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  1. An institution, body, office or agency established by or based on the Treaty on European Union and the Treaties establishing the European Communities.

    All education and training facilities for people of different age groups.

    An intergovernmental organization having legal personality under public international law or a specialized agency established by such an international organization. An international organization, the majority of whose members are Member States or Associated Countries and whose main objective is to promote scientific and technological cooperation in Europe, is an International Organization of European Interest.

    A person with legal rights and obligations. Unlike a legal entity, a natural person does not have a legal act (e.g. association, limited liability company, etc.).

    An NPO is an institution or organization which, by virtue of its legal form, is not profit-oriented or which is required by law not to distribute profits to its shareholders or individual members. An NGO is a non-governmental, non-profit organization that does not represent business interests. Pursues a common purpose for the benefit of society.

    A partnership, corporation, person, or agency that is for-profit and not operated by the government.

    Any government or other public administration, including public advisory bodies, at the national, regional or local level.

    A research institution is a legal entity established as a non-profit organization whose main objective is to conduct research or technological development. A college/university is a legal entity recognized by its national education system as a university or college or secondary school. It may be a public or private institution.

    A microenterprise, a small or medium-sized enterprise (business) as defined in EU Recommendation 2003/361. To qualify as an SME for EU funding, an enterprise must meet certain conditions, including (a) fewer than 250 employees and (b) an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 50 million and/or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 43 million. These ceilings apply only to the figures for individual companies.

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  1. Governance, partnership: Projects aimed at increasing the application of multilevel and transnational or cross-border governance, designing and testing appropriate governance structures and mechanisms. Also cooperation between public institutions on any theme.

    Innovation capacity and awareness-raising: Actions that increase a person’s or organisation’s capacity for innovation (not innovation as such), and that establish the capacity to diffuse and apply innovation; projects that stimulate innovation in different areas and innovation capacities; strengthening and empowering of innovation networks.

    Institutional cooperation and cooperation networks: Projects working on the improvement of institutional cross-border co-operation and capacities, on renewing and simplifying administrative management through long term cooperation between institutions (e.g. Euregion), on establishing and sharing regional knowledge and intercultural understanding and cohesion. It also deals with cooperations between universities, health care facilities, schools and sports organisations, as well as with management and capacity building.

    Activities focussing on agricultural products, organic farming, horticulture, as well as forest management and wood products; furthermore the development of the food sector, food chains, organic food production, and seafood products and any topics related to animals and fishing.

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    Soil and air quality: Projects that deal with any topic against soil and air pollution, except water pollution, for example, reduction of soil and air contamination, pollution-management systems, but also prevention and eradication of soil erosion, new ways of improving air quality (also indoors) and soil/air knowledge in general.

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    Soil and air quality projects that deal with any topic against soil and air pollution, except water pollution, for example, reduction of soil and air contamination, pollution-management systems, but also prevention and eradication of soil erosion, new ways of improving air quality (also indoors) and soil/air knowledge in general.

    Water management projects about management and distribution of drinking water, integrated sustainable water management, monitoring systems for water supply and improving drinking water quality; also water treatment (wastewater), in particular, innovative technologies to improve wastewater, treatments in the purification of industrial and domestic wastewater and water reuse policies. Waterways, lakes and rivers: This deals with any topics on waterways, lakes and rivers, from improving water quality, protecting and developing of ecosystems or sustainable wetland management.

    Activities that protect, promote and enhance cultural and natural heritage, increase the attractiveness through preservation and valorisation of common cultural and natural heritage in a sustainable manner, and improve and develop cultural and natural heritage objects, services and products. Cultural heritage management, art and culture, (maritime) heritage routes, access to cultural and natural heritage. Also all topics on cultural services such as festivals, concerts, art workshops.

    Tourism projects dealing with the promotion of natural assets, and the protection and development of natural heritage, as well as increasing the touristic attractiveness through the better use of natural, cultural and historical heritage. Also projects about improved tourist services/products, development of ecotourism models, tourism development strategies.

    Sustainable management of natural resources projects focussing on the protection, promotion and valorization, and sustainable management and conservation of natural areas (habitats, geo parks, protected areas, etc.). Also projects focussing on preserving and enhancing cultural and natural heritage and landscape, as well as protecting the marine environment.

    Projects on waste management (innovative services and strategies), ecological waste treatment, treatment techniques/systems; waste disposal and recycling (improvement of recycling, innovative recycling technologies, recovery of organic waste, repair & re-use centres and networks); also prevention of pollution and pollution control (ecological and circular economy, marine littering, etc.).

    Labour market and employment: creating employment opportunities and/or optimising jobs, academic (un)employment and job mobility, workforce attraction and improvement of employment conditions for different groups.

    SME and entrepreneurship: strengthening SME capacities, boosting entrepreneurial activities in different sectors and for different groups, supporting social entrepreneurship, creating business support/advisory systems for start-ups/spin-offs/incubators, improving the competitiveness of SMEs, and promoting new business processes.

    Community integration and common identity projects that build identity, create a more cohesive society, promote positive relations through an increased provision of shared spaces and services.

    Demographic change and immigration is about projects tackling major societal challenges like demographic change in different areas and migration, in particular, aging society (active aging, best agers, silver economy strategies) and related new public services (adaptation of key services and infrastructure), social and spatial segregation, and brain drain. Also all topics on migration (policy tools, strategic planning, integration).

    All projects where ICT has a significant role, including tailor-made ICT solutions in different fields, as well as digital innovation hubs, open data, Internet of Things; ICT access and connecting (remote) areas with digital infrastructure and services; services and applications for citizens (e-health, e-government, e-learning, e-inclusion, etc.); services and applications for companies (e-commerce, networking, digital transformation, etc.).

    This is about the mitigation and management of risks and disasters, and the anticipation and response capacity towards the actors regarding specific risks and management of natural disasters, for example, prevention of flood and drought hazards, forest fire, strong weather conditions, etc.. It is also about risk assessment and safety.

    Education and training projects on expanding educational opportunities, reducing barriers in the field of education, improving higher education and lifelong learning, training and labour mobility, educational networks, higher vocational education, common learning programmes.

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    Projects focussing on wind, solar, biomass, hydroelectric, geothermal and other renewable energy, increasing the production of sustainable renewable energy and improving research capacities in biomass. Also projects focussing on storage and management of renewable energy, new technologies, sustainable regional bioenergy policies and financial Instruments for investments on renewable energy.

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    This deals with the development of health and social services and improved accessibility and efficiency for different groups (elderly, children, etc.). It is also about new healthcare models and medical diagnosis and treatments (dementia, cancer, diabetes, etc.), hospitals, care management, and rare diseases, as well as improving wellbeing and promoting sports.

    Projects about (organised) crime, efficient and secure borders, such as enhancing the effectiveness of the police in the prevention of drug crimes, the development of safety services, or tackling security and organised crime issues.

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    • rural and peripheral development, referring to remote, sparsely populated areas, rural community development, and rural economics, in particular access to remote areas and policies for rural areas.
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Deadline expired

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Call key data

Supporting the clean energy transition of European businesses

Funding Program

LIFE - sub-programme “Clean Energy Transition”

Call number

LIFE-2023-CET-BUSINESS

deadlines

Opening
11.05.2023

Deadline
16.11.2023 17:00

Funding rate

95%

Call budget

€ 6,000,000.00

Estimated EU contribution per project

€ 1.750.000,00

Link to the call

ec.europa.eu

Link to the submission

ec.europa.eu

Call content

short description

The overall objective of this topic is to support the clean energy transition and decarbonisation of businesses by strengthening national and regional ecosystems for energy management systems and energy audits and by fostering collaborative approaches between companies. Synergies with relevant EU projects and initiatives such as the Covenant of Companies for Climate and Energy (CCCE) and/or the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) are encouraged.

Call objectives

Engaging businesses in the clean energy transition and reducing their domestic footprint is central for the European Green Deal and to deliver on the Fit-for-55 package and the REPowerEU Plan to phase-out EU dependence on Russian fossil fuels imports. It is also important for the Green Deal Industrial Plan and the overall competitiveness of EU enterprises. Energy policy instruments such as the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) and the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) recognise the role that businesses, especially small and medium-sized, can have at local and national level in accelerating the transition.

As highlighted in the Green Deal Industrial Plan, the achievement of climate-neutrality by 2050 will require a full mobilisation and deeper cooperation among all players operating across the different value chains of Europe’s net-zero industry. Exposure to energy prices, increased global competition as well as potential transition risks linked to changing regulation, market demand and buyers/suppliers procurement criteria are increasing pressure on EU companies. New business models and financial schemes are needed to be able to adapt in the current energy crisis and take the decision to invest in an energy efficiency or renewable energy project.

The REPowerEU Plan strengthens the need to act fast. Energy management systems and energy audits are instruments that the European Commission is encouraging Member States to roll out in the framework of the EU Save Energy Communication and the recast Energy Efficiency Directive. In fact, recommendations of high-quality energy audits, already performed but not implemented or to be performed in the future, can on one side generate savings and reduction of energy demand in the short period, and on the other contribute to the competitiveness of the EU economy by optimising energy use for industrial, manufacturing and commercial purposes. Energy audits recommendations can also increase the self-generation and self-consumption of renewable energy e.g. with solar panels and heat pumps, amongst companies. Enabling factors such as geographical proximity and value chain relations can also make businesses decide to make investments in energy efficiency or renewable energy and engage in energy related collaborations.

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Expected effects and impacts

Proposals should present the concrete results which will be delivered by the activities, and demonstrate how these results will contribute to the topic-specific impacts. This demonstration should include a detailed analysis of the starting point and a set of well-substantiated assumptions, and establish clear causality links between the results and the expected impacts.

Proposals submitted under this topic should demonstrate how they will contribute to, depending on the scope:

  • Improved quality of energy audits.
  • Harmonisation of energy audit frameworks and replication of best practices across participating countries.
  • Improved uptake of the recommendations of energy audits.
  • Implementation of EU legislation (in particular Energy Efficiency Directive and Renewable Energy Directive) addressing the business sector.
  • Viable business models for energy cooperation between companies ready to be rolled out on the market.
  • Deployment of energy related infrastructure, energy services, and/or energy exchanges contributing to the clean energy transition of businesses.

Proposals should quantify their results and impacts using the indicators provided for the topic, when they are relevant for the proposed activities. They should also propose indicators which are specific to the proposed activities. Proposals are not expected to address all the listed impacts and indicators. The results and impacts should be quantified for the end of the project and for 5 years after the end of the project.

The indicators for this topic include:

  • Number of companies benefitting from direct support.
  • Implementation rate of energy audit recommendations resulting from the proposed activities.
  • Number of energy auditors using improved energy audit methodologies.
  • Number of national/regional ecosystems supported for energy management systems and energy audits.
  • Number of companies implementing energy cooperation approaches.
  • Number of relevant stakeholders approached and trained on energy cooperation approaches between companies.

Proposals should also quantify their impacts related to the following common indicators for the LIFE Clean Energy Transition subprogramme:

  • Investments in sustainable energy (energy efficiency and renewables) triggered by the project (cumulative, in million Euro).
  • Primary energy savings triggered by the project (in GWh/year).
  • Renewable energy generation triggered by the project (in GWh/year).
  • Reduction of greenhouse gases emissions (in tCO2-eq/year).

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Expected results

Proposals are expected to focus on one of the two scopes below. The scope addressed should be specified in the proposal's introduction. In case a proposal addresses elements of more than one scope, this should be justified.

Scope A: Strengthening a favourable ecosystem for energy audits and energy management systems

Proposals under this scope should support the participating countries in strengthening their ecosystem for energy audits and energy management systems, thereby ensuring high-quality energy audits and increasing the implementation of cost-effective measures, especially by small and medium-sized energy-intensive businesses.

Applicants should primarily address the quality of energy audits, by taking into account the following elements: measures that could encourage a higher uptake of energy audit recommendations by companies, application of international and European standards in energy audits, use of Life-Cycle Cost Analysis versus simple payback periods, content and structure of the audit report including a concrete and feasible Action Plan for the recommended measures, valorisation and quantification of non-energy benefits, follow-up systems for checks on the implementation of measures and data management. Proposals should also explore the potentials of energy management systems based on performance improvement as well as measures for the cost-effective use or production of renewable energy in businesses. Activities can be developed as support to relevant national /regional authorities and/or as services to companies.

In addition to the above, proposals could address barriers at national/regional level that hinder the implementation of energy efficiency projects and the increase of renewable energy in businesses, for example administrative (permitting, support schemes, etc), financial (access to finance, risk) or informative (knowledge gap, skills, etc). Information campaigns, obligations linked with performance incentives, fiscal and financial instruments that increase access to finance and embed risk reduction options, mechanisms such as energy audit centres for SMEs, energy efficiency roadmaps and energy efficiency networks for SMEs are relevant tools whose best practices can be shared and replicated by the participating countries. Consultation and engagement activities should be foreseen with the relevant stakeholders, for example national/local energy agencies, managing authorities, industry associations and financial institutions.

Finally, where relevant and instrumental to facilitate the uptake of energy audits recommendations and subsequent measures by businesses, proposals could address the enhancement of corporate energy culture.

Scope B: Fostering energy cooperation among companies

Proposals under this scope should foster the market uptake of energy efficiency measures and the use of renewable energy (and heat pumps where relevant), through the establishment of collaborative approaches among companies. Applicants can focus on developing collaborative approaches, namely between large and small companies operating in the same value chain, or on energy cooperation among companies in proximity (region, cluster, industrial park/site).

Energy cooperation and collaborative approaches refers to, for example, companies working in the same value chain and holding business relations. The value chains addressed can operate at any level (from local to European, and international when relevant). It can also refer to companies in proximity (region, cluster, industrial park/site) sharing energy related assets (e.g. renewable energy generation, energy networks, energy storage), sharing energy services, implementing energy exchanges (e.g. recovery and use of waste heat from industrial and manufacturing processes) or being involved in energy communities. Clustering of companies can also facilitate better access to finance, ESCO contracts and power purchase agreements (e.g. aggregators).

Proposals are expected to carry out activities aiming at triggering interest, awareness, knowledge and know-how (e.g. through the organisation of roundtables at sector or territorial level) on the multiple benefits achievable from collaborative approaches. Some examples of these benefits are operating costs reduction, mitigation of energy-related risks, easier access to finance or stronger value proposition. Proposals should also work on removing barriers that hinder energy cooperation, e.g. organisational (coordination, trust, responsibilities, data management, risk sharing), legal or social.

Furthermore, proposals should facilitate the establishment of concrete cooperation initiatives, including but not limited to identifying, investigating and validating economically viable business models (based on concrete interaction with participating companies), proving the relevance of a collaborative approach in terms of value creation for each involved actor (e.g. buyers/suppliers/final users) as well as in addressing the untapped potential of energy efficiency and renewables at each step of the process (e.g. upstream to downstream in the case of value chains).

The proposed activities should be focused on engaging businesses in energy cooperation activities; the involvement of additional relevant stakeholders (e.g. industrial organisations, multipliers, financial players, ESCOs, public authorities) should be envisaged to ensure the success and the sustainability of the developed collaborative approach.

The proposed approaches should demonstrate a high degree of replicability and proposals should include a clear action plan to communicate experiences, critical success factors and results towards relevant energy cooperation actors and stakeholders across the EU.

Additionally, benchmarking and monitoring mechanisms, focusing on the energy use at value chain, or at cluster or industrial park/site level, could be developed to support the formulation of policy/regulatory recommendations aiming at speeding up the clean energy transition of the business sector towards the EU’s 2030 and 2050 climate and energy objectives.

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Eligibility Criteria

Regions / countries for funding

EU Member States, Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT)
Moldova (Moldova), Iceland (Ísland), North Macedonia (Северна Македонија), Ukraine (Україна)

eligible entities

Education and training institution, International organization, Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) / Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Other, Private institution, incl. private company (private for profit), Public Body (national, regional and local; incl. EGTCs), Research Institution incl. University, Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME)

Mandatory partnership

Yes

Project Partnership

Proposals must be submitted by:

  • minimum 3 applicants (beneficiaries; not affiliated entities) from 3 different eligible countries. 

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 (associated countries) or countries which are in ongoing negotiations for an association agreement and where the agreement enters into force before grant signature (list of participating countries)
  • the coordinator must be established in an eligible country

Natural persons are NOT eligible (with the exception of self-employed persons, i.e. sole traders, where the company does not have legal personality separate from that of the natural person).

International organisations are eligible. The rules on eligible countries do not apply to them.

EU bodies — EU bodies (with the exception of the European Commission Joint Research Centre) can NOT be part of the consortium.

Financial support to third parties is not allowed. 

Additional information

Topics

Air Quality, Biodiversity & Environment, Climate & Climate Change, Water quality & management, 
Competitiveness of Enterprises, Employment/Labour Market, SME & entrepreneurship, 
Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy

Relevance for EU Macro-Region

EUSAIR - EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, EUSALP - EU Strategy for the Alpine Space, EUSBSR - EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, EUSDR - EU Strategy for the Danube Region

UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs)

Additional Information

Proposals must be submitted electronically via the Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission System (accessible via the Topic page in the Search Funding & Tenders section. Paper submissions are NOT possible.

Proposals must be complete and contain all the requested information and all required annexes and supporting documents: 

  • Application Form Part A — contains administrative information about the participants (future coordinator, beneficiaries and affiliated entities) and the summarised budget for the project (to be filled in directly online)
  • Application Form Part B — contains the technical description of the project (to be downloaded from the Portal Submission System, completed and then assembled and re-uploaded) 
  • Part C (to be filled in directly online) containing additional project data
  • Mandatory annexes and supporting documents (to be uploaded):
    • detailed budget table (mandatory excel template available in the Submission System)
    • participant information including previous projects, if any (mandatory template available in the Submission System)
    • Optional annexes:
      • letters of support

Proposals are limited to maximum 65 pages (Part B). 

Call documents

LIFE 2023 Clean Energy TransitionLIFE 2023 Clean Energy Transition(1938kB)

Contact

European Climate Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) - LIFE
Website

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