The Commission invites legal persons (entities) registered in the European Union (EU) to present proposals for the 2018 Call for proposals for LIFE Action Grants. 

The call covers proposals for both LIFE sub-programmes:

- Environment, this call will cover action grants for "Traditional" projects, Preparatory projects, Integrated projects, Technical Assistance projects.

- Climate Action, this call will cover action grants for "Traditional projects", Integrated projects, Technical Assistance projects.

The overall financial envelope for the implementation of the LIFE Programme is EUR 3.457 Billion, 75% of which is allocated to the sub-programme for environment (EUR 2,592,491,250) and 25% of which is allocated to the sub-programme for climate action (EUR 864,163,750). According to Article 17(4) of the LIFE Regulation, at least 81% of the total budget shall be allocated to projects supported by way of action grants or, where appropriate, financial instruments.

The second LIFE Multiannual Work Programme (MAWP) covering the period 2018-2020 foresees a budget of EUR 1 243,81 million for the sub-programme for environment and EUR 413,25 million for the sub-programme for climate action2.

During the 2014-2020 period, the Contracting Authority will launch one call for LIFE project proposals per year.

Preparatory projects address specific needs for the development and implementation of Union environmental or climate policy and legislation. The specific topics are indicated in the application guide. Once a year the Commission makes an inventory of specific needs regarding the development and implementation of Union environmental or climate policy and legislation that need to be addressed during the following years and identifies among them the needs that could be addressed by Preparatory projects. Before launching the annual call for proposals, Member States received a draft list of the identified specific needs that could be addressed by preparatory projects and were asked to comment. Based on these comments, the final list was established as follows: 

Specific Needs Identified for 2018

1. Grazing for wildfire prevention, ecosystem service provision, nature conservation and landscape management (€ 500,000)

2. Support for Air Quality Plans under Directive 2008/50/EC (€ 1, 000,000)

3) Better ‘support to the transition to circular economy’ in networks engaging innovation, regional and environmental agencies, philanthropy and financial market actors

4) Providing support for Biodiversity Action in the EU's Outermost Regions (BEST) (€ 1,800,000)

5) Capacity building for SME support organizations helping them to boost their services to SMEs on circular economy, resource efficiency and eco-innovation (€500,000)

Proposals may be submitted by legal persons (entities) registered in the EU. Applicants may fall into three types of beneficiaries: (1) public bodies, (2) private commercial organisations and (3) private non-commercial organisations (including NGOs).

Please find more information on the call as well as the application package here.