and 
sustainable production, distribution and consumption practices, and improving the quality of 
the environment and contributing to reaching the Union's climate objectives. 

funds,  agriculture  and 

Synergies  shall  be  sought  between  the  grants  financed  by  LIFE  and  other  EU  programmes, 
(e.g. demonstration projects under Horizon Europe), as the programmes, while having distinct 
goals and being different in size and nature, have inter-related activities. Horizon Europe will 
contribute  to  tackling  environmental  challenges  and  EU  priorities  through  research  and 
innovation  activities  -  informed  through  the  strategic  planning  process  -  in  particular  in 
dedicated “clusters”. As a general rule Horizon Europe shall cover activities that support the 
development,  demonstration  and  market  uptake  of  innovative  solutions  that  have  a  trans-
national  dimension,  and  which  are  first-of-a-kind  for  the  EU  and  have  a  potential  for 
replication  in  the  Union.  The  catalytic  effect  of  the  traditional  LIFE  projects  will  be  to 
develop, test  or  showcase  suitable technologies or  methodologies  for implementation  of EU 
environment  and  climate  policy  on  the  ground  within  specific  contexts,  which  can 
subsequently be deployed at large scale, funded by other sources. The potential of InvestEU 
could be used to finance strategic nature and integrated projects, and to support the uptake of 
the Programme. 

In  some  areas  (i.e.  nature  and  biodiversity,  including  marine  ecosystems)  the  LIFE 
Programme  plays  a  unique  and  essential  role.  Synergies  and  complementarities  have  been 
observed  in  particular  with  rural  development  programmes,  but  also,  for  example,  between 
climate  change  adaptation  projects  and  the  disaster  risks  management.  Those  synergies  and 
complementarities  should be strengthened  under the next  LIFE Programme 2021-2027, also 
by adjusting the scope of the research programme with regard to certain activities supporting 
the transition to clean energy that contribute to climate change mitigation. 

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Integrating the Clean Energy Transition sub-programme into the LIFE Programme increases 
the  overall  coherence  of  the  EU  funding  while  offering  a  rich  potential  for  synergies  with 
actions on environment and climate. 

A clear complementarity exists to the funding of research and innovation action in the clean 
energy  field  under  Horizon  Europe.  The  research  and  innovative  solutions  developed  in 
Horizon  Europe  through  the  support  of  front-runners  will  provide  the  next  generation  of 
technologies  and  good  practices  that  at  a  later  stage  can  be  replicated  with  the  capacity-
building support of the Clean Energy Transition sub-programme. 

The Clean Energy Transition sub-programme and the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) are 
complementary  in  terms  of  nature  and  of  underlying  intervention  logic.  In  particular,  the 
cross-border dimension is core to the CEF intervention logic. 

2. 

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LEGAL BASIS, SUBSIDIARITY AND PROPORTIONALITY 

Legal basis and Subsidiarity 

Article 192 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) is the basis for 
EU action on the environment and climate change. The activities supporting the transition to 
clean energy are also covered by this legal basis as they directly contribute to climate change 
mitigation.  Already  under  the  current  LIFE  Programme  certain  activities  improving  energy 
efficiency and the use of renewable energy are funded as substantial contributions to climate 
change  mitigation,  often  also  generating  environmental  co-benefits  (e.g.  improving  air 
quality).  

Most  environmental  problems  are  transboundary  or  transnational  and  cannot  be  adequately 
solved by Member States alone. EU intervention is required to establish adequate mechanisms 
for dealing efficiently with such problems and avoiding coordination failures. 

Furthermore,  environmental  assets  are  European  public  goods  whose  good  management  is 
essential to the proper functioning of the single market. 

3. 

RESULTS  OF  RETROSPECTIVE  EVALUATIONS,  STAKEHOLDER 
CONSULTATIONS AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS 

Retrospective evaluations 

• 
Although the recent mid-term evaluation of LIFE 2014 to 2020 (MTE)2 was undertaken at an 
early  stage  of  the  programme  implementation,  when  only  the  2014  and  2015  projects  had 
started, it confirmed that the programme is on track to be effective, 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.  

• 

Stakeholder consultations 

As  part  of  the  LIFE  mid-term  evaluation  a  wide  range  of  consultation  activities  were 
conducted, including (i) a 12-week public consultation with more than 250 responses, (ii) six 
specific  surveys  with  more  than  200  responses,  and  (iii)  over  150  interviews  (and  where 

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Report  on  the  Mid-term  Evaluation  of  the  Programme  for  Environment  and  Climate  Action  (LIFE) 
(SWD(2017) 355 final). 

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relevant  site  visits)  of  the  key  stakeholder  groups,  including  project  beneficiaries,  project 
coordinators,  Commission  services,  EASME  officials,  external  monitoring  experts  and 
financial instruments’ stakeholders.  

The  opinion  of  the  Committee  of  the  Regions  and  the  European  Economic  and  Social 
Committee  on  the  results  of  the  mid-term  evaluation  have  also  been  taken  into  account,  as 
they envisaged possible options for the LIFE Programme post 2020. 

For the purposes of this proposal, the  broad stakeholder consultation  was complemented  by 
opinions  received  from  Non-Governmental  Organisations  and  further  consultation  activities 
with stakeholders in Member States.  

The  consultations  confirmed  the  relevance  of  the  programme  for  addressing  the  needs  and 
problems  in  the  area  of  climate  and  environment  and  the  importance  of  its  continuation, 
including  all  main  types  of  interventions.  However,  the  need  for  simplification  of  its 
administration  was  highlighted.  A  strengthening  of  the  catalytic  effects  and  the  potential  of 
integrated projects was suggested. 

• 

Impact assessment 

In order to improve the performance and catalytic role of the programme, two options were 
explored in view of improving its accessibility for applicants from all EU Member States. The 
option  to  provide  centralised  support  to  the  entire  National  Contact  Point  (NCP)  Network 
instead of the present national capacity building projects (accessible for only certain Member 
States) was assessed positively and should be implemented. The option to increase the level of 
co-financing  may  be  considered  at a  later  point  in  time  and  possibly  be  adjusted  during  the 
programme implementation. 

Several  complementary  options  were  considered  to  improve  the  performance  and  catalytic 
role of the Programme. They were positively assessed. The extension of the use of integrated 
projects, in future strategic integrated projects (SIPs), is considered to be the mechanism that 
generates the highest impact based on the pilot experience of integrated projects in the present 
LIFE  programme.  The  increase  in  the  scope  and  volume  for  strategic  integrated  projects  is 
considered  a  top  priority.  This  would  require  an  increase  in  the  budget  compared  to  the 
current LIFE budget.  

It  results  from  the  impact  assessment  that  the  support  for  capacity  building  for  the  clean 
energy  transition  contributing  to  climate  change  mitigation,  currently  funded  under  Horizon 
2020 for the period 2014-2020, should be moved into LIFE in the next MFF. The reason was 
the  greater  suitability  of  the  LIFE  programme  in  terms  of  intervention logic,  objectives  and 
delivery  mechanisms  as  well  as  targeted  group  of  beneficiaries  as  compared  to  the  research 
and  innovation  framework  which  is  more  suited  for  the  development  of  first-of-a-kind 
technologies  than  to  support  their  replication  and  upscaling.  Integrating  a  Clean  Energy 
Transition  sub-programme  into  LIFE  would  address  these  shortcomings  and  increases  the 
overall  coherence  of  the  Union  funding  while  offering  potential  for  synergies  with  other 
actions on environment and climate. In the field of Climate Action, the LIFE programme will, 
in  continuation  of  the  2014  –  2020  LIFE  programme,  also  include  a  sub-programme  on 
'Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation'. 

The impact assessment also considered how the Programme could play a stronger role in the 
implementation  of  the  Union  nature  and  biodiversity  policy.  While  the  option  for  a  large 
shared  management  fund  under  LIFE  was  considered  inefficient,  LIFE  could  play  an 
enhanced role in the mainstreaming of nature and biodiversity policy into other EU policies 
and  financing  programmes,  based  on  a  more  balanced  budget  complement  that  would 
leverage funds from these other financing programmes. 

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It also concluded that the Programme should continue financing small grants for biodiversity 
through  the  voluntary  scheme  for  Biodiversity  and  Ecosystem  Services  in  Territories  of 
European overseas (BEST). 

In order to consolidate the nature and biodiversity elements of the Programme, a specific sub-
programme has been created, in the field of Environment, for 'Nature and Biodiversity'. The 
Environment field also includes a sub-programme for 'Circular Economy and Quality of Life', 
which  aims  to  support  the  other  aspects  of  the  Union's  environment  policy,  particularly  the 
transition  to  a  circular  economy,  the  sound  and  efficient  management  of  environment 
resources such as air, water and land, and the promotion of good environmental governance. 

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 
Multiannual  Work  Programme  have  no  serious  negative  implications;  both  should  be 
introduced. 

The  impact  assessment  received  a  positive  opinion  with  reservations  from  the  Regulatory 
Scrutiny Board on 13 April 2018. 

In its opinion on the draft impact assessment, the Regulatory Scrutiny Board requested further 
clarification  on  the  monitoring  regime  and  proposed  indicators  of  this  initiative.  The  Board 
also  asked  to  acknowledge  the  implications  for  LIFE’s  philosophy,  structure  and  delivery 
mechanism  of  the  proposed  extensions  of  LIFE’s  scope  on  nature.  The  recommendations 
contained in the opinion were incorporated in the report. In particular, the impact assessment 
was expanded to reflect how the identified shortcomings related to the monitoring regime for 
the current programming period will be addressed. Furthermore, the list of indicators for the 
assessment  of  the  Programme  was  revised  to  better  align  with  the  objectives  of  the 
programme. A more in depth analysis of the options for the extension of the LIFE's scope on 
nature  and  biodiversity  has  been  inserted  in  Annex  8  and  the  description  of  the  option 
redrafted in the impact assessment. 

The summary sheet and the positive opinion of the Regulatory Scrutiny Board are available 
at: 
http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/?fuseaction=ia&year=2018&serviceId=11&s=Search. 

• 

Simplification 

In  line  with  the  new  Financial  Regulation,  the  programming  and  detailed  decisions  on  the 
management  of  the  Programme  are  deferred  to  the  multiannual  work  programmes.  At  this 
stage  appropriate  measures  for  simplifying  the  management  procedures,  as  identified  in  the 
impact assessment, shall be taken.  

4. 

BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS 

The  budgetary  implications  and  the  human  and  administrative  resources  required  for  the 
implementation  of  the  Programme  are  set  out  in  the  financial  statement  attached  to  this 
proposal. 

5. 

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OTHER ELEMENTS 

Implementation plans and monitoring, evaluation and reporting arrangements 

The LIFE programme is directly managed by the European Commission. The implementation 
of some components has been delegated to the executive agency EASME, as established for 
the  implementation  of  the  2014  –  2020  LIFE  Programme.  In  view  of  the  overall  positive 
assessment  of  the  implementation  of  the  current  programme,  also  the  2021-2027  LIFE 

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Programme  implementation  might  be  delegated  to  an  executive  agency,  subject  to  the 
outcome of the cost-benefit analysis and related decisions to be taken. 

Evaluations  will  be  carried  out  in  line  with  paragraphs  22  and  23  of  the  Interinstitutional 
Agreement  of  13  April  20163,  where  the  three  institutions  confirmed  that  evaluations  of 
existing legislation and policy should provide the basis for impact assessments of options for 
further action. The evaluations will assess the Programme's effects on the ground based on the 
programme  indicators/targets  and a detailed  analysis  of  the degree  to  which  the  programme 
can be deemed relevant, effective, efficient, provides enough EU added value and is coherent 
with other EU policies. They will include lessons learnt to identify any lacks/problems or any 
potential  to  further  improve  the  actions  or  their  results  and  to  help  maximise  their 
exploitation/impact. 

The  Commission  proposal  for  the  2021-2027  Multiannual  Financial  Framework  set  a  more 
ambitious goal for climate mainstreaming across all EU programmes, with an overall target of 
25%  of  EU  expenditure  contributing  to  climate  objectives.  The  contribution  of  this 
programme  to  the  achievement  of  this  overall  target  will  be  tracked  through  an  EU  climate 
marker  system  at  an  appropriate  level  of  disaggregation,  including  the  use  of  more  precise 
methodologies  where  these  are  available.  The  Commission  will  continue  to  present  the 
information annually in terms of commitment appropriations in the context of the annual draft 
budget.  

The EU should also track its biodiversity-related expenditure to fulfil its reporting obligations 
under  the  Convention  on  Biological  Diversity.  Requirements  for  tracking  in  other  relevant 
Union legislation should also be met. 

To  support  the  full  utilisation  of  the  potential  of  the  programme  to  contribute  to  climate 
objectives, the Commission will seek to identify relevant actions throughout the programme 
processes.
preparation, 

implementation, 

evaluation 

review 

and 

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Interinstitutional Agreement between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and 
the European Commission on Better Law-Making of 13 April 2016; OJ L 123, 12.5.2016, p. 1–14. 

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2018/0209 (COD) 

Proposal for a 

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

establishing a Programme for the Environment and Climate Action (LIFE) and 
repealing Regulation (EU) No 1293/2013 

(Text with EEA relevance) 

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 

Having  regard  to  the  Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the  European  Union,  and  in  particular 
Article 192 thereof, 

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, 

After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments, 
Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee4,  
Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions5,  

Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, 

Whereas: 

(1) 

(2) 

Union  environmental,  climate  and  relevant  clean  energy  policy  and  legislation  have 
delivered  substantial  improvements  to  the  state  of  the  environment.  However,  major 
environmental  and  climate  challenges  remain,  which  if  left  unaddressed,  will  have 
significant negative consequences for the Union and the well-being of its citizens.  

The  Programme  for  the  Environment  and  Climate  Action  (LIFE),  established  by 
Regulation (EU) No 1293/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council6 for the 
period 2014 to 2020 is the latest in a series of Union programmes over 25 years which 
support  the  implementation  of  environmental  and  climate  legislation  and  policy 
priorities. It was positively assessed in a recent mid-term evaluation7 as being on track 
to  be  effective,  efficient  and  relevant.  The  2014-2020  LIFE  Programme  should 
therefore be continued with certain modifications identified in the mid-term evaluation 
and  subsequent  assessments.  Accordingly,  a  Programme  for  the  Environment  and 
Climate Action (LIFE) (the ‘Programme’) should be established for the period starting 
2021. 

(3) 

Pursuing the achievement of the Union's objectives and targets set by environmental, 
climate  and  related  clean  energy  legislation,  policy,  plans  and  international 

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OJ C , , p. . 
OJ C , , p. . 
Regulation (EU) No 1293/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 on 
the  establishment  of  a  Programme  for  the  Environment  and  Climate  Action  (LIFE)  and  repealing 
Regulation (EC) No 614/2007 (OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 185).  
Report  on  the  Mid-term  Evaluation  of  the  Programme  for  Environment  and  Climate  Action 
(LIFE)(SWD(2017) 355 final). 

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(4) 

(5) 

(6) 

(7) 

commitments, the Programme should contribute to the shift towards a clean, circular, 
energy-efficient,  low-carbon  and  climate-resilient  economy,  to  the  protection  and 
improvement  of  the  quality  of  the  environment  and  to  halting  and  reversing 
biodiversity loss, either through direct interventions or by supporting the integration of 
those objectives in other policies. 

The  Union  is  committed  to  developing  a  comprehensive  response  to  the  sustainable 
development  goals  of  the  United  Nations  2030  Agenda  for  the  Sustainable 
Development,  which  highlight  the  intrinsic  connection  between  the  management  of 
natural resources to ensure their long-term availability, ecosystem services, their link 
to human health and sustainable and socially inclusive economic growth. In this spirit, 
the  Programme  should  make  a  material  contribution  to  both  economic  development 
and social cohesion. 

The Programme should contribute to sustainable development and to the achievement 
of  the  objectives  and  targets  of  the  Union  environment,  climate  and  relevant  clean 
energy  legislation,  strategies,  plans  and  international  commitments,  in  particular  the 
United  Nations  2030  Agenda  for  the  Sustainable  Development8,  the  Convention  on 
Biological  Diversity9  and  the  Paris  Agreement  adopted  under  the  United  Nations 
Framework Convention on Climate Change10 ("Paris Agreement on Climate Change"). 

For achieving the overarching objectives, the implementation of the Circular economy 
package11,  the  2030  Climate  and  Energy  Policy  Framework12,13,14,  Union  nature 
legislation15, as well as of related policies16,17,18,19,20, is of particular importance. 

Complying  with  the  Union's  commitments  under  the  Paris  Agreement  on  Climate 
Change requires the transformation of the Union into an energy efficient, low carbon 
and  climate  resilient  society.  This  in  turn  requires  actions,  with  a  special  focus  on 
sectors  that  contribute  most  to  the  current  levels  of  CO2  output  and  pollution, 
contributing to the implementation of the 2030 energy and climate policy framework 
and  the  Member  States'  Integrated  National  Energy  and  Climate  Plans  and 
preparations  for  the  Union's  mid-century  and  long-term  climate  and  energy  strategy. 
The  Programme  should  also  include  measures  contributing  to  the  implementation  of 
the Union's climate adaptation policy to decrease vulnerability to the adverse effects of 
climate change. 

(8) 

The transition to clean energy is an essential contribution to the mitigation of climate 
change with co-benefits for the environment. Actions for capacity building supporting 

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Agenda 2030, Resolution adopted by UN GA on 25/09/2015. 
93/626/EEC:  Council  Decision  of  25  October  1993  concerning  the  conclusion  of  the  Convention  on 
Biological Diversity, (OJ L 309, 13.12.1993, p. 1). 
OJ L 282, 19.10.2016, p. 4. 
COM(2015) 614 final, 02.12.2015. 
2030 Climate and Energy Policy Framework, COM(2014)15, 22.01.2014. 
EU Strategy on adaptation to climate change, COM(2013)216, 16.04.2013. 
Clean Energy for all Europeans package, COM(2016) 860, 30.11.2016. 
Action Plan for nature, people and the economy, COM(2017)198, 27.04.2017. 
Clean Air Programme for Europe, COM(2013)918. 
Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a 
framework for Community action in the field of water policy (OJ L 327, 22.12.2000, p. 1). 
Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection, COM(2006)231. 
Low Emission Mobility Strategy, COM/2016/0501 final. 
Action  Plan  on  Alternative  Fuels  Infrastructure  under  Article  10(6)  of  Directive  2014/94/EU, 
8.11.2017. 

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(9) 

the  clean  energy  transition,  funded  until  2020  under  Horizon  2020,  should  be 
integrated  in  the  Programme  since  their  objective  is  not  to  fund  excellence  and 
generate  innovation,  but  to  facilitate  the  uptake  of  already  available  technology  that 
will contribute to climate mitigation. The inclusion of these capacity building activities 
into  the  Programme  offers  potential  for  synergies  between  the  sub-programmes  and 
increases the overall coherence of Union funding. Therefore, data should be collected 
and  disseminated  on  the  uptake  of  existing  research  and  innovation  solutions  in  the 
LIFE projects, including from the Horizon Europe programme and its predecessors. 

The impact assessments of the Clean Energy legislation estimate that the delivery of 
the Union's 2030 energy targets will require additional investments of EUR 177 billion 
annually  in  the  period  2021-2030.  The  biggest  gaps  relate  to  the  investments  in 
buildings  decarbonisation  (energy  efficiency  and  small-scale  renewable  energy 
sources), where capital needs to be channelled towards  projects  of highly  distributed 
nature.  One  of  the  objectives  of  the  Clean  Energy  Transition  sub-programme  is  to 
build  capacity  for  projects  development  and  aggregation,  thereby  also  helping  to 
absorb  funds  from  the  European  Structural  and  Investment  Funds  and  catalyse 
investments  in  clean  energy  also  using  the  financial  instruments  provided  under 
InvestEU. 

(10)  Synergies  with  Horizon  Europe  should  ensure  that  research  and  innovation  needs  to 
tackle environmental, climate and energy challenges within the EU are identified and 
established  during  Horizon  Europe's  strategic  research  and  innovation  planning 
process. LIFE should continue to act as a catalyst for implementing EU environment, 
climate and clean energy policy and legislation, including by taking up and applying 
research  and  innovation  results  from  Horizon  Europe  and  help  deploying  them  on  a 
larger scale where it can help address environmental, climate or clean energy transition 
issues. Horizon Europe's European Innovation Council can provide support to scale up 
and commercialise new breakthrough ideas that may result from the implementation of 
LIFE projects. 

(11)  An  action  that  has  received  a  contribution  from  the  Programme  can  also  receive  a 
contribution from any other Union programme, provided that the contributions do not 
cover  the  same  costs.  Actions  that  receive  cumulative  funding  from  different  Union 
programmes  shall  be  audited  only  once,  covering  all  involved  programmes  and  their 
respective applicable rules.  

(12)  The  Union's  most  recent  Environmental  Implementation  Review  package21  indicates 
that  significant  progress  is  required  to  accelerate  implementation  of  the  Union 
environment  acquis  and  enhance  the  integration  of  environmental  and  climate 
objectives  into  other  policies.  The  Programme  should  therefore  act  as  a  catalyst  to 
achieve  the  required  progress  through  developing,  testing  and  replicating  new 
approaches;  supporting  policy  development,  monitoring  and  review;  enhancing 
investment 
stakeholder 
programmes or other financial sources and supporting actions to overcome the various 
obstacles  to  the  effective  implementation  of  key  plans  required  by  environment 
legislation.  

investments  across  Union 

involvement;  mobilising 

21 

Communication  from  the  Commission  to  the  European  Parliament,  the  Council,  the  European 
Economic  and  Social  Committee  and  the  Committee  of  the  Regions  -  The  EU  Environmental 
Implementation  Review:  Common  challenges  and  how  to  combine  efforts  to  deliver  better  results 
(COM/2017/063 final). 

EN 

9 

  EN 

                                                 
(13)  Halting  and  reversing  biodiversity  loss,  including  in  marine  ecosystems,  requires 
support for the development, implementation, enforcement and assessment of relevant 
Union  legislation  and  policy,  including  the  EU  Biodiversity  Strategy  to  202022, 
Council  Directive  92/43/EEC23  and  Directive  2009/147/EC  of 
the  European 
Parliament  and  of  the  Council24  and  Regulation  (EU)  1143/2014  of  the  European 
Parliament  and  of  the  Council25,  in  particular  by  developing  the  knowledge  base  for 
policy  development  and  implementation  and  by  developing,  testing,  demonstrating 
and applying best practices and  solutions  on small  scale or tailored to  specific local, 
regional or national contexts, including integrated approaches for the implementation 
of  the  prioritised  action  frameworks  prepared  on  the  basis  of  Directive  92/43/EEC. 
The  Union  should  track  its  biodiversity-related  expenditure  to  fulfil  its  reporting 
obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity. Requirements for tracking 
in other relevant Union legislation should also be met.  

(14)  Recent  evaluations  and  assessments,  including  the  mid-term  review  of  the  EU 
Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 and the Fitness Check of Nature legislation, indicate that 
one  of  the  main  underlying  causes  for  insufficient  implementation  of  Union  nature 
legislation and of the biodiversity strategy is the lack of adequate financing. The main 
Union funding instruments, including the [European Regional Development Fund, the 
Cohesion  Fund,  the  European  Agricultural  Fund  for  Rural  Development  and  the 
European Maritime and Fisheries Fund], can make a significant contribution towards 
meeting  those  needs.  The  Programme  can  further  improve  the  efficiency  of  such 
mainstreaming 
the 
implementation of Union nature and biodiversity legislation and policy, including the 
actions  set  out  in  the  Priority  Action  Frameworks  developed  in  accordance  with 
Directive  92/43/EEC.  The  strategic  nature  projects  should  support  programmes  of 
actions  in  Member  States  for  the  mainstreaming  of  relevant  nature  and  biodiversity 
objectives  into  other  policies  and  financing  programmes,  thus  ensuring  that 
appropriate funds are mobilised for implementing these policies. Member States could 
decide within their Strategic Plan for the Common Agricultural Policy to use a certain 
share of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development allocation to leverage 
support for actions that complement the Strategic Nature Projects as defined under this 
Regulation. 

through  strategic  nature  projects  dedicated 

to  catalysing 

(15)  The  voluntary  scheme  for  Biodiversity  and  Ecosystem  Services  in  Territories  of 
European  Overseas  (BEST) promotes  the  conservation  of  biodiversity,  including 
marine biodiversity, and sustainable use of ecosystem services, including ecosystem-
based  approaches  to  climate  change  adaptation  and  mitigation,  in  the  Union's 
Outermost Regions and Overseas Countries and Territories. BEST has helped to raise 
awareness  for  the  ecological  importance  of  the  Outermost  Regions  and  Overseas 
Countries  and  Territories  for  conserving  global  biodiversity.  In  their  Ministerial 
Declarations  in  2017  and  2018,  Overseas  Countries  and  Territories  have  expressed 
their  appreciation  for  this  small  grant  scheme  for  biodiversity.  It  is  appropriate  to 

22 
23 

24 

25 

COM(2011) 244 final. 
Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna 
and flora (OJ L 206, 22.7.1992, p. 7).  
Directive  2009/147/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  30  November  2009  on  the 
conservation of wild birds (OJ L 20, 26.1.2010, p. 7).  
Regulation (EU) No 1143/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2014 on 
the  prevention  and  management  of  the  introduction  and  spread  of  invasive  alien  species  (OJ  L  317, 
4.11.2014, p. 35).  

EN 

10 

  EN 

                                                 
allow  the  Programme  to  continue  financing  small  grants  for  biodiversity  in  both  the 
Outermost Regions and the Overseas Countries and Territories. 

(16)  Promoting  the  circular  economy  requires  a  mentality  shift  in  the  way  of  designing, 
producing, consuming and disposing of materials and products, including plastics. The 
Programme  should  contribute  to  the  transition  to  a  circular  economy  model  through 
financial  support  targeting  a  variety  of  actors  (businesses,  public  authorities  and 
consumers),  in  particular  by  applying,  developing,  and  replicating  best  technology, 
practices  and  solutions  tailored  to  specific  local,  regional  or  national  contexts, 
including through integrated approaches for the implementation of waste management 
and prevention plans. Through supporting the implementation of the plastics strategy, 
action can be taken to address the problem of marine litter in particular. 

(17)  The Union's long-term objective for air policy is to achieve levels of air quality that do 
not cause significant negative impacts on and risks to human health. Public awareness 
about  air  pollution  is  high  and  citizens  expect  authorities  to  act.  Directive  (EU) 
2016/2284  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council26  stresses  the  role  Union 
funding can play in achieving clean air objectives. Therefore, the Programme should 
support  projects,  including  strategic  integrated  projects,  which  have  the  potential  to 
leverage public and private funds, to be showcases of good practice and catalysts for 
the  implementation  of  air  quality  plans  and  legislation  at  local,  regional,  multi-
regional, national and trans-national level. 

(18)  Directive  2000/60/EC  established  a  framework  for  the  protection  of  the  Union’s 
surface waters, coastal waters, transitional waters and groundwater. The objectives of 
the Directive are supported by the Blueprint to Safeguard Europe's Water Resources27 
which  calls  for  better  implementation  and  increased  integration  of  water  policy 
objectives  into  other  policy  areas.  The  Programme  should  therefore  support  projects 
which contribute to the effective implementation of Directive 2000/60/EC and of other 
Union  water  legislation  that  contributes  to  achieving  a  good  status  of  the  Union’s 
water  bodies  through  applying,  developing  and  replicating  best  practices,  as  well  as 
through  mobilising  complementary  actions  under  other  Union  programmes  or 
financial sources. 

(19)  The protection and restoration of the marine environment is one of the overall aims of 
the  Union's  environment  policy.  The  Programme  should  support  the  following:  the 
management,  conservation,  restoration  and  monitoring  of  biodiversity  and  marine 
ecosystems in particular in Natura 2000 marine sites and the protection of species in 
accordance  with  the  prioritised  action  frameworks  developed  pursuant  to  Directive 
92/43/EEC; the achievement of Good Environmental Status in line with the Directive 
2008/56/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council28; the promotion of clean 
and healthy seas; the implementation of the European strategy for plastic in a circular 
economy,  to  address  the  problem  of  lost  fishing  gear  and  marine  litter  in  particular; 
and  the  promotion  of  the  Union's  involvement  in  international  ocean  governance 
which  is    essential  for  achieving  the  goals  of  the  United  Nations  2030  Agenda  for 

26 

27 
28 

Directive (EU) 2016/2284 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2016 on the 
reduction of national emissions of certain atmospheric pollutants, amending Directive 2003/35/EC and 
repealing Directive 2001/81/EC (OJ L 344, 17.12.2016, p. 1).  
COM(2012) 673 final. 
Directive  2008/56/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  17  June  2008  establishing  a 
framework  for  community  action  in  the  field  of  marine  environmental  policy  (Marine  Strategy 
Framework Directive) (OJ L 164, 25.6.2008, p. 19). 

EN 

11 

  EN 

                                                 
Sustainable Development and to guarantee healthy oceans for future generations. The 
Programme's strategic integrated projects and strategic nature projects should include 
relevant actions aiming at the protection of the marine environment.  

(20)  The improvement of governance on environmental, climate change and related clean 
energy  transition  matters  requires  involvement  of  civil  society  by  raising  public 
awareness,  consumer  engagement,  and  broadening  of  stakeholder  involvement, 
including  non-governmental  organisations,  in  consultation  on  and  implementation  of 
related policies. 

(21)  Whilst  improving  governance  at  all  levels  should  be  a  cross-cutting  objective  for  all 
sub-programmes  of  the  Programme,  the  Programme  should  support  the  development 
and  implementation  of  the  horizontal  legislation  on  the  environmental  governance, 
including the legislation implementing the United Nations Economic Commission for 
Europe  (UNECE)  Convention  on  Access  to  Information,  Public  Participation  in 
Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters29. 

(22)  The  Programme  should  prepare  and  support  market  players  for  the  shift  towards  a 
clean, circular, energy-efficient, low-carbon and climate-resilient economy by testing 
new  business  opportunities,  upgrading  professional  skills,  facilitating  consumers' 
access to sustainable products and services, engaging and empowering influencers and 
testing  novel  methods  to  adapt  the  existing  processes  and  business  landscape.  To 
support  a  broader  market  uptake  of  sustainable  solutions,  general  public  acceptance 
and consumer engagement should be promoted. 

(23)  At Union level, large investments in environmental and climate actions are primarily 
funded by major Union funding programmes (mainstreaming). In the context of their 
catalytic role, strategic integrated projects and strategic nature projects to be developed 
under  the  Programme  should  leverage  financing  opportunities  under  those  funding 
programmes and other sources of funding such as national funds, and create synergies. 

(24)  Reflecting  the  importance  of  tackling  climate  change  in  line  with  the  Union's 
commitments  to  implement  the  Paris  Agreement  and  the  United  Nations  Sustainable 
Development  Goals,  this  Programme  will  contribute  to  mainstream  climate  actions 
and  to  the  achievement  of  an  overall  target  of  25  %  of  the  EU  budget  expenditures 
supporting  climate  objectives.  Actions  under  this  Programme  are  expected  to 
contribute  61%  of  the  overall  financial  envelope  of  the  Programme  to  climate 
objectives. Relevant actions will be identified during the Programme's preparation and 
implementation, and reassessed in the context of the relevant evaluations and review 
processes.  

(25) 

(26) 

In  the  implementation  of  the  Programme  due  consideration  should  be  given  to  the 
strategy for outermost  regions30 in  view of Article 349 TFEU and the specific needs 
and vulnerabilities of these regions. Union policies other than environmental, climate 
and relevant clean energy transition policies should also be taken into account. 

In  support  of  the  implementation  of  the  Programme,  the  Commission  should 
collaborate  with  the  Programme’s  national  contact  points,  organise  seminars  and 
workshops,  publish  lists  of  projects  funded  under  the  Programme  or  undertake  other 
activities  to  disseminate  project  results  and  to  facilitate  exchanges  of  experience, 
knowledge  and best practices  and the  replication of project results across  the Union. 

29 
30 

OJ L 124, 17.5.2005, p. 4. 
COM(2017) 623 final 

EN 

12 

  EN 

                                                 
Such activities should in particular target Member States with a low uptake of funds 
the  communication  and  cooperation  between  project 
and  should 
beneficiaries,  applicants  or  stakeholders  of  completed  and  ongoing  projects  in  the 
same field. 

facilitate 

(27)  The  European  Union  Network  for 

the  Implementation  and  Enforcement  of 
Environmental  Law  (IMPEL),  the  European  Network  of  Prosecutors  for  the 
Environment  (ENPE)  and  the  European  Union  Forum  of  judges  for  the  environment 
(EUFJE) have been created to facilitate the collaboration between Member States and 
play  a  unique  role  in  the  enforcement  of  the  Union  environmental  legislation.  They 
provide a substantial contribution to reinforce consistency in the implementation and 
enforcement of Union environmental legislation across the Union, avoiding distortions 
of  competition,  contribute  to  improving  the  quality  of  the  environmental  inspection 
and the law enforcement mechanisms through a networking system at both, Union and 
Member State level, and provide exchange of information and experience at different 
administrative  levels,  as  well  as  through  training  and  in-depth  discussions  on 
environmental  issues  and  enforcement  aspects,  including  monitoring  and  permitting 
processes.  In  view  of  their  contribution  to  the  objectives  of  the  Programme,  it  is 
appropriate to  authorise the award of grants  to IMPEL,  ENPE and EUFJE without a 
call  for  proposals  so  as  to  continue  to  provide  support  to  the  activities  of  these 
associations.  In  addition,  in  other  cases  a  call  may  not  be  required  pursuant  to  the 
general  requirements  of  the  Financial  Regulation,  e.g.  for  bodies  designated  by  the 
Member  States  and  operating  under  their  responsibility,  where  those  Member  States 
are identified as beneficiaries of a grant by a legislative act of the Union.  

(28) 

It  is  appropriate  to  lay  down  a  financial  envelope  for  the  Programme  which  is  to 
constitute  the  prime  reference  amount,  within  the  meaning  of  point  17  of  the 
Interinstitutional  Agreement  of  2  December  2013  between  the  European  Parliament, 
the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline, on cooperation in budgetary 
matters  and  on  sound  financial  management31,  for  the  European  Parliament  and  the 
Council during the annual budgetary procedure. 

(29)  Horizontal financial rules adopted by the European Parliament and the Council on the 
basis of Article 322 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union apply to 
this Regulation. These rules are laid down in the Financial Regulation and determine 
in  particular  the  procedure  for  establishing  and  implementing  the  budget  through 
grants,  procurement,  prizes,  indirect  implementation,  and  provide  for  checks  on  the 
responsibility of financial actors. Rules adopted on the basis of Article 322 TFEU also 
concern  the  protection  of  the  Union's  budget  in  case  of  generalised  deficiencies  as 
regards the rule of law in the Member States,  as the respect for the rule of law is an 
essential precondition for sound financial management and effective EU funding. 

(30) 

In accordance with the Financial Regulation, Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013 
of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council32  and  Council  Regulations  (Euratom, 
EC) No 2988/9533, (Euratom, EC) No 2185/9634 and (EU) 2017/193935, the financial 

31 
32 

33 

OJ C 373, 20.12.2013, p. 1.  
Regulation  (EU,  Euratom)  No  883/2013  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  11 
September 2013 concerning investigations conducted by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and 
repealing Regulation (EC) No 1073/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council 
Regulation (Euratom) No 1074/1999 (OJ L 248, 18.9.2013, p. 1). 
Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 of 18 December 1995 on the protection of the European 
Communities financial interests (OJ L 312, 23.12.95, p.1). 

EN 

13 

  EN 

                                                 
interests  of  the  Union  are  to  be  protected  through  proportionate  measures,  including 
the  prevention,  detection,  correction  and  investigation  of  irregularities and  fraud,  the 
recovery  of  funds  lost,  wrongly  paid  or  incorrectly  used  and,  where  appropriate,  the 
imposition  of  administrative  sanctions.  In  particular,  in  accordance  with  Regulations 
(EU, Euratom) No 883/2013 and (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96, the European Anti-Fraud 
Office  (OLAF)  may  carry  out  investigations,  including  on-the-spot  checks  and 
inspections,  with  a  view  to  establishing  whether  there  has  been  fraud,  corruption  or 
any other illegal activity affecting the financial interests of the Union. In accordance 
with  Regulation  (EU)  2017/1939,  the  European  Public  Prosecutor's  Office  (EPPO) 
may investigate and prosecute fraud and other illegal activities affecting the financial 
interests  of  the  Union  as  provided  for  in  Directive  (EU)  2017/1371  of  the  European 
Parliament  and  of  the  Council36.  In  accordance  with  the  Financial  Regulation,  any 
person  or  entity  receiving  Union  funds  is  to  fully  cooperate  in  the  protection  of  the 
Union’s  financial  interests  and  grant  the  necessary  rights  and  access  to  the 
Commission,  OLAF,  the  European  Public  Prosecutor's  Office  (EPPO)  and  the 
European Court of Auditors (ECA) and to ensure that any third parties involved in the 
implementation of Union funds grant equivalent rights. 

(31)  The  types  of  financing  and  the  methods  of  implementation  should  be  chosen  on  the 
basis  of  their  ability  to  achieve  the  specific  objectives  of  the  actions  and  to  deliver 
results,  taking  into  account,  in  particular,  the  costs  of  controls,  the  administrative 
burden,  and  the  expected  risk  of  non-compliance.  As  regards  grants,  this  should 
include consideration of the use of lump sums, flat rates and scales of unit costs. 

(32)  The  policy  objectives  of  the  Programme  should  be  also  addressed  through  financial 
instruments and budgetary guarantee under the policy window(s) […] of the InvestEU. 
(33)  Pursuant  to  Article  94  of  Council  Decision  2013/755/EU37,  entities  established  in 
overseas  countries  and  territories  are  eligible  for  funding  subject  to  the  rules  and 
objectives  of  the  Programme  and  possible  arrangements  applicable  to  the  Member 
State to which the relevant overseas country or territory is linked. The participation of 
these  entities  to  this  Programme  should  focus  primarily  on  projects  under  sub-
programme Nature and Biodiversity.  

(34)  The Programme should be open to third countries in accordance with the agreements 
between  the  Union  and  those  countries  establishing  the  specific  conditions  for  their 
participation; 

(35)  Third  countries  which  are  members  of  the  European  Economic  Area  (EEA)  may 
participate  in  Union  programmes  in  the  framework  of  the  cooperation  established 
under the EEA agreement, which provides for the implementation of the programmes 
by a decision under that agreement. Third countries may also participate on the basis 
of  other  legal  instruments.  A  specific  provision  should  be  introduced  in  this 
Regulation  to  grant  the  necessary  rights  for  and  access  to  the  authorizing  officer 

34 

35 
36 

37 

Council  Regulation  (Euratom,  EC)  No  2185/96  of  11  November  1996  concerning  on-the-spot  checks 
and inspections carried out by the Commission in order to protect the European Communities' financial 
interests against fraud and other irregularities (OJ L 292, 15.11.1996, p. 2). 
[Full title + OJ L info]. 
Directive (EU) 2017/1371 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2017 on the fight 
against fraud to the Union's financial interests by means of criminal law (OJ L 198, 28.7.2017, p. 29). 
Council Decision 2013/755/EU of 25 November 2013 on the association of the overseas countries and 
territories with the European Union (Overseas Association Decision)(OJ L 344, 19.12.2013, p. 1). 

EN 

14 

  EN 

                                                                                                                                                         
responsible, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) as well as the European Court of 
Auditors to comprehensively exert their respective competences. 

(36)  Pursuant to points 22 and 23 of the Inter-institutional agreement of 13 April 2016 on 
Better  Law-Making,  there  is  a  need  to  evaluate  this  Programme  on  the  basis  of 
information  collected  through  specific  monitoring  requirements,  while  avoiding 
overregulation  and  administrative  burdens,  in  particular  on  Member  States.  These 
requirements,  where  appropriate,  may  include  measurable  indicators,  as  a  basis  for 
evaluating  the  effects  of  the  Programme  on  the  ground.  The  full  impact  of  the 
Programme accrues through indirect, long-term and difficult-to-measure contributions 
towards  achieving  the  full  range  of  Union  environment  and  climate  objectives.    For 
monitoring  of  the  Programme,  direct  output  indicators  and  tracking  requirements  set 
out in this Regulation should be complemented by aggregation of specific project level 
indicators  to  be  described  in  work  programmes  or  calls  for  proposals,  inter  alia 
regarding Natura 2000 and emissions of certain atmospheric pollutants. 

(37) 

In order to allow for a review of the indicators, the power to adopt acts in accordance 
with  Article  290  of  the  Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the  European  Union  should  be 
delegated  to  the  Commission  to  amend  the  indicators  to  be  used  for  the  purposes  of 
reporting  on  progress  of  the  Programme  towards  the  achievement  of  its  general  and 
specific objectives in particular in view of their alignment with indicators set out for 
other Union programmes. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out 
appropriate  consultations  during  its  preparatory  work,  including  at  expert  level,  and 
that those consultations be conducted in  accordance with the principles laid  down in 
the  Interinstitutional  Agreement  of  13  April  2016  on  Better  Law-Making.  In 
particular,  to  ensure  equal  participation  in  the  preparation  of  delegated  acts,  the 
European  Parliament  and  the  Council  receive  all  documents  at  the  same  time  as 
Member  States'  experts,  and  their  experts  systematically  have  access  to  meetings  of 
Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.  

(38)  Since 

the  objectives  of 

this  Regulation,  namely  contributing 

to  sustainable 
development  and  to  the  achievement  of  the  objectives  and  targets  of  the  Union 
environment,  climate  and  relevant  clean  energy  legislation,  strategies,  plans  or 
international commitments cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States but 
can  rather,  by  reason  of  scale  and  effects  of  this  Regulation,  be  better  achieved  at 
Union  level,  the  Union  may  adopt  measures,  in  accordance  with  the  principle  of 
subsidiarity  as  set  out  in  Article  5  of  the  Treaty  on  European  Union.  In  accordance 
with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not 
go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives. 

(39)  Regulation (EU) No 1293/2013 should therefore be repealed,  

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 

CHAPTER I 
GENERAL PROVISIONS 

Article 1 
Subject matter 

This Regulation establishes the Programme for the Environment and Climate Action (LIFE) 
(the ‘Programme’).  

EN 

15 

  EN 

It lays down the objectives of the Programme, the budget for the period 2021-2027, the forms 
of Union funding and the rules for providing such funding. 

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply:  

Article 2 
Definitions 

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

(4) 

(5) 

(6) 

1. 

'strategic  nature  projects'  means  projects  that  support  the  achievement  of  Union 
nature  and  biodiversity  objectives  by  implementing  coherent  programmes  of  action 
in the Member States to mainstream these objectives and priorities into other policies 
and  financing  instruments,  including  through  coordinated  implementation  of  the 
priority action frameworks established pursuant to Directive 92/43/EEC; 

'strategic  integrated  projects'  means  projects  that  implement  on  a  regional,  multi-
regional, national or transnational scale, environmental or climate strategies or action 
plans  developed  by  Member  States'  authorities  and  required  by  specific 
environmental,  climate  or  relevant  clean  energy  Union  legislation  or  policy,  while 
ensuring  involvement  of  stakeholders  and  promoting  the  coordination  with  and 
mobilisation of at least one other Union, national or private funding source; 

'technical  assistance  projects'  means  projects  that  support  the  development  of 
capacity  to  participate  in  standard  action  projects,  the  preparation  of  strategic 
integrated projects, the preparation for accessing other Union financial instruments or 
other  measures  necessary  for  preparing  the  upscaling  or  replication  of  results  from 
other projects funded by the Programme, its predecessor programmes or other Union 
programmes, in view of pursuing the objectives set out in Article 3; 

'standard  action  projects'  means  projects,  other  than  strategic  integrated  projects, 
strategic  nature  projects  or  technical  assistance  projects,  that  pursue  the  specific 
objectives of the Programme set out in Article 3(2); 

'blending operations' means actions supported by the Union budget, including within 
blending  facilities  pursuant  to  Article  2(6)  of  Regulation  (EU,  Euratom)  2018/… 
(‘the  Financial  Regulation’),  combining  non-repayable  forms  of  support  and/or 
financial  instruments  from  the  Union  budget  with  repayable  forms  of  support  from 
development or other public finance institutions, as well as from commercial finance 
institutions and investors; 

'legal entity' means any natural or legal person created and recognised as such under 
national law, Union law or international law, which has legal personality and which 
may,  acting  in  its  own  name,  exercise  rights  and  be  subject  to  obligations,  or  an 
entity  without  a  legal  personality  in  accordance  with  Article  190(2)(c)  of  the 
Financial Regulation. 

Article 3 
Programme objectives 

The general objective of the Programme is to contribute to the shift towards a clean, 
circular,  energy-efficient,  low-carbon  and  climate-resilient  economy,  including 
through  the  transition  to  clean  energy,  to  the  protection  and  improvement  of  the 
quality  of  the  environment  and  to  halting  and  reversing  biodiversity  loss,  thereby 
contributing to sustainable development. 

2. 

The Programme has the following specific objectives: 

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(a) 

(b) 

(c) 

to develop, demonstrate and promote innovative techniques and approaches for 
reaching the objectives of the Union legislation and policy on environment and 
climate action, including the transition to clean energy, and to contribute to the 
application of best practice in relation to nature and biodiversity; 

to  support  the  development,  implementation,  monitoring  and  enforcement  of 
the relevant Union legislation and policy, including by improving governance 
through enhancing capacities of public and private actors and the involvement 
of civil society; 

to  catalyse  the  large-scale  deployment  of  successful  technical  and  policy-
related solutions for implementing the relevant Union legislation and policy by 
replicating  results,  integrating  related  objectives  into  other  policies  and  into 
public  and  private  sector  practices,  mobilising  investment  and  improving 
access to finance. 

Article 4 
Programme structure 

The Programme is structured as follows: 

(1) 

the field Environment, which includes:  

(a) 

(b) 

the sub-programme Nature and Biodiversity;  

the sub-programme Circular Economy and Quality of Life; 

(2) 

the field Climate Action, which includes:  

(a) 

(b) 

the sub-programme Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation;  

the sub-programme Clean Energy Transition. 

Article 5 
Budget 

1. 

2. 

The  financial  envelope  for  the  implementation  of  the  Programme  for  the  period 
2021-2027 shall be EUR 5 450 000 000 in current prices. 

The indicative distribution of the amount referred to in paragraph 1 shall be:  

(a)  EUR 3 500 000 000 for the field Environment, of which  

(1)  EUR 2 150 000 000 for the sub-programme Nature and Biodiversity and 

(2)  EUR  1  350  000  000  for  the  sub-programme  Circular  Economy  and 

Quality of Life; 

(b)  EUR 1 950 000 000 for the field Climate Action, of which 

(1)  EUR  950  000  000  for  the  sub-programme  Climate  Change  Mitigation 

and Adaptation and 

(2)  EUR 1 000 000 000 for the sub-programme Clean Energy Transition. 

3. 

The  amounts  referred  to  in  paragraphs  1  and  2  shall  be  without  prejudice  to 
provisions  on  flexibility  set  out  in  Regulation  (EU)  …  of  the  European  Parliament 

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4. 

5. 

and of the Council38 [the new Multiannual Financial Framework Regulation] and the 
Financial Regulation. 

The amount referred to in paragraph 1 may be used for technical and administrative 
assistance  for  the  implementation  of  the  Programme,  such  as  preparatory, 
monitoring,  control,  audit  and  evaluation  activities  including  corporate  information 
technology systems. 

The Programme  may  finance activities implemented by the Commission  in  support 
of  the  preparation,  implementation  and  mainstreaming  of  Union  environmental, 
climate or relevant clean energy transition legislation and policies for the purpose of 
achieving the objectives set out in Article 3. Such activities may include: 

(a) 

information  and  communication,  including  awareness  raising  campaigns. 
Financial  resources  allocated  to  communication  activities  pursuant  to  this 
Regulation  shall  also  cover  corporate  communication  regarding  the  political 
priorities  of  the  Union,  as  well  as  regarding  the  implementation  and 
transposition  status  of  Union  environmental,  climate  or  relevant  clean  energy 
legislation; 

(b) 

studies, surveys, modelling and scenario building; 

(c)  preparation,  implementation,  monitoring,  checking  and  evaluation  of  projects 

not funded by the Programme, policies, programmes and legislation; 

(d)  workshops, conferences and meetings; 

(e)  networking and best-practice platforms; 

(f) 

other activities. 

Article 6 
Third countries associated to the Programme 

1. 

The Programme shall be open to the following third countries: 

(a)  European Free Trade Association (EFTA) members which are members of the 
European Economic Area (EEA), in accordance with the conditions laid down 
in the EEA agreement;  

(b) 

(c) 

acceding countries, candidate countries and potential candidates, in accordance 
with  the  general  principles  and  general  terms  and  conditions  for  the 
participation  of  those  countries  in  Union  programmes  established  in  the 
respective  framework  agreements  and  Association  Council  decisions,  or 
similar agreements and in accordance with the specific conditions laid down in 
agreements between the Union and those countries; 

countries covered by the European Neighbourhood Policy, in accordance with 
the general principles and general terms and conditions for the participation of 
those countries in Union programmes established in the respective framework 
agreements  and  association  council  decisions,  or  similar  agreements,  and  in 
accordance  with  the specific conditions laid  down in  agreements between the 
Union and those countries; 

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[Please insert full title and OJ info] 

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(d)  other third countries, in accordance with the conditions laid down in a specific 
agreement  covering  the  participation  of  the  third  country  to  any  Union 
programme, provided that the agreement 

– 

– 

– 

– 

ensures  a  fair  balance  as  regards  the  contributions  and    benefits  of  the 
third country participating  in the Union programmes; 

lays  down  the  conditions  of  participation  in  the  programmes,  including 
the  calculation  of  financial  contributions  to  individual  programmes  and 
their  administrative  costs.  These  contributions  shall  constitute  assigned 
revenues in accordance with Article [21(5)] of the Financial Regulation; 

does  not  confer  to  the  third  country  a  decisional  power  on  the 
programme; 

guarantees the rights of the Union to ensure sound financial management 
and to protect its financial interests. 

2. 

Where  a  third  country  participates  in  the  programme  by  a  decision  under  an 
international agreement or by virtue of any other legal instrument, the third country 
shall  grant  the  necessary  rights  and  access  required  for  the  authorizing  officer 
responsible,  the  European  Anti-Fraud  Office  (OLAF),  the  European  Court  of 
Auditors  to  comprehensively  exert  their  respective  competences.  In  the  case  of 
OLAF,  such  rights  shall  include  the  right  to  carry  out  investigations,  including  on-
the-spot  checks  and  inspections,  provided  for  in  Regulation  (EU,  Euratom) 
No883/2013  of 
the  Council  concerning 
investigations conducted by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). 

the  European  Parliament  and  of 

Article 7 
Synergies with other Union programmes 

The  Programme  shall  be  implemented  in  a  way  which  ensures  its  consistency  with  the 
European  Regional  Development  Fund,  the  European  Social  Fund,  the  Cohesion  Fund,  the 
European  Agricultural  Fund  for  Rural  Development,  and  the  European  Maritime  and 
Fisheries  Fund,  Horizon  Europe,  the  Connecting  Europe  Facility  and  InvestEU,  in  order  to 
create  synergies,  particularly  as  regards  strategic  nature  projects  and  strategic  integrated 
projects,  and  to  support  the  uptake  and  replication  of  solutions  developed  under  the 
Programme.  

Article 8 
Implementation and forms of Union funding 

1. 

2. 

The Programme shall be implemented in direct management in accordance with the 
Financial  Regulation  or  in  indirect  management  with  bodies  referred  to  in  Article 
[61(1)(c)] of the Financial Regulation. 

The Programme may provide funding in any of the forms laid down in the Financial 
Regulation,  in  particular  grants,  prizes  and  procurement.  It  may  also  provide 
financing in the form of financial instruments within blending operations. 

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CHAPTER II 
ELIGIBILITY 

Article 9 
Grants 

Grants under the Programme shall be awarded and managed in accordance with Title VIII of 
the Financial Regulation. 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

1. 

2. 

Article 10 
Eligible actions 

Only actions implementing the objectives referred to in Article 3 shall be eligible for 
funding.  

Grants may finance the following types of action: 

(a) 

(b) 

(c) 

(d) 

strategic nature projects under the sub-programme referred to in point (1)(a) of 
Article 4; 

strategic  integrated  projects  under  the  sub-programmes  referred  to  in  points 
(1)(b), (2)(a) and 2(b) of Article 4; 

technical assistance projects; 

standard action projects; 

(e)  other actions needed for the purpose of achieving the general objective set out 

in Article 3(1). 

Projects  under  the  sub-programme  Nature  and  Biodiversity  concerning  the 
management,  restoration  and  monitoring  of  Natura  2000  sites  in  accordance  with 
Directives  92/43/EEC  and  2009/147/EC  shall  be  supported  in  accordance  with 
prioritised action frameworks established pursuant to Directive 92/43/EEC. 

Grants  may  finance  activities  outside  the  Union,  provided  that  the  project  pursues 
Union environmental and climate objectives and the activities outside the Union are 
necessary  to  ensure  the  effectiveness  of  interventions  carried  out  in  Member  State 
territories. 

Operating  grants  shall  support  the  functioning  of  non-profit  making  entities  which 
are  involved  in  the  development,  implementation  and  enforcement  of  Union 
legislation and policy and which are primarily active in the field of environment or 
climate action, including clean energy transition. 

Article 11 
Eligible entities  

The eligibility criteria set out in paragraph 2 to 3 shall apply in addition to the criteria 
set out in Article [197] of the Financial Regulation. 

The following entities are eligible: 

(a) 

legal entities established in any of the following countries or territories: 

(1) 

(2) 

a Member State or an overseas country or territory linked to it;  

a third country associated to the Programme;  

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(3)  other third countries listed in the work programme under the conditions 

specified in paragraphs 4 to 6; 

(b) 

any legal entity created under Union law or any international organisation. 

Natural persons are not eligible. 

Legal entities established in a third country which is not associated to the Programme 
are exceptionally eligible to participate where this  is necessary for the achievement 
of the objectives of a given action to ensure the effectiveness of interventions carried 
out in the Union. 

Legal  entities  participating  in  consortia  of  at  least  three  independent  entities, 
established  in  different Member  States  or  overseas  countries  or  territories  linked to 
those states or third countries associated to the Programme or other third countries, 
are eligible. 

Legal entities established in a third country which is not associated to the Programme 
should in principle bear the cost of their participation. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

Article 12 
Calls for proposals 

Without  prejudice  to  Article  [188]  of  the  Financial  Regulation,  grants  may  be  awarded 
without a call for proposals to the bodies listed in Annex I. 

Article 13 
Award criteria 

Award criteria shall be set out in the calls for proposals taking into account the following: 

(a) 

(b) 

(c) 

(d) 

(e) 

(f) 

projects financed by the Programme shall avoid undermining environmental, climate 
or  relevant  clean  energy  objectives  of  the  Programme  and,  where  possible,  shall 
promote the use of green public procurement; 

projects that provide co-benefits and promote synergies between the sub-programmes 
referred to in Article 4 shall be given priority; 

projects with the highest potential of being replicated and taken-up by the public or 
private  sector  or  of  mobilising  the  largest  investments  or  financial  resources 
(catalytic potential) shall be given priority; 

the replicability of standard action project results shall be ensured;  

projects  that  build  on  or  upscale  the  results  of  other  projects  funded  by  the 
Programme,  its  predecessor  programmes  or  with  other  Union  funds  shall  benefit 
from a bonus in their evaluation; 

where  appropriate,  special  regard  shall  be  given  to  projects  in  geographical  areas 
with  specific  needs  or  vulnerabilities,  such  as  areas  with  specific  environmental 
challenges or natural constraints, trans-border areas or outermost regions. 

Article 14 
Eligible costs related to purchase of land 

In addition to the criteria set out in Article [186] of the Financial Regulation, costs relating to 
the  purchase  of  land  shall  be  considered  eligible  provided  that  the  following  conditions  are 
fulfilled: 

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(a) 
(a) 

(b) 

(c) 

(d) 

1. 

the purchase will contribute to improving, maintaining and restoring the integrity of 
the  Natura  2000  network  set  up  pursuant  to  Article  3  of  Directive  92/43/EEC, 
including  through  improving  connectivity  by  the  creation  of  corridors,  stepping 
stones, or other elements of green infrastructure; 

land  purchase  is  the  only  or  most  cost-effective  way  of  achieving  the  desired 
conservation outcome; 

the land purchased is reserved in the long term for uses consistent with the specific 
objectives of the Programme; 

the Member State concerned ensures, by way of transfer or otherwise, the long-term 
assignment of such land to nature conservation purposes. 

Article 15 
Cumulative, complementary and combined funding 

An action that has received a contribution from another Union programme may also 
receive a contribution under the Programme, provided that the contributions do not 
cover the same costs. The rules of each contributing Union programme shall apply to 
its respective contribution to the action.  The cumulative funding shall not exceed the 
total  eligible  costs  of  the  action  and  the  support  from  the  different  Union 
programmes may be calculated on a pro-rata basis in accordance with the documents 
setting out the conditions for support. 

2. 

Actions  awarded  a  Seal  of  Excellence  certification,  or  which  comply  with  the 
following cumulative, comparative conditions:  

(a) 

(b) 

(c) 

they have been assessed in a call for proposals under the Programme;  

they comply with the minimum quality requirements of that call for proposals;  

they  may  not  be  financed  under  that  call  for  proposals  due  to  budgetary 
constraints.  

may  receive  support  from  the  European  Regional  Development  Fund,  the  Cohesion 
Fund,  the  European  Social  Fund+  or  the  European  Agricultural  Fund  for  Rural 
Development, in accordance with paragraph 5 of Article [67] of Regulation (EU) XX 
[Common Provisions Regulation] and Article [8] or Regulation (EU) XX [Financing, 
management and monitoring of the Common Agricultural Policy], provided that such 
actions are consistent with the objectives of the programme concerned.  The rules of 
the Fund providing support shall apply.   

CHAPTER III 
BLENDING OPERATIONS 

Article 16 
Blending operations 

Blending  operations  under  this  Programme  shall  be  implemented  in  accordance  with  the 
[InvestEU Regulation] and Title X of the Financial Regulation. 

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1. 

2. 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

CHAPTER IV 
PROGRAMMING, MONITORING, REPORTING AND EVALUATION 

Article 17 
Work programme 

The Programme shall be implemented by at least two multiannual work programmes 
referred  to  in  Article  110  of  the  Financial  Regulation.  Work  programmes  shall  set 
out, where applicable, the overall amount reserved for blending operations. 

Each multiannual work programme shall specify, in line with the objectives set out in 
Article 3, the following: 

(a) 

(b) 

(c) 

the allocation of funds within each sub-programme between needs thereunder 
and between different types of funding; 

the project topics or specific needs for which there is pre-allocation of funding 
for the projects referred to in points (c) and (d) of Article 10(2); 

the target plans for which funding may be requested for projects as referred to 
in point (b) of Article 10(2); 

(d) 

the maximum eligibility period for the implementation of the project. 

Article 18 
Monitoring and reporting 

Indicators  to  report  on  progress  of  the  Programme  towards  the  achievement  of  the 
objectives set out in Article 3 are set in Annex II. 

To  ensure  effective  assessment  of  progress  of  the  Programme  towards  the 
achievement of its objectives, the Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts 
in  accordance  with  Article  21  to  amend  Annex  II  to  review  or  complement  the 
indicators  where  considered  necessary  and  to  supplement  this  Regulation  with 
provisions on the establishment of a monitoring and evaluation framework.  

The performance reporting system shall ensure that data for monitoring programme 
implementation  and  results  are  collected  efficiently,  effectively,  and  in  a  timely 
manner.  To  that  end,  proportionate  reporting  requirements  shall  be  imposed  on 
recipients of Union funds to enable the collection of aggregable project-level output 
and  impact  indicators,  for  all  relevant  specific  environment  and  climate  policy 
objectives,  including  in  relation  to  Natura  2000  and  the  emissions  of  certain 
atmospheric air pollutants, including CO2.  

The Commission shall regularly monitor and report on mainstreaming of climate and 
biodiversity objectives, including the amount of expenditure. The contribution of this 
Regulation to the budget-wide target of 25% of expenditure contributing to climate 
objectives  shall  be tracked through the Union  climate  marker system.  Biodiversity-
related  spending  shall  be  tracked  using  a  specific  set  of  markers.  Those  tracking 
methods  shall  be  used  to  quantify  the  commitment  appropriations  expected  to 
contribute respectively to climate and to biodiversity objectives over the Multiannual 
Financial Framework for 2021-2027 at the appropriate level of disaggregation. The 
spending  shall  be  presented  annually  in  the  budget  Programme  Statement.  The 
contribution of the Programme to Union climate and biodiversity objectives shall be 
reported regularly in the context of evaluations and the annual report. 

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5. 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

1. 

2. 

1. 

2. 

3. 

The  Commission  shall  assess  synergies  between  the  Programme  and  other 
complementary Union programmes and between its sub-programmes. 

Article 19 
Evaluation 

Evaluations shall be carried out in a timely manner to feed into the decision-making 
process. 

The interim evaluation of the Programme shall be performed once there is sufficient 
information available about the implementation of the Programme, but no later than 
four years after the start of the Programme implementation. 

At the end of the implementation of the Programme, but no later than four years after 
the end of the period specified in the second paragraph of Article 1, a final evaluation 
of the Programme shall be carried out by the Commission. 

The Commission shall communicate the conclusions of the evaluations accompanied 
by its observations, to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic 
and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. 

CHAPTER V 
TRANSITIONAL AND FINAL PROVISIONS 

Article 20 
Information, communication and publicity 

The  recipients  of  Union  funding  shall  acknowledge  the  origin  and  ensure  the 
visibility of the Union funding (in particular when promoting the projects and their 
results),  by  providing  coherent,  effective  and  proportionate  targeted  information  to 
multiple audiences, including the media and the public. 

The Commission shall implement information and communication actions relating to 
the  Programme,  and  its  actions  and  results.  Financial  resources  allocated  to  the 
Programme  shall  also  contribute  to  the  corporate  communication  of  the  political 
priorities  of  the  Union,  as  far  as  they  are  related  to  the  objectives  referred  to  in 
Article 3. 

Article 21 
Exercise of the delegation 

The  power  to  adopt  delegated  acts  is  conferred  on  the  Commission  subject  to  the 
conditions laid down in this Article. 

The power to adopt delegated acts referred to in Article 18(2) shall be conferred on 
the Commission until 31 December 2028. 

The delegation of power referred to in Article 18(2) may be revoked at any time by 
the European Parliament or by the Council. A decision to revoke shall put an end to 
the  delegation  of  the  power  specified  in  that  decision.  It  shall  take  effect  the  day 
following  the  publication  of  the  decision  in  the Official  Journal  of  the  European 
Union or  at  a  later  date  specified  therein.  It  shall  not  affect  the  validity  of  any 
delegated acts already in force. 

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4. 

5. 

6. 

Before adopting a delegated act, the Commission shall consult experts designated by 
the 
in  accordance  with 
each  Member  State 
Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making. 

the  principles 

laid  down 

in 

As soon as it adopts a delegated act, the Commission shall notify it simultaneously to 
the European Parliament and to the Council. 

A  delegated  act  adopted  pursuant  to  Article  18(2)  shall  enter  into  force  only  if  no 
objection  has  been  expressed  either  by  the  European  Parliament  or  the  Council 
within a period of two months of notification of that act to the European Parliament 
and the Council or if, before the expiry of that period, the European Parliament and 
the  Council  have  both  informed  the  Commission  that  they  will  not  object.  That 
period shall be extended by two months at the initiative of the European Parliament 
or of the Council. 

Regulation (EU) No 1293/2013 is repealed with effect from 1 January 2021. 

Article 22 
Repeal  

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

39 

40 

Article 23 
Transitional provisions  

This  Regulation  shall  not  affect  the  continuation  or  modification  of  the  actions 
concerned, until their closure, under Regulation (EC) No 614/2007 of the European 
Parliament  and  of  the  Council39  and  under  Regulation  (EU)  No  1293/2013,  which 
shall continue to apply to the projects concerned until their closure. 

The  financial  envelope  for  the  Programme  may  also  cover  technical  and 
administrative  assistance  expenses  necessary  to  ensure  the  transition  between  the 
Programme  and  the  measures  adopted  under  Regulations  (EC)  No  614/2007  and 
(EU) No 1293/2013.  

If necessary, appropriations may be entered in the budget beyond 31 December 2027 
to  cover  the  expenses  provided  for  in  Article  5(4),  to  enable  the  management  of 
projects not completed by that date. 

instruments  established  under  Regulation  (EU)  No 
Reflows  from  financial 
1293/2013 may be invested in the financial instruments established under [InvestEU 
Fund]. 

The appropriations corresponding to assigned revenue arising from the repayment of 
amounts wrongly paid pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 614/2007 or Regulation (EC) 
No  1293/2013  shall  be  used,  in  accordance  with  Article  21  of  Regulation  (EU, 
Euratom) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council40, to finance 
the Programme. 

Regulation  (EC)  No  614/2007  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  23  May  2007 
concerning the Financial Instrument for the Environment (LIFE+) (OJ L 149, 9.6.2007, p. 1). 
Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 
2012  on  the  financial  rules  applicable  to  the  general  budget  of  the  Union  and  repealing  Council 
Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 (OJ L 298, 26.10.2012, p. 1). 

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Article 24 
Entry into force 

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in 
the Official Journal of the European Union. 

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.  

Done at Brussels, 

For the European Parliament 
The President 

For the Council 
The President 

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LEGISLATIVE FINANCIAL STATEMENT 

1. 

FRAMEWORK OF THE PROPOSAL/INITIATIVE  

1.1. 

Title of the proposal/initiative  

Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the establishment 
of  a  Programme  for  the  Environment  and  Climate  Action  (LIFE)  and  repealing  Regulation 
(EU) No 1293/2013  

1.2. 

Policy area(s) concerned (Programme cluster) 

III. Natural resources and the Environment 

1.3. 

The proposal/initiative relates to:  

 a new action  
 a new action following a pilot project/preparatory action41  

 the extension of an existing action  

 a merger or redirection of one or more actions towards another/a new action  

1.4. 

Grounds for the proposal/initiative  

1.4.1.  Requirement(s) to be met in the short or long term including a detailed timeline for 

roll-out of the implementation of the initiative 

The Regulation is expected to enter into force on 1 January 2021. 

Its implementation will be preceeded by  

-  some  preparatory  activities  undertaken  in  the  framework  of  the  current  programme, 
particularly  needed  for  the  early  start  of  the  implementation  of  the  Nature  and  Biodiversity 
subprogramme; 

- the adoption of the Multiannual Work Programme which will define the allocation of funds 
within each sub-programme between different types of funding, the project topics or specific 
needs  for  which  a  pre-allocation  of  funding  is  required,  the  types  of  target  plans  for  which 
funding  may  be  requested  for  strategic  integrated  projects,  as  well  the  maximum  eligibility 
period for the projects implementation. 

1.4.2.  Added  value  of  Union  involvement  (it  may  result  from  different  factors,  e.g. 
coordination gains, legal certainty, greater effectiveness or complementarities). For 
the purposes of this point 'added value of Union involvement' is the value resulting 
from  Union  intervention  which  is  additional  to  the  value  that  would  have  been 
otherwise created by Member States alone. 

Reasons for action at European level (ex-ante)  

The  programme's  value  added  stems  from  its  catalytic  role  in  supporting  the  Union's 
environmental  and  climate  policy  development,  as  well  as  to  activities  enhancing  the 
realisation  of  Union's  environmental  and  climate  objectives,  including  the  relevant  clean 
energy transition across the Union.  

41 

As referred to in Article 58(2)(a) or (b) of the Financial Regulation. 

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By their very nature, environmental problems, including climate change, transcend political, 
legal  and  man-made  boundaries  and  cannot  be  adequately  solved  by  Member  States  alone. 
Union  intervention  in  the  form  of  a  dedicated  instrument  for  environment  and  climate, 
including  energy  efficiency  and  renewable  energy,  is  required  to  efficiently  address  such 
problems,  avoid  coordination  failures,  and  facilitate  coordinated  environment  and  climate 
mainstreaming across the Union budget with targeted actions. 

More  effective  implementation  is  achieved  because  LIFE  contributes  to  the  development, 
implementation  and  enforcement  of  Union's  environmental  and  climate  action  policies  and 
legislation,  ensuring  Union  level  coordination,  and  providing  a  Union-level  platform  for 
sharing best practice and for the demonstration of more efficient solutions, including for clean 
energy transition, to be replicated at a wider scale in the Union. 

LIFE  allows  improved  sharing  of  responsibility  while  also  promoting  solidarity  for  the 
management/conservation  of  Union's  environmental  assets,  which  are  usually  public  goods 
and which are not distributed evenly across the Union. Their associated costs and benefits are 
not  normally  reflected  in  the  market  and,  as  a  consequence,  there  is  the  need  to  ensure  a 
sharing of associated burden for the correct functioning of the single market.  

LIFE  focusses  on  relatively  small-  scale  projects  providing  one-off  investment  needed  in  a 
specific  area,  eliminating  initial  barriers  and  testing  new  approaches  which  in  turn  catalyse 
broader actions and mainstreaming of environmental and climate policy into the major Union 
spending instruments.  

Through  strategic  integrated  projects  and  strategic  nature  projects,  the  Programme  creates 
synergies  across  Union  and  national  funds  facilitating  implementation  of  the  Union's 
legislation.  

Furthermore,  LIFE  finances  those  actions  and  measures  that  which  would  otherwise  be 
inadequately  financed  by  Member  States  alone.  Certain  pieces  of  Union  environmental 
legislation,  such  as  the  Habitats  Directive  and  the  National  Emission  Ceilings  (NEC) 
Directive, specifically acknowledge the need for Union finance to meet their objectives. 

The  expected  generated  Union  added  value  (ex-post)  is  linked  to  its  catalytic  effect  and 
therefore, to the impact of  

- new/modified legislation and policies agreed and implemented at international (e.g. the Paris 
Agreement) and Union level,  

- implementation of new innovative techniques, approaches and best practice, and 

-application of successful technical and policy-related solutions for integrating environmental, 
climate  action  and  clean  energy  objectives  into  other  policies  and  into  public  and  private 
sector practices. 

1.4.3.  Lessons learned from similar experiences in the past 

The  final  evaluation  of  the  LIFE+  Programme  (2007-2013)  concludes  that  the  programme 
was  successful  in  promoting  the  implementation  of  the  Union's  environmental  policy  and 
legislation  with  significant  Union  added  value.  However,  it  also  identified  a  number  of 
shortcomings. The vast majority of these were addressed by introducing changes to the design 
of the current LIFE Programme (2014-2020). 

The  effectiveness  of  these  changes was  explored  in  the recent  mid-term  evaluation  of  LIFE 
(MTE).  While  the  evaluation  was  undertaken  at  an  early  stage  of  the  programme 
implementation,  when  only  the  2014  and  2015  projects  had  started,  it  confirmed  that  the 
programme is on track to be effective, efficient and relevant and it is providing a contribution 

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to the Europe 2020 strategy. Furthermore, the vast majority of stakeholders who participated 
in  the  public  consultation  see  LIFE  as  being  a  very  important  instrument  for  addressing 
environmental and climate priorities.  

The lessons learned from the MTE and, where relevant, recommendations from other reviews 
of  the  LIFE  programme,  are  summarised  below.  They  concern  three  aspects:  programme 
relevance,  coherence  and  coverage;  effectiveness  and  catalytic  effect;  and  efficiency  and 
simplification.  Some  of  the  conclusions  have  already  been  taken  into  account  in  the 
programme implementation of the current programme. 

1. Relevance, coherence and coverage 

• 
The  LIFE  programme  and  its  general  objectives  are  relevant  and  are  targeting  the 
Union's  existing  environmental  and  climate  policy  priorities.  Also,  the  six  Priority  Areas 
defined in the existing LIFE Regulation are responding to the needs. 

• 
Around  13%  of  the  LIFE  projects  impact  more  than  one  thematic  area  .  These 
'overlaps'  are  synergetic:  taking  into  account  the  interdependence  of  natural  resources, 
multipurpose  projects  are  more  effective.  Their  combined  impact  is  rewarded  with  bonus 
points during the evaluation.  

• 
The  small  budget,  the  breadth  of  policy  objectives  targeted  and  the  new  challenges 
imply that not all areas could be addressed adequately by the end of the programming period. 
A critical mass to  trigger  a change on all  environmental  and climate issues  would require a 
substantial increase of the budget.  

Reducing  the  thematic  scope  of  the  programme  would,  however,  have  critical 
• 
consequences  in  addressing  one  or  more  of  the  programme’s  priorities  (e.g.  resources 
efficiency,  the  quality  of  water  and  air,  greenhouse  gas  emissions  reduction,  nature  and 
biodiversity including marine conservation, etc.).  

• 
Overlaps  between  the  grants  financed  by  LIFE  and  other  Union  programmes  (e.g. 
demonstration projects under Horizon 2020) are synergistic, as the programmes have distinct 
goals  and  activities  that  are  inter-related,  while  being  different  in  size  and  nature.  In  some 
areas  (i.e.  nature  and  biodiversity  including  marine  ecosystems)  the  programme  plays  a 
unique and essential role. Synergies and complementarities were observed in particular with 
research,  cohesion  and  rural  development  programmes.  Still,  the  systematic  development  of 
synergy mechanisms could offer space for improvement. 

2. Effectiveness and catalytic effect  

• 
In  general,  the  various  types  of  grants  (standard  action  projects,  integrated  projects, 
technical assistance for integrated projects, preparatory projects and NGO support) appear to 
be effective delivery mechanisms. 

• 
The  integrated  projects,  which  coordinate  the  implementation  of  actions  on  a  large 
territorial  scale,  have  shown  a  significant  potential  to  enhance  the  catalytic  effect  of  LIFE. 
LIFE financing of EUR 251.7 million to integrated projects under the present programme in 
the period 2014-2016 is expected to trigger investments on environmental and climate action 
of  about  EUR  5.7  billion  in  total.    Thus  for  each  LIFE  euro  spent,  a  further  22  euros  from 
other  sources  is  projected  to  be  used  in  a  coordinated  way  for  environment  and  climate 
objectives. 

• 
The  pilot  financial  instrument,  Private  Finance  for  Energy  Efficiency  instrument 
(PF4EE)  is  aimed  at  building  up  the  capacity  of  financial  institutions  to  develop  and  test 
specific loan products targeting private sector’s investments in energy efficiency measures. It 
has  shown  a  good  uptake  and  possibility,  after  the  pilot  phase,  to  enable  up-scaling  and 

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29 

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mainstreaming  of  the  piloted  energy  efficiency  loans  via  relevant  financial  instruments 
mobilised by Union programmes, in particular under the future InvestEU Fund.  

The Committee of the Regions has called on the LIFE programme to achieve greater 

• 
complementarity between PF4EE and other relevant financial instruments . 

The  pilot  financial  instrument  Natural  Capital  Financing  Facility  (NCFF)  provides 
• 
loans,  equity  and  guarantees  to  nature  and  climate  adaptation  measures  that  can  generate 
revenues or save costs. It is intended to establish a pipeline of replicable, bankable operations 
that will serve as a "proof of concept" to demonstrate to potential investors the attractiveness 
of  operations  directly  addressing  biodiversity  and  climate  adaptation  objectives.  It  has 
registered  a  slow  uptake  because  of  the  need  to  adapt  banking  practices  for  assessing  the 
returns  of  such  investments  combined  with  the  need  to  improve  the  quality  of  the  project 
applications.  Several  adjustments  have  been  made  as  a  follow  up  of  the  LIFE  mid-term 
evaluation  to  increase  the  visibility  of  the  instrument  and  to  operationalise  the  technical 
assistance facility. The project pipeline has improved as a result. One of the recommendations 
still to be addressed is to complement this financial support with targeted grants (blending). 

• 
Public  procurement  contracts  are  considered  a  valuable  delivery  mechanism  for 
providing  targeted  support  for  the  preparation  of  environmental  and  climate  legislation  and 
policies and their implementation/enforcement. They have an important catalytic effect. 

3. Efficiency and simplification 

• 
The  delegation  of  management  from  the  Commission  to  the  Executive  Agency  for 
Small  and  Medium-sized  Enterprises  (EASME)  delivered  cost  savings  and  improved  the 
efficiency of the programme, because it introduced economies of scale for implementing the 
large number of homogenous and standardised operations needed to manage grants.  

• 
LIFE is relatively efficient compared to other Union programmes. It costs, in relative 
terms,  significantly  less  to  manage  LIFE  than  other  similar  programmes  (e.g.  COSME  and 
Horizon  2020  ).  The  management  practices  characterised  by  the  use  of  external  support  for 
project monitoring resulted in an extremely high project success rate and a very low error rate 
(0.25% in 2017 - the lowest across all the Union programmes). 

What more could be done: 

• 
More targeted steering of projects towards key priorities could enhance the focus and 
performance, in particular for the Environment sub-programme, where thematic priorities are 
presently  defined  in  the  Regulation  for  a  period  of  seven  years.  New  priorities  emerging 
during  the  seven  year  programming  period  (such  as  the  Circular  Economy  and  the  related 
sectors  ,  for  example  plastics),  or  other  priorities  which  are  not  adequately  targeted  by 
projects (selected following a calls for proposals on the basis of a bottom-up approach) may 
not be addressed by a sufficient number of interventions. 

• 
Beneficiaries find administrative burden too high. Thus there is a need to simplify the 
Regulation  and  the  application  and  reporting  process.  Some  simplification  measures  have 
already been introduced and others are being tested. 

• 
There  is  a  low  participation  of  beneficiaries  from  some  Member  States  which  risks 
weakening the catalytic effect of the programme. The use of national allocations has proven 
not  to  be  effective  in  targeting  this  problem:  it  resulted  in  a  reduced  participation  from  the 
countries  which  participated  more  without  improving  the  participation  of  the  others.  It  has 
been discontinued since 2018. Although the capacity building grants introduced in 2014 are 
on-going  and  it  is  too  early  to  reach  any  conclusion,  the  results  seem  mixed.  New  ways  of 
mitigating an uneven participation should be sought. 

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• 
The greater the replication of project results, the greater the catalytic effect of LIFE. A 
2016  report  states  that,  although  about  three  quarters  of  projects  have  good  potential  for 
replication,  there  is  space  for  improvement  in  actual  replication.  The  beneficiaries  mention 
that  the  main  barriers  are  a  lack  of:  financial  means,  decision  makers’  interest  and sense  of 
urgency,  specific  information  and  communication  of  transferable  solutions,  and  investment-
planning capacity. 

1.4.4.  Compatibility and possible synergy with other appropriate instruments 

The LIFE programme is the only Union fund entirely dedicated to environmental and climate 
objectives,  including  the  transition  to  clean  energy.  It  targets  a  niche  between  Union 
programmes  supporting  research  and  innovation  on  the  one  hand  and  Union  programmes 
financing 
the  other  hand  (see  Figure  1 
 below).  

large-scale  deployment  of  measures  on 

As Figure 1 illustrates, the first stage,  "research/innovation", involves primary research that 
enhances  scientific  knowledge  and  technical  demonstration  to  prove  the  viability  of 
innovations.  LIFE  does  not  cover  this  area  apart  from  small-scale  research  activities  that 
support  other  objectives  in  projects.  The  second  stage,  "demonstration/best  practice" 
including  testing,  demonstrating  and  piloting  the  effectiveness  of  new  technologies, 
approaches or  policies  as  methods  for  policy implementation.  LIFE  mainly  finances  actions 
that come under this stage, particularly under the standard 'traditional' action projects. LIFE 
also 
"facilitating 
exploitation/upscaling/awareness",  for  instance  through  strategic  integrated  projects  and 
activities supporting transition to clean energy. Under this stage, projects prepare the ground 
for the large-scale deployment of appropriate technologies and approaches. The fourth stage, 
"large-scale  funding  of  green  solutions",  covers  where  a  technology,  approach  or  policy  is 
credible, but access to funding constitutes the main barrier. LIFE is not providing finance for 
large-scale implementation. 

finances 

entitled 

actions 

stage, 

third 

the 

in 

While LIFE activities tackle certain problems directly on the ground, the programme's main 
impact  is  indirect  through  its  catalytic  role:  the  support  for  small  scale  actions  intended  to 
initiate,  expand  or  accelerate  sustainable  production,  distribution  and  consumption  practices 
by: 

Facilitating the development and exchange of best practice and knowledge; 

Building up the capacities and speeding up the implementation of  environmental  and 

climate legislation and policies; 

Helping stakeholders to test small-scale technologies and solutions; and 

Mobilising funding from other sources. 

Figure 1. The coverage of LIFE and other major EC programmes and funds 

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Source: European Commission 

The impact assessment confirms the conclusions from the LIFE mid-term evaluation that the 
overlaps  related  to  the  financing  stages  related  to  implementation  and  development  of 
environment and climate policy (see the figure 1 above) are synergetic.  

Synergies  will  be  developed  in  particular  with  the  [InvestEU  Fund],  notably  its  sustainable 
infrastructure  window,  [Horizon  Europe,  the  European  Regional  Development  Fund,  the 
Cohesion  Fund,  the  European  Social  Fund+,  the  European  Agricultural  Fund  for  Rural 
Development and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund].  

LIFE is designed to support demonstrating techniques, approaches and best practice that can 
be replicated and upscaled in larger programmes. LIFE strategic integrated projects mobilise 
other  European,  national,  regional  and  private  funds  for  the  implementation  of  key 
environmental and climate plans (e.g. river basin management plans, clean air plans, etc.). For 
Nature  and  Biodiversity  in  particular,  strategic  nature  projects  will  implement  coherent 
programmes of action to mainstream Union's nature and biodiversity objectives and priorities 
into other policies and financing instruments, including through coordinated implementation 
of the priority action frameworks established pursuant to Directive 92/43/EEC. These projects 
will  aim  to  coordinate  the  available  resources  for  supporting  nature  and  biodiversity 
objectives, thus improving mainstreaming. 

The impact assessment also explored two specific options related to the Programme’s scope 
with the intention to better develop potential synergies, addressing gaps and overlaps: 

On one hand  considering the similar objective and stage targeted by the LIFE Climate  sub-
programme,  the  integration  of  clean  energy  transition  support  actions  will  strengthen  the 
overall  programme  coherence  and  synergies  in  the  implementation  of  the  Union's 
environmental, climate and clean energy policies. 

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On the other hand, the continuation of the financing of the BEST scheme42  under the Nature 
and  Biodiversity  sub-programme  for  LIFE  will  address  a  gap  related  to  the  financing  for 
biodiversity  in  the  Outermost  Regions  (ORs)  and  in  the  Overseas  Countries  and  Territories 
(OCTs) and will allow the further development of the synergies already started under BEST. 

1.5. 

Duration and financial impact  

 limited duration  

 in effect from 01/01/2021 to 31/12/2027 

 Financial  impact  from  2021  to  2027  for  commitment  appropriations  and  from 

2021 to 2036 for payment appropriations.  

 unlimited duration 

Implementation with a start-up period from YYYY to YYYY, 

followed by full-scale operation. 
1.6.  Management mode(s) planned43  

 Direct management by the Commission 

 by its departments, including by its staff in the Union delegations;  

 by the executive agencies  

 Shared management with the Member States  

 Indirect management by entrusting budget implementation tasks to: 

 third countries or the bodies they have designated; 

 international organisations and their agencies (to be specified); 

 the EIB and the European Investment Fund; 

 bodies referred to in Articles 70 and 71 of the Financial Regulation; 

 public law bodies; 

  bodies  governed  by  private  law  with  a  public  service  mission  to  the  extent  that 

they provide adequate financial guarantees; 

 bodies governed by the private law of a Member State that are entrusted with the 
implementation of a public-private partnership and that provide adequate financial 
guarantees; 

  persons  entrusted  with  the  implementation  of  specific  actions  in  the  CFSP 

pursuant to Title V of the TFEU, and identified in the relevant basic act. 

If more than one management mode is indicated, please provide details in the ‘Comments’ section. 

Comments: 

42 

43 

In  the  absence  of  a  specific  legal  basis,  the  financing  of  this  scheme  is  decided  each  year  by  the 
Budgetary  Authority:  in  2018  a  preparatory  action  has  been  financed.  According  to  the  Financial 
Regulation, a preparatory action is designed to prepare a proposal for the adoption of future actions and 
cannot be renewed for more than 3 consecutive years. There is therefore the need to provide a financing 
framework for the continuation of BEST after 2020. 
Details of management modes and references to the Financial Regulation may be found on the 
BudgWeb site: 
https://myintracomm.ec.europa.eu/budgweb/EN/man/budgmanag/Pages/budgmanag.aspx  

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The implementation of the Programme might be delegated to an executive agency, subject to 
the outcome of a cost-benefit analysis and related decisions to be taken. 

Indirect  management  could  be  used  on  an  ad  hoc  basis  and  for  a  limited  portion  of  the 
financial  envelope  of  the  programme,  by  entrusting  budget  implementation  tasks  to 
international organisations, the European Investment Bank or the European Investment Fund 
or other organisations. This will depend from the nature of the tasks in question. 

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2. 

MANAGEMENT MEASURES  

2.1.  Monitoring and reporting rules  

Specify frequency and conditions. 

The  mid-term  evaluation  considered  current  monitoring  and  evaluation  largely 
effective and efficient.  

In  terms  of  utilisation  of  funds  in  the  projects,  the  results  of  ex-post  controls  on 
LIFE+  and  on-site  monitoring  of  LIFE  projects  show  that  an  extremely  high 
percentage of projects produce good results and the ‘error rate’ of the programme— 
namely  the  amount  that  is  considered  at  risk  —  is  well  below  the  materiality 
benchmark  threshold of 2 % and is declining: it was EUR 2.27 for every EUR 100 
spent in 2012, falling to EUR 1.24 in 2015 and even further to 0.44 EUR in 2016 and 
0,25 in 2017 - the lowest across all the Union programmes.  

The  monitoring  of  the  programme  is  based  on  the  lessons  learned  from  previous 
programmes and is carried out: 

1. at project level and  

2. at programme level.  

1. All proposals need to indicate their expected results expressed in terms of outcome 
at  project  level.  These  outcomes  are  defined  according  to  a  set  of  predefined  key 
performance  indicators.  For  the  projects,  these  indictors  are  validated  by  the 
monitoring  team  and  by  the  project  officer  and  represent  the  basis  for  monitoring 
project progress. They shall be regularly up-dated and expected values are compared 
with real values in the mid-term and final reports. 

For  environment,  nature  and  biodiversity  and  climate  action  projects,  monitoring 
visits are foreseen at least once a  year and each project is visited by staff  from the 
Commission  at  least  once.  Feedback  is  provided  to  the  beneficiary  in  order  to 
improve performance. A monitoring file is created at the start of each project in the 
form of a short report including the project description, and summarising actions and 
expected  outputs  and  results.  The  yearly  visits  by  the  monitoring  team  provide  an 
overview  of  the  project  implementation  and  an  early  detection  of  problems,  which 
are promptly adressed. This contributes to the high success rate of the projects and to 
the low error rate of the programme. 

Together with the Final Report, each project is required to submit an after-LIFE plan 
including  inter  alia  a  list  of  expected  impacts  that  serve  as  a  basis  to  assess  the 
sustainability of the project results. Current practice of ex-post monitoring visits for 
selected projects will continue. This will provide information on the replicability of 
the projects after one year and will contribute to assessing the catalytic effect of the 
programme. 

2. At programme level, the multiannual work programmes set out specific thematic 
priorities  for  their  duration  and  specific  targets,  including  expected  outputs  (i.e., 
expected number of Strategic Integrated Projects, coverage of Natura 2000 by LIFE 
projects,  coverage  of  River  Basin  District  by  LIFE  projects).  At  the  end  of  each 
year's  call  for  proposals,  the  Commission  analyses  whether  a  sufficient  number  of 
projects  for  a  given  area  of  action  have  been  funded  and  will  make  adjustments  as 
required to achieve the mid-term targets. 

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The main achievements for particular priorities are presented during cluster meetings 
and  summarised  in  thematic  reports.  They  are  one  of  the  tools  used  to  disseminate 
results and feed policy development and implementation.  

It is particularly difficult to assess the catalytic impact of the Programme, taking into 
account the wide range of initiatives financed and the fact that the projects' catalytic 
effect  is  expected  mainly  to  occur  in  the  long  term,  after  the  projects  have  ended. 
Thus it is necessary to strike a balance between the need to get detailed and relevant 
data on the one hand and the associated costs and the administrative burden pending 
for the beneficiary, on the other hand.  

To this end, the following sources of information will be used in combination with 
the data collected at project level: 

a sample of the results of projects will be assessed on the basis of sources and 
1. 
tools independent from the project itself (e.g. regional data on the quality of the air  
or  data  from  the  register  of  enterprises).  These  projects  will  be  systematically 
identified; 

the data provided by the beneficiaries of already ended projects on a voluntary 

2. 
basis  checked on sample basis and through ex-post missions; 

data  will  be  systematically  collected  on  the  overall  amount  of  financial 

3.  
resources mobilised and/or coordinated by the projects. 

4. 

enquiries of main actors at national and Union level. 

In this way the burden related to the collection of the data will be further shifted from 
the beneficiaries  to the monitors (monitoring team, external monitors, EASME and 
the Commission). 

A  mid-term  evaluation  and  an  ex-post  evaluation  of  the  Programme  will  be 
implemented  in  2024  and  2027  respectively.  As  defined  in  the  impact  assessment, 
taking into account the average project duration, they will provide an overview of the 
on-going programme, complemented by an analysis of the performance of the LIFE 
programme 2014-2020 and the impact of the LIFE+ Programme.  

In  order  to  provide  evidence  of  the  co-benefits  that  the  programme  can  bring  to 
specific  priorities  such  as  climate  action  and  biodiversity,  and  better  illustrate  the 
level  of  spending  available  throughout  the  programme  for  these  priorities,  the 
monitoring  framework  includes  the  methodology  for  tracking  of  climate  and 
biodiversity-related expenditures as defined in the MFF Communication.  

This  will  allow  identification  each  year  of  the  expenditures  related  to  these  two 
priorities across the LIFE Programme. 

2.2.  Management and control system(s)  

2.2.1. 

Justification of the management mode(s), the funding implementation mechanism(s), 
the payment modalities and the control strategy proposed 

The management mode for the LIFE Programme is central direct management by the 
Commission  which  may  be  partially  delegate  to  an  existing  Executive  Agency. 
Occassionally, for specific ad hoc actions, indirect management may be envisaged.  

The  Commission  will  be  assisted  by  an  Expert  Group  with  Member  States 
representatives. 

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The internal control system is based on the lessons learned from the experience. Its 
main  elements,  which  apply  to  all  financial  transactions  –  grants,  procurement  and 
prizes - are:  

the  financial  circuits  based,  in  particular,  on  an  ex-ante  control  of  each 

– 
transaction and on specific controls on some of them;  

the  controls  carried  out  before  the  award  on  the  financial  and  technical 

– 
capacity of the applicants/tenderers;  

the annual management and performance reports and other reports focused on 

– 
acounting, financial and operational management. 

For  a  predefined  number  of  projects  -  selected  either  on  a  risk  basis  (to  detect  and 
correct  the  errors)  or  on  the  basis  of  a  representative  sampling  (to  provide  the 
Authorising  Officer  with  a  reasonable  assurance  of  the  legality  and  regularity  of 
transactions) – ex-post audits are performed on the spot.  

The  control  strategy  takes  into  account  the  recommendations  deriving  from  the 
evaluations  of  the  programme,  the  reports  issued  by  the  internal  auditor  and  the 
Special Reports of the Court of Auditors  aiming at increasing the effectiveness and 
the European added value of the programme. 

2.2.2. 

Information concerning the risks identified and the internal control system(s) set up 
to mitigate them 

The internal control system is largely based on the experience acquired during the 25 
years of the management of the LIFE programme. 

Beneficiaries of the projects are a wide range of different organisations: from small 
to  large  enterprises  (enterprises  receive  44%  of  the  total,  out  of  which  33%  are 
SMEs), to private non-commercial organisations (24%), to public bodies (32%). 

Proposals  are  selected  according  to  the  beneficiaries  professional  credentials  and 
financial stability and other criteria imposed by the legal basis. 

During  the  selection  process  the  early  warning  system  is  used  to  identify  possible 
risks related to potential beneficiaries of centrally managed grants. The risk of double 
funding  is  analysed  during  the  selection  of  projects  and  systematic  exchanges  of 
information are carried out with other services. 

Training  sessions,  on  the  different  phases  of  the  project  management  cycle,  are 
organised on the premises, for the project managers, to address specific management 
and  financials  needs.  Direct  contacts  with  project  and  financial  officers  at  the 
Commission and the Agency are promoted to solve particular queries. 

The grant agreement main requirements are duly explained to the beneficiaries in on- 
the-spot  visits  and  coordination  meetings.  In  particular,  the  organisation  of 
monitoring  missions  at  the  start  up  of  the  projects,  directed  to  detect  potential 
problems at a very early stage, particularly at the level of the control systems put in 
place by the beneficiaries, and correct them has demonstrated to be a valuable tool to 
reduce the cases of non compliance. 

Information sessions are organised for the ex-post auditors on the characteristics of 
fraud that could be detected during an audit on-the-spot of financial statements. For 
additional information on the anti-fraud strategy see point 2.3 below. 

EN 

37 

  EN 

The  risks  identified  for  the  programme's  implementation  mainly  fall  into  the 
following categories: 

Risk of insufficiently/ ineffectively targeted use of funds as well as the risk of 

- 
too much division of funds due to larger territorial or thematic scope;  

Errors and inefficiencies derived from complexity of rules for the beneficiaries 

- 
and the Commission (e.g., eligibility of costs, multiple budget lines). 

If  the  Programme  will  be  delegated  to  an  Executive  Agency,  the  following  risks 
exist: 

-  

Loss of input from projects for policy-making and vice versa; 

Coordination failures if the programme is partly delegated (with the Executive 

- 
Agency, with other donors or financial institutions);  

- 
Risk of the absence of a clear definition of the limits of the responsibilities in 
the management and the control of tasks delegated to the agency, if the programme is 
partly delegated. 

Concerning  the  first  two  risks,  they  have  been  partially  addressed  through  specific 
options analysed in the impact assessment, namely  

1. Improving the strategic focus of the programme by simplifying the Regulation and 
the Multiannual Work Programme 

2. Reducing the administrative burden for the applicants/beneficiaries 

3. Streamlining the procedures for the implementation of the Union budget 

The  risks  of  possible  negative  side  effects  of  transferring  management  to  EASME, 
such as the lack of continuity and the loss of input from projects for policy-making 
and vice versa, have been prevented in the past by transferring key human resources 
from  the  Commission  to  EASME  and  by  working  on  a  policy-integration  strategy 
which includes recurrent and one-off activities to ensure that: 

- 

policy needs are reflected in the programme and project implementation; 

relevant outputs  and findings from  projects reach and can be used  by policy-

- 
makers. 

The strategy includes activities such as training for Agency staff on specific policies, 
joint thematic cluster meetings with projects, shared reflection on policy needs in the 
calls  for  proposals,  provision  of  feedback  on  project  outcomes  relevant  for  policy-
making, etc. 

2.2.3.  Estimation and justification of the cost-effectiveness of the controls (ratio of "control 
costs ÷ value of the related funds managed"), and assessment of the expected levels 
of risk of error (at payment & at closure)  

At  present  the  LIFE  programme  2014-2020  is  mainly  delegated  to  an  Executive 
agency.  The  financial  statement  is  based  on  the  assumption  that  the  programme 
2020-2027  will  be  implemented  in-house  by  the  Commission  services.  The  cost 
effiency linked to the externalisation to an Executive Agency will be assessed on the 
basis of a cost benefits analysis. 

Projects: 

EN 

38 

  EN 

Project  selection/evaluation/negotiation:  preventive  controls  of  all  files  if 

-  
appropriate with assistance of external experts; 

Project implementation by way of grants: preventive and detective monitoring, 

-  
on-the-spot visits for each project at least once in their life time; 

Before final payment: detective and corrective controls, desk review of all files 

-  
including widespread use of external audit certificates. 

Every  year, ex-post controls  of grants will be  conducted on the spot. In addition, a 
new type of audits, "desk audits", will be introduced to perform management checks 
without going on the spot. 

The controls under LIFE cannot be separated from the Programme's management: in 
2017 the overall management amounted to EUR 20 million, including all on the spot 
controls. This corresponds to 4% of the total amount managed for 2017. 

The  amount  of  costs  of  control  is  estimated  to  slightly  decrease  due  to  the 
simplifications  envisaged  for  the  management  of  the  Programme  and  the  rules  of 
eligibility of costs: 

• 
Taking into account the experience of the ongoing pilot, consideration should 
be given to further waiving the requirement to submit a complete proposal at the start 
of  the  application  process  by  expanding  the  use  of  a  two-step  award  procedure  for 
standard projects. This has already been applied for integrated projects and is being 
piloted  for  some  traditional  projects.  It  would  reduce  administrative  burden  for 
applicants. 

Adapting reporting requirements in proportion to the length and complexity of 

• 
projects and the value of the grant. 

• 

Simplifying the indicators database, based on project focus. 

Use  of  Simplified  Cost  Options,  payments  based  on  output,  limitation  of 

• 
eligible costs for grants. 

Use  of  cascading  grants  with  limited  reporting,  with  the  involvement  of  the 

• 
monitoring team. 

Simplification  of  the  application  process,  including  rationalised  forms  and 

• 
supporting documents. 

2.3.  Measures to prevent fraud and irregularities  

Specify existing or envisaged prevention and protection measures, e.g. from the Anti-Fraud Strategy. 

Fraud includes internal and external misconduct. It covers notably any infringement 
of the financial interests of the Union as defined by the Convention on the protection 
of the European Communities' financial interests. Intention is the key element which 
distinguishes fraud from irregularity. Fraud can involve reputational risk in addition 
to financial impact.  

In  line  with  OLAF's  Methodology  and  guidance  a  specific  Anti-Fraud  strategy  is 
elaborated  at  DG  level  based  on  fraud  risk  assessments  on  the  main  financial 
Management, and non-financial management activities. 

The fraud assessments were performed in June – August 2015 and will be updated in 
2018 . The fraud assessment took also in consideration the follow up audit of IAS on 
the audit of the anti fraud strategy made by SIAC and Court of auditors reports. The 

EN 

39 

  EN 

overall conclusion of the conducted fraud risk assessments is that the residual risk of 
material undetected fraud is low (probability and impact).  

The  areas  where  the  residual  risk  has  been  assessed  as  low-to-medium  were 
specifically reviewed: 

(1) Procurement: Based on the risk assessment, it is reasonable to conclude that the 
controls  in  place  effectively  reduce  the  main  fraud  risks  in  the  preparation, 
evaluation, award, and implementation phases of the procurement process (i.e. biased 
tender  specifications,  undisclosed  conflict  of  interests,  unfair  evaluation  procedure, 
collusion  between  contractors,  collusion  with  a  contractor  and  insider  trading, 
phantom  contractors,  plagiarism,  double  funding).  The  following  areas  have  been 
identified  with  low-to-medium estimated residual risk:  a) Collusion with contractor 
to accept sub-standard performance; b) Plagiarism / Product substitutions; and with 
estimated medium residual risk c) Double funding. 

To face these low-to-medium and medium residual fraud risks, the regular use of red 
flags checklists (part of the revised AFS) and the use of external databases (e.g. the 
ones  listed  on  OLAF's  AF  website),  together  with  additional  training  sessions 
coordinated with OLAF are being organised. 

(2) Grants: Based on the risk assessment, it is possible to conclude that the controls 
in place effectively reduce the main fraud risks in the evaluation, contracting, and ex-
post  phases  of  the  grants  process  (i.e.  undisclosed  conflict  of  interests,  unfair 
evaluation  procedure,  actions  not  carried  out  according  to  technical  description, 
excessive amounts paid, double funding, and attempted fraud). The following areas 
have  been  identified  with  medium  estimated  residual  risk:  1)  Double  funding;  and 
with low-to-medium estimated residual risk 2) Potential fraud cases not detected. 

These  risks  are  being  further  reduced  by  organizing  additional  training  sessions 
coordinated  with  OLAF  and  the  regular  use  of  red  flags  checklists  (part  of  the 
revised AFS). 

(3)  Administrative  expenditure:  Based  on  the risk  assessment,  the  controls  in  place 
effectively reduce the main fraud risks in the areas of training, publications, internal 
meetings,  and  the  entertainment/representation  cost  elements  of  administrative 
expenditure (i.e. potential fraudulent payment of ineligible costs). 

EN 

40 

  EN 

3. 

3.1. 

Heading of 
multiannual 
financial 
framework 

Heading 3 
- Natural 
Resources 
and the 
Environm
ent 

ESTIMATED FINANCIAL IMPACT OF THE PROPOSAL/INITIATIVE  

Heading  of  the  multiannual  financial  framework  and  new  expenditure  budget 
line(s) proposed  

Budget line 

09 02 
Programme for Environment and 
Climate Action (LIFE) 

Type of  
expenditure 

Diff./Non-
44 
diff.

Contribution  

from 
EFTA 
countries
45 

from 
candidate 
countries 

from third 
countries 

within the 
meaning of 
Article [21(2)(b)] 
of the Financial 
Regulation  

09 02 XX Environment  

Diff. 

YES 

YES 

YES 

09 02 XX XX Nature and biodiversity  

Diff. 

YES 

YES 

YES 

09  02  XX  XX  Circular  economy  and 
quality of life 

Diff. 

YES 

YES 

YES 

09  02  XX  Climate  mitigation  and 
adaptation 

Diff. 

YES 

YES 

YES 

09 02 XX Clean energy transition  

Diff. 

YES 

YES 

YES 

NO 

NO 

NO 

NO 

NO 

01  XX  XX  Environment 

- 
administrative 

on 

09 
expenditures 
management 

09  01  XX  XX  Climate  mitigation  and 
on 
adaptation 
administrative management 

expenditures 

- 

Non diff. 

YES 

YES 

YES 

NO 

Non diff. 

YES 

YES 

YES 

NO 

09  01  XX  XX  Clean  energy  transition  - 
expenditures 
administrative 
on 
management 

Non diff. 

YES 

YES 

YES 

NO 

The proposed budget lines reflect the fields of actions indicated in the Commission proposals 
for  a  new  Multiannual  Financial  Framework  (MFF)  for  2021-2027  (COM(2018)321  final) 
adopted  on  the  2nd  of  May  2018  and  correspond  to  the  structure  of  the  Programme,  as 
included in the Draft Regulation. 

The budget nomenclature as presented in the Legislative Financial Statement may be changed 
and is still subject to further decisions to be taken. 

44 
45 

Diff. = Differentiated appropriations / Non-diff. = Non-differentiated appropriations. 
EFTA: European Free Trade Association.  

EN 

41 

  EN 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
3.2. 

3.2.1. 

Estimated impact on expenditure  
Summary of estimated impact on expenditure 46 

Heading of multiannual financial  
framework  

3 

Natural Resources and the Environment 

EUR million (to three decimal places) 

09 02 XX XX Nature and biodiversity 

09  02  XX  XX  Circular  economy  and 
quality of life 

09  02  XX  Climate  mitigation  and 
adaptation 

09 02 XX Clean energy transition 

09 01 XX XX Environment - 
expenditures on administrative 
management 47  

2021 

2022 

2023 

2024 

2025 

2026 

2027 

Post 2027 

TOTAL 

Commitments 

(1) 

261,992 

268,057 

277,446 

290,490 

307,658 

329,587 

355,431 

0,000 

2090,660 

Payments 

(2) 

9,268 

102,459 

127,137 

156,468 

191,813 

228,469 

258,373 

1016,672 

2090,660 

Commitments 

(1) 

164,507 

168,315 

174,210 

182,400 

193,180 

206,950 

223,177 

0,000 

1312,740 

Payments 

(2) 

5,820 

64,335 

79,831 

98,248 

120,440 

143,458 

162,234 

638,376 

1312,740 

Commitments 

(1) 

122,203 

124,671 

127,128 

129,937 

132,564 

135,333 

137,190 

0,000 

909,027 

Payments 

(2) 

2,625 

46,522 

57,168 

69,099 

81,848 

93,115 

98,996 

459,653 

909,027 

Commitments 

(1) 

132,117 

134,810 

137,556 

140,357 

143,214 

146,129 

148,317 

0,000 

982,500 

Payments 

Commitments 
= Payments 

(2) 

(3) 

6,247 

52,548 

63,913 

76,317 

89,829 

101,689 

108,113 

483,846 

982,500 

13,500 

13,600 

13,700 

13,800 

13,900 

14,000 

14,100 

0,000 

96,600 

46 
47 

EN 

Totals do not tally due to rounding. 

Appropriations  of  an  administrative  nature  financed  from  the  envelope  of  the  programme.  It  includes  the  amounts  necessary  for  the  management  of  the 
outstanding  commitments (“legacy”) of 2014-2020 programmes currently managed by an executive agency 

42 

EN 

 
 
 
 
                                                 
09 01 XX XX Climate mitigation 
and adaptation - expenditures on 
administrative management  
09 01 XX XX Clean energy 
transition - expenditures on 
administrative management 48 

Environment  

Commitments 
= Payments 

(3) 

5,684 

5,773 

5,925 

5,777 

5,864 

5,864 

6,086 

0,000 

40,973 

Commitments 
= Payments 

(3) 

2,500 

2,500 

2,500 

2,500 

2,500 

2,500 

2,500 

0,000 

17,500 

Commitments 

 439,999  

 449,972  

 465,356  

 486,690  

 514,738  

 550,537  

 592,708  

0,000 

3 500,000 

Payments 

 28,588  

 180,394  

 220,668  

 268,516  

 326,153  

 385,927  

 434,707   1 655,048 

3 500,000 

Climate Action 

Payments 

 17,056  

 107,343  

 129,506  

 153,693  

 180,041  

 203,168  

 215,695  

943,499 

1 950,000 

Commitments 

 262,504  

 267,754  

 273,109  

 278,571  

 284,143  

 289,826  

 294,093  

0,000 

1 950,000 

TOTAL appropriations for the 
envelope of the programme 

Commitments 

Payments 

=1+
3 

=2+
3 

702,503  

717,726  

738,465  

765,261  

798,881  

840,363  

886,801  

5.450,000 

45,643  

287,736  

350,174  

422,208  

506,194  

589,095  

650,402  

7   5.450,000 

2.598,54

Heading of multiannual financial  
framework  

7 

‘Administrative expenditure’ 

2021 

2022 

2023 

2024 

2025 

2026 

2027 

Post 2027  TOTAL 

EUR million (to three decimal places) 

48 

Appropriations  of  an  administrative  nature  financed  from  the  envelope  of  the  programme.  It  does  not  include  the  amount  necessary  for  the  management  of  the 
outstanding  commitments (“legacy”) of 2014-2020 programmes because they were financed under Horizon 2020.  

EN 

43 

EN 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
          
          
          
          
          
          
          
 
            
          
          
          
          
          
          
    
 
 
 
                                                 
Human resources49  

Other administrative expenditure  

TOTAL appropriations under 
HEADING 7 of the 
multiannual financial 
framework 

17,017 

21,879 

28,314 

30,602 

35,464 

38,038 

40,755 

1,061 

1,312 

1,920 

1,620 

1,646 

1,746 

2,396 

212,069 

11,702 

18,078 

18,078 

23,191 

30,234 

32,222 

37,110 

39,784 

43,151 

223,771 

TOTAL appropriations  
across HEADINGS  
of the multiannual financial 
framework  

2021 

2022 

2023 

2024 

2025 

2026 

2027 

Post 2027 

TOTAL 

Commitmen
ts 

720,580 

740,917 

768,699 

797,483 

835,991 

880,148 

929,952 

0 

5673,771 

Payments 

63,721 

310,927 

380,408 

454,431 

543,304 

628,879 

693,553 

2598,547 

5673,771 

EUR million (to three decimal places) 

49 

EN 

The programme is expected to be partially delegated to an executive agency, subject to the outcome of the cost-benefit analysis and related decisions to be taken. The 
related administrative appropriations for programme implementation in the Commission and the executive agency will be adapted accordingly.  

44 

EN 

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
3.2.2. 

Summary of estimated impact on appropriations of an administrative nature 

–    The  proposal/initiative  does  not  require  the  use  of  appropriations  of  an 

administrative nature  

–    The proposal/initiative requires the use of appropriations of an administrative 

nature, as explained below: 

EUR million (to three decimal places) 

Years 

2021 

2022 

2023 

2024 

2025 

2026 

2027 

TOTAL 

HEADING 7 
of the multiannual 
financial framework 

Human resources50 

17,017 

21,879 

28,314 

30,602 

35,464 

38,038 

40,755 

212,069 

1,061 

1,312 

1,920 

1,620 

1,646 

1,746 

2,396 

11,702 

18,078 

23,191 

30,234 

32,222 

37,110 

39,784 

43,151 

223,771 

Other administrative 
expenditure  

Subtotal HEADING 7 
of the multiannual 
financial framework  

51 

Outside HEADING 7
of the multiannual 
financial framework  

Human resources  

0,000 

0,000 

0,000 

0,000 

0,000 

0,000 

0,000 

0,000 

Other expenditure  
of an administrative 
nature 

Subtotal  
outside HEADING 7 
of the multiannual 
financial framework  

21,684 

21,873 

22,125 

22,077 

22,264 

22,364 

22,686 

155,073 

21,684 

21,873 

22,125 

22,077 

22,264 

22,364 

22,686 

155,073 

TOTAL 

39,761856 

45,064144 

52,358484 

54,298484 

59,374624 

62,148624 

65,837624 

378,84384 

The  appropriations  required  for  human  resources  and  other  expenditure  of  an  administrative  nature  will  be  met  by 
appropriations from the DG that are already assigned to management of  the action and/or have been redeployed within the 
DG,  together  if  necessary  with  any  additional  allocation  which  may  be  granted  to  the  managing  DG  under  the  annual 
allocation procedure and in the light of budgetary constraints. 

50 

51 

The three DGs do not dispose of an installed human resources capacity to manage the action foreseen 
because  none  of  them  is  managing  the  bulk  of  the  action  in  the  framework  of  the  2014-2020 
Programme, which is externalised to an executive Agency, and a consistent increase is foreseen in the 
framework of the sub-programmes managed by DG Environment (Nature and Biodiversity and Circular 
Economy and Quality of life). 
Technical  and/or  administrative  assistance  and  expenditure  in  support  of  the  implementation  of 
EU programmes and/or actions (former ‘BA’ lines), indirect research, direct research. 

EN 

45 

  EN 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
3.2.2.1.  Estimated requirements of human resources 

–    The proposal/initiative does not require the use of human resources.  

–    The  proposal/initiative  requires  the  use  of  human  resources,  as  explained 

below: 

–   

Years 

2021 

2022 

2023 

2024 

2025 

2026 

2027 

Estimate to be expressed in full time equivalent units 

 Establishment plan posts (officials and temporary staff) 

Headquarters and Commission’s 

52

Representation Offices

Delegations 

Research 

119 

153 

198 

214 

248 

266 

285 

 External staff (in Full Time Equivalent unit: FTE) - AC, AL, END, INT and JED 

53

- at Headquarters 

- in Delegations  

- at Headquarters 

- in Delegations  

Heading 7 

Financed from 
HEADING 7 of 
the multiannual 
financial 
framework  

Financed from 
HEADING 7 of 
the multiannual 
financial 
framework  

Research 

Other (specify) 

TOTAL 

119 

153 

198 

214 

248 

266 

285 

The human resources required will be met by staff from the DG who are already assigned to management of the action and/or 
have  been  redeployed  within  the  DG,  together  if  necessary  with  any  additional  allocation  which  may  be  granted  to  the 
managing DG under the annual allocation procedure and in the light of budgetary constraints. 

Description of tasks to be carried out: 

Officials and temporary staff 

Operational  and  financial  management  of  all  the  programme  activities  (grants, 
procurement contracts, prizes, etc.) 

Development of synergies and coordination with other programmes 

Monitoring and evaluation 

52 

53 

It  includes  the  HR  necessary  to  manage  the  new  Programme  plus  the  human  resources  in  DG  ENV 
needed to manage the remaining legacy of the LIFE+ programme, estimated at 5 FTE in 2021, 4 FTE in 
2022 and, finally, 2 FTE in 2023. 
AC=  Contract  Staff;  AL  =  Local  Staff;  END  =  Seconded  National  Expert;  INT  =  agency  staff; 
JPD= Junior Professionals in Delegations.  

EN 

46 

  EN 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
3.2.3.  Third-party contributions  

The proposal/initiative: 

–    does not provide for co-financing by third parties 

–    provides for the co-financing by third parties estimated below: 

Appropriations in EUR million (to three decimal places) 

Years 

2021 

2022 

2023 

2024 

2025 

2026 

2027 

TOTAL 

Specify  the  co-financing 
body  

TOTAL appropriations 
co-financed  

3.3. 

Estimated impact on revenue  

–    The proposal/initiative has no financial impact on revenue. 

–    The proposal/initiative has the following financial impact: 

  on own resources  

 

 on other revenue 

      please indicate, if the revenue is assigned to expenditure lines  

EUR million (to three decimal places) 

Impact of the proposal/initiative

54

2021 

2022 

2023 

2024 

2025 

2026 

2027 

Budget revenue line: 

Article …………. 

For assigned revenue, specify the budget expenditure line(s) affected. 

Other  remarks  (e.g.  method/formula  used  for  calculating  the  impact  on  revenue  or  any  other 
information). 

54 

As regards traditional own resources (customs duties, sugar levies), the amounts indicated must be net 
amounts, i.e. gross amounts after deduction of 20 % for collection costs. 

EN 

47 

  EN