Clean Energy Transition: a rate of up to 95%

This is the most unusual LIFE sub-programme, and the one people turn to most often when the other three do not fit. The co-financing rate reaches 95%, so the own contribution is minimal.

The reason for the high rate is simple, and it is also the main constraint: what is funded here are mostly coordination and support actions, not capital investment. You cannot buy a boiler house or a solar plant with this money.

What exactly is funded

Removing the non-technological barriers to the clean energy transition: local and regional energy policies, bringing investment projects to bankable stage, energy efficiency financing schemes, training of professionals, work with communities and energy cooperatives, action against energy poverty.

In other words, LIFE here pays for making an investment possible, not for the investment itself.

How that looks in the project budget

The main cost line is staff, then expertise, communication and events. Equipment is either absent or ancillary. An application in which capital expenditure is the larger share of the budget is ineligible in this sub-programme by definition.

Who this suits in Ukraine

Municipalities, energy agencies and organisations working on energy efficiency at the level of policy and project preparation. Given the need to rebuild energy infrastructure, bringing projects to investment readiness is precisely what this sub-programme funds directly.