Enviroment

The Directorate General for the Environment makes funding available through two different programmes, the LIFE fund and the Eco-Innovation and Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme, and operating grants to environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

LIFE is the European Union’s financial instrument supporting environmental and nature conservation projects throughout the Union and in some candidate and neighbouring countries. Since 1992 LIFE has co-financed some 2,750 projects for a total of €1.35 billion. More…

The Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme – Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (CIP-EIP) supports projects in eco-innovation through three initiatives:
- financial instruments, 
- network of actors,
- pilot and market replication projects.

European non-governmental organisations active in the field of the environment are important players in the development and the implementation of environmental policy. They are important channels of information on the concerns citizens have on the environment and play an important role in raising citizens' awareness on specific environmental issues and policies. Environmental NGOs are also valuable intermediaries in the Commission's work. A number of grants are awarded each year to various NGOs to facilitate their work. More...

All three programmes offer funding opportunities through grants or procurement tenders.

Table 1 shows the objectives and the scope of assistance of the proposed EU funding instruments. See Table 1.

With this overview of the general objectives and scope of assistance of the different funding instruments in mind, the following table provides a first orientation among the funding possibilities for the environment and nature conservation.

Table 2 shows the funding possibilities. See Table 2.