LIFE is a small but extremely successful and popular EU funding instrument. It has brought about investments for environment and climate action for over 20 years, including funds for Natura 2000, the EU-wide network of nature reserves. Over 78% of this budget serves to co-finance projects in member states while around 3% supports NGOs through operating grants.
The main elements of this proposal include a new sub-programme for climate change which will complement the sub-programme for environment. National allocations will be abolished and only retain a distributional element for newly integrated projects. Integrated projects (IPs) aim to support the implementation of major EU environmental legislation on water, waste, air quality and nature protection through joint investment of different EU funds via LIFE. A higher co-financing rate will be introduced for 70% for traditional projects (instead of the current 50%), with 80% for integrated projects.