The LIFE programme (French: L’Instrument Financier pour l’Environnement) has been the European Union's funding instrument for the environment and climate action since 1992. The general objective of LIFE is to contribute to the implementation, updating and development of EU environmental and climate policy and legislation by co-financing projects with European added value. LIFE began in 1992 and to date there have been five phases of the programme (LIFE I: 1992–1995, LIFE II: 1996–1999, LIFE III: 2000–2006, LIFE+: 2007–2013 and LIFE 2014–2020) plus the current one (LIFE 2021-2027). Until 2021, LIFE had co-financed some 4600 projects across the EU, with a total contribution of approximately 6.5 billion Euros to the protection of the environment and of climate. For the current phase of the programme (2021–2027) the European Commission proposed to raise the budget to 5.45 billion Euro.
The European Commission (DG Environment, DG Climate Action and DG Energy) manages the LIFE programme. The commission delegated the implementation of many components of the LIFE programme to the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) until March 2021 and to the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) since 1 April 2021. External selection, monitoring and communication teams provide assistance to the Commission and CINEA.
Background
During the late 1980s, public consciousness about environmental threats grew rapidly. Large scale environmental disasters such as the Chernobyl catastrophe focused attention on the need for higher levels of environmental protection. Issues such as the holes in the ozone layer over the poles and global warming prompted an acceleration in European environmental policy-making and institution-building.
However, EU action on the environment can be traced back even earlier. EU financial assistance for nature conservation was first made available in the early 1980s, following on initiatives dating back to the 1970s. From 1972, measures to limit pollution and improve waste management were adopted. Then, 1979 saw the adoption of the Birds Directive, hailed by Birdlife International as 'one of the soundest pieces of bird conservation legislation worldwide'. The directive called for co-financing for the management of Special Protected Areas dedicated to birdlife preservation.
This recognition of the importance of providing financial assistance for habitat protection was taken forward in 1982 when the European Parliament succeeded in introducing a small budget line for nature conservation, enabling financing of a dozen or so projects. This funding was renewed in 1983 and provided support for small-scale, preparatory projects that nevertheless had a significant impact. In respect of the later ACE Regulations (Action Communautaire pour l'Environnement or EU Actions for the Environment), this support was known as pre-ACE.
ACE – Action Communautaire pour l'Environnement From the mid-1980s, two Regulations broadened the scope of EU assistance for the environment by establishing the ACE financial instrument. Initially, Council Regulation No 1872/84 on action by the Community relating to the environment, operating from July 1984 until 3 June 1987, opened the door for the EU to grant financial support to projects in three fields: development of new clean technologies; development of new techniques for measuring and monitoring the natural environment; and help to protect habitats of endangered species of particular importance to the EU, as defined by Directive 79/409/EEC.EUR-Lex, Council Regulation (EEC) No 1872/84 of 28 June 1984 on action by the Community relating to the environment, Article 1, accessed on 1 August 2026
The first Regulation was superseded by Regulation No 2242/87 – ACE II – which operated until July 1991. Its scope was widened to include the financing of demonstration projects in the fields of waste, contaminated site restoration and remedial action for land damaged by fire, erosion and desertification.
In all, the ACE programme funded 53 nature protection and 55 clean technology projects. The total cost of these projects during the lifetime of the programme (1984–1991) was ECU 98 million, with the EU providing ECU 41 million, or 44.5 per cent of the total cost. In addition, a different budget line was made available from 1988 onwards for 'urgent actions for endangered species'. It was not supported by a Regulation but was included in the annual budget of the commission by the European Parliament. In total, 50 projects were financed with assistance totalling €3 million under this budget.
MEDSPA and NORSPA
Running concurrently with ACE were two programmes supporting environmental projects in two specific regions: MEDSPA (Mediterranean), and NORSPA (northern European maritime regions). MEDSPA ran from 1986 to 1991, supporting 198 projects to the tune of ECU 38 million. Projects financed covered water resources, prevention of water pollution, waste disposal and – more than 25 per cent of supported projects – conservation of habitats and endangered species.
NORSPA had a shorter life, running from 1989 to 1991. It was a special fund set up in response to particular concerns about the northern European maritime regions, and provided ECU 16 million in funding for 38 projects. It prioritised conservation of marine life and integrated management of biotopes, with a particular emphasis on international cooperation and coordination. Projects financed included a programme for return of large migratory species such as salmon to the Rhine, which received nearly ECU 5 million, and re-colonisation of eelgrass in shallow coastal waters around Denmark (EU funding of ECU 252,500).
The ACNAT interlude
As the ACE programme concluded in 1991, a separate fund for nature, Actions by the EU for Nature (Council Regulation 3907/91, known as ACNAT) was adopted. This was designed to help support the implementation of the newly adopted Habitats Directive in May 1992 at a time when the EU was expanding its competence in the field of habitat conservation. The intention of ACNAT was that actions for bird species and sites could continue to receive support in the context of the Birds Directive and in addition funds would be made available for the conservation of other endangered species and habitats.
In the event, however, ACNAT was quickly superseded by the adoption of a new, all-encompassing environment fund that targeted five main priority fields. With this fund, and its first-phase budget of ECU 400 million, LIFE I (Council Regulation 1973/92) was born.
The Creation of the LIFE Programme
The adoption of the Single European Act in 1986, which for the first time gave EU environmental policy a firm treaty basis, along with the Fifth Environment Action Programme, approved in 1993, really opened the door for the LIFE funding mechanism. These two developments set the pace of environmental reform for the next decade and the LIFE programme was one of the EU's essential environmental tools.
Organisation and functioning
Every year a call for projects is launched (published on the LIFE website), composed of two strands: Environment: finances innovative actions in the field of the environment, such as water pollution control, waste treatment, etc. and also comprises nature and biodiversity projects (including the Natura 2000 network), as well as environmental governance and information; Climate: finances projects for climate change reduction and adaptation to climate change, as well as governance and climate information projects. The approach is bottom-up, i.e. it is the project leaders who must set up their project and apply for LIFE funding. The projects to be financed must bring a benefit to the European Union, promote sustainable development and provide solutions to major environmental problems.
Past LIFE Phases LIFE I (1992–1995)
During its first phase (LIFE I), which ran from 1992 to 1995, LIFE had a number of components:
Promotion of sustainable development and quality of the environment (new monitoring techniques, clean technologies, waste disposal, restoring contaminated sites, land-use planning and management, aquatic pollution, urban environment) – indicative allocation: 40 per cent of the programme budget Protection of habitats and of nature (protecting endangered species and threatened habitats; combating desertification, erosion, etc.; marine conservation; freshwater conservation) – indicative allocation: 45 per cent of the programme budget Administrative structures and environment services (cooperation and network development) – indicative allocation: 5 per cent of the programme budget Education, training and information (professional training, environmental education and understanding, dissemination) – indicative allocation: 5 per cent of the programme budget Actions outside EU territory (third country assistance) – indicative allocation: 5 per cent of the programme budget
The rates of EU assistance for projects ranged from 30 per cent for income-generating investments to 100 per cent for technical assistance measures. For most projects in the first two categories described above, the level of assistance was limited to 50 per cent of project cost. These rates of assistance remained in place through subsequent phases of LIFE.
Detailed priorities were set each year. For example, in 1993, the sustainable development and environmental quality component of LIFE I focused on projects relating to the textile, tannery, paper and agro-food industries; waste reduction and recycling demonstration projects; decontamination of polluted sites; sustainable development in agriculture, transport and tourism; urban transport; and modernisation of environmental monitoring networks. During its lifetime, LIFE I funded a total of 731 projects, rising from 105 in 1992 to a high point of 245 in 1994 (in 1995, slightly fewer – 237 projects – were funded).
LIFE II (1996–1999)
The first phase of LIFE was succeeded by LIFE II, also running for four years but with an increased budget of ECU 450 million, covering an enlarged EU (Austria, Finland and Sweden joined in 1995). With LIFE II, the programme was split into three categories – LIFE-Nature, LIFE-Environment and LIFE-Third Countries.
The amended regulation (Regulation (EC) No 1404/96) stated that 46 per cent of the programme budget should be dedicated to nature conservation actions – this programme strand became LIFE-Nature. A further 46 per cent was dedicated to 'other actions designed to implement EU environment policy and legislation.' This strand of the programme became LIFE-Environment. A third strand (five per cent of the budget) addressed actions in countries on the shores of the Mediterranean and Baltic Seas – later LIFE-Third Countries – and accompanying and technical assistance measures (three per cent of the budget).
The scope of the restructured programme was broad. LIFE-Environment projects had to contribute to innovation or policy implementation in the fields of environmental monitoring, clean technologies, waste management, the identification and rehabilitation of contaminated sites, the integration of environmental concerns in town and country planning, aquatic pollution reduction and the improvement of the urban environment.
The objective was to demonstrate new methods and techniques that would have the potential for pan-European application and would pave the way for implementation of existing policies in different environmental fields, or for the future development of policy. Distinct from LIFE-Nature, LIFE-Environment guidelines were formally foreseen in regulation. This was an important change from LIFE I, during which priorities were set on an annual basis.