Technical Assistance – Replication Projects: Nature and Biodiversity and Circular Economy and Quality of Life

Aims

• Nature and Biodiversity: In line with the specific objectives of the LIFE Programme as set out in Article 3(2) of the LIFE Regulation, the sub-programme ‘Nature and Biodiversity’ aims:
  • to develop, demonstrate, promote and stimulate the scale up of innovative techniques, methods and approaches (including nature-based solutions and ecosystem approaches) for reaching the objectives set out under the Union legislation and policy on or related to nature and biodiversity, and to contribute to the knowledge base and to the application of best practices, including through the support of the Natura 2000 network
  • to support the development, implementation, monitoring and enforcement of the relevant Union legislation and policy on or related to nature and biodiversity, including by improving governance at all levels, in particular through enhancing the capacities of public and private actors and the involvement of civil society, also taking into due consideration the possible contributions provided by citizen science
  • to catalyse the large-scale deployment of successful solutions/approaches for implementing relevant Union legislation and policy on nature and biodiversity, by replicating results, integrating related objectives into other policies and into public and private sector practices, mobilising investment and improving access to finance.
• Circular Economy and Quality of Life: The specific objectives of the sub-programme ‘Circular Economy and Quality of Life’ are:
  • to develop, demonstrate and promote innovative techniques, methods and approaches for reaching the objectives of Union legislation and policy on environment, and to contribute to the knowledge base and, where relevant, to the application of best practices
  • to support the development, implementation, monitoring and enforcement of relevant Union legislation and policy on environment, including by improving governance at all levels, in particular 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 relevant Union legislation and policy on environment, by replicating results, integrating related objectives into other policies and into public and private sector practices, mobilising investment and improving access to finance.

Scope

• To enable and support the up-scaling and/or replication of the results from other projects funded by the LIFE Programme or by other Union programmes, and/or
• To facilitate the access of an operation to other financial instruments for the purpose of upscaling the results of a previous project which contribute to the objectives of the LIFE programme.
• The ultimate aim shall be to concretely and substantially multiply the impacts of previous projects’ solutions by mobilising a wider uptake or application.
• Activities shall include one or a combination of the following:
  • Assistance to substantially scale up and/or replicate under different conditions the results of successful projects (in eligible countries). The proposal should not address the scale up and/or replication itself, but rather focus on the steps leading towards and enabling a successful scale up and/or replication;
  • Assistance to the removal of local/regional/national legislative or regulatory barriers that prevent the replication or the upscaling of finalised projects’ results;
  • Assistance to the removal of technical barriers that were not foreseen but emerged during a preceding project and which could not be solved during its duration despite their high relevance to the success and sustainability of the project’s results. Such action should pave the way for a significant scale up and/or replication of project results, during the TA-R project or at a later time;
  • Facilitation of access to other EU or non-EU financial instruments (i.e., preparing and submitting applications) and leverage additional funding in line with the LIFE objectives (i.e., by incorporating schemes and measures developed or piloted by LIFE projects into other funding streams).

Funding Information

• The estimated available call budget is EUR 6,500,000.
• The maximum EU contribution is EUR 1,000,000 per project. Depending on the number and quality of proposals, they expect to sign between 6 and 12 grant agreements.

Expected Outcomes

• A proposal for a Technical Assistance – Replication (TA-R) project is expected to facilitate the upscaling or replication of results achieved by projects funded under the LIFE programme or funded under another EU programme. The scope of its actions should exceed the replication/transfer efforts and objectives foreseen in the preceding project. In addition, the preceding project should have finished and submitted their Final Report before the start of the TA-R project.
• The proposals must also demonstrate that the proposed action is of Union interest by making a contribution to the achievement of one of the general objectives of the LIFE Programme by contributing to the aims and specific objectives of the LIFE sub-programme “Nature and Biodiversity” or of the LIFE sub-programme “Circular Economy and Quality of Life”.

Eligibility Criteria

• In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:
  • be legal entities (public or private bodies)
  • be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
    • EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs))
    • non-EU countries:
      • listed EEA countries and countries associated to the LIFE Programme
  • the coordinator must be established in an eligible country.

For more information, visit European Commission.