The European Commission has awarded more than €390 million to 135 new projects under LIFE, the EU programme for environment and climate action. The EU money covers over half of the €579 million the projects need in total; the rest comes from national, regional and local governments, businesses, public-private partnerships, project partners and civil society. The projects were selected from a record 1,095 applications to the 2025 calls, and LIFE funding is 9% higher than last year. The package covers nature and biodiversity (29 projects), circular economy and quality of life (36), climate resilience and mitigation (26) and the clean energy transition (44).
For cities, the most direct item is LIFE EUCF City Facility 3.0, a €15.8 million project providing financial and technical assistance to local authorities that want to invest in sustainable energy. It covers all EU countries plus Iceland, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Ukraine. Other projects tackle issues familiar to urban administrations: flood risk in Belgium’s Dender Valley, protection against intense rainfall and storms in Ireland, air quality in Slovakia, and investment in new district heating and cooling systems through projects based in Croatia and Denmark.
Romania features in the nature strand, with €7.6 million for the LIFE for VULTURES project. For Romanian municipalities, the City Facility is the strand to follow, since it targets local authorities preparing sustainable energy investments. The current LIFE programme runs from 2021 to 2027 with a budget of €5.43 billion, and its grants are managed by CINEA, the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency.