Call: Climate Change Adaptation

• to develop, demonstrate and promote innovative techniques, methods and approaches for reaching the objectives of Union legislation and policy on climate action and to contribute to the knowledge base and to the application of best practices;
• to support the development, implementation, monitoring and enforcement of relevant Union legislation and policy on climate action, including by improving governance at all levels, in particular through enhancing capacities of public and private actors and the involvement of civil society;
• to catalyse the large-scale deployment of successful technical and policy-related solutions for implementing relevant Union legislation and policy on climate action by replicating results, integrating related objectives into other policies and into public and private sector practices, mobilising investment and improving access to finance.

The LIFE Programme will contribute to the transformation of the Union into a climate-neutral and resilient society, by supporting the implementation of the EU’s climate policy as part of the European Green Deal and preparing the EU for the climate challenges in the coming years and decades.

Its areas of intervention will be the following:

• Climate Change Mitigation
  • Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, including fluorinated greenhouse gases and ozone depleting substances, in line with the EU’s climate neutrality target and the improvement of energy efficiency, including addressing the policy and market framework for the development and deployment of low-carbon or energy efficient products and services, as well as by promoting the transition of the transport sector.
  • Enhancing the functioning of the Emissions Trading System.
  • Support to sustainable land, forest, soil, sea and ocean management practices, which reduce emissions or remove CO2 from the atmosphere.
  • Develop and promote solutions to remove/sequester CO2 from the atmosphere. Carbon capture and carbon removals can be nature-based and coupled with restoration projects or rely on storage in specific long–term media or use of long-lasting products.
• Climate Change Adaptation
  • Support adaptation related policy development, and improve adaptation strategies and plans at all levels and in all sectors, in line with the new EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change;
  • Improve, promote, and scale up the use of state-of-the art tools and solutions for adaptation modelling, risk assessment, management and decision support; adaptation monitoring, reporting and evaluation; and ex-ante project assessment tools to better identify co-benefits and positive impacts on the economy of adaptation and prevention projects;
  • Support the rollout of viable nature-based solutions in the management of land, coastal and marine areas including through assessments, guidance, capacity building, and suitable financial approaches and products;
  • Approaches and solutions for adapting cities and regions to climate change, notably in support of the EU and Global Covenant of Mayors and of the European Climate Pact;
  • Approaches and solutions to ensure a stable and secure supply of high quality freshwater, prevent droughts, reduce water use, protect and restore wetlands, and prevent floods;
  • Solutions to climate-proof and enhance the resilience of infrastructure and buildings, including by using blue-green infrastructure and through cooperation with standardisation organisations;
  • Support preparedness for extreme weather events, notably at a local level and in the outermost regions;
  • Promote financial instruments and innovative solutions to deal with climate-induced risks, and public-private collaboration to reduce the share of uninsured climate-related economic losses, including by improving collection and access to climate-related economic loss data.
• Climate Change Governance and Information, which will include actions contributing to climate change mitigation or adaptation:
  • Incentivise changes in behaviour and practices, as well as improving citizens’ knowledge and awareness, notably through the support of the implementation of the European Climate Pact, mainstreaming emission reduction and resource efficiency actions in relevant sectors;
  • Development and implementation of climate and energy strategies or mid-century strategies at local, regional and national level;
  • Improve greenhouse gas monitoring, accounting and reporting and contribute to policy monitoring, assessment and ex-post evaluation;
  • Information on best practices and awareness raising on climate change mitigation and adaptation, including on climate-proofing of infrastructure investment and policies;
  • Development of climate services and promotion of climate science;
  • Development and promotion of sustainable finance instruments and support for climate diplomacy.

The sub-programme Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation may cover activities related to energy efficiency and renewable energy, as far they are not covered by the Clean Energy Transition sub-programme calls in that same year.

While the EU does everything within its power to mitigate climate change, domestically and internationally, we must also get ready to face its unavoidable consequences. Climate change is having far-reaching effects ranging from unprecedented forest fires, heatwaves, droughts or other extreme events to slow-onset processes like desertification, biodiversity loss, ocean acidification or sea level rise.

Projects under this strand should help to achieve the long-term vision of the new EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change that, in 2050, the EU will be a climate-resilient society which is fully adapted to the unavoidable impacts of climate change.

In general, projects should help to reinforce adaptive capacity, strengthen resilience, and reduce vulnerability, in line with the Paris Agreement and the proposed European Climate Law.

More specifically, projects under this call should support the ambition of the new EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change to:

• make adaptation smarter (improving knowledge, managing uncertainty, and informing adaptation actions by robust data and risk assessment tools that are available to all);
• make adaptation more systemic (incorporating climate resilience considerations in all relevant policy fields, because climate change has impacts at all levels of society and across all sectors of the economy);
• make adaptation faster (developing and rolling out adaptation solutions that allow us to adapt more quickly and comprehensively).

In order to contribute to these ambitions and objectives, projects should

• demonstrate a clear and convincing intervention logic which details the specific climate change risks and vulnerabilities to be addressed, the assessment and selection of the proposed adaptation options and approaches, and the monitoring and evaluation of the results (for more guidance on adaptation methodology, applicants are strongly encouraged to consult the Adaptation Support Tool provided on the Climate-ADAPT web portal);
• develop, demonstrate and promote innovative techniques, methods and approaches for reaching the objectives of Union legislation and policy on adaptation to climate change and to contribute to the knowledge base and to the application of best practices;
• support the development, implementation, monitoring and enforcement of relevant Union legislation and policy on adaptation to climate change, including by improving governance at all levels, in particular through enhancing capacities of public and private actors and the involvement of civil society;
• catalyse the large-scale deployment of successful technical, non-technical and policy-related solutions for implementing relevant Union legislation and policy on adaptation to climate change by disseminating, replicating results, integrating related objectives into other policies and into public and private sector practices, mobilising investment and improving access to finance.

Finally, this call also encourages projects which

• realise possible synergies with the 2030 Climate Target Plan, the EU Covenant of Mayors, the European Climate Pact, the Biodiversity strategy for 2030, disaster risk management or other relevant policies and initiatives under the European Green Deal;
• work in partnership with the private sector, cities, city-networks, unions, civil society organisations, educational institutions, and research and innovation organisations;
• mobilise additional adaptation finance and resilience investments.

Scope and areas of intervention:

1. Adaptation policy development, and adaptation strategies and plans

Projects addressing this area should help national, regional and local authorities to further develop and improve effective and science-based adaptation policies and strategies. Across policy levels and sectors, this year’s LIFE call encourages in particular projects which

• support cooperation across borders through the EU macro-regional strategies cooperation frameworks and sea-basin and other maritime strategies, Interreg funding programmes, and cooperation and networking opportunities under the Common Agricultural Policy;
• support to the national adaptation policy cycle and in particular to the revision of national or regional adaptation strategies and plans;
• foster the exchange of best practices and solutions to common adaptation challenges among the outermost regions and with their neighbours;
• strengthen the application of key principles of climate-risk management to ensure policy coherence (regulation and funding take into account disaster risk to avoid creating new exposure; reduce existing risk by building up resilience, prevention and preparedness; manage residual risk).

2. State-of-the art tools and solutions for adaptation

The lack of access to actionable solutions is one of the main barriers to adaptation. Climate resilience decision support systems and rapid response solutions for decision-makers and adaptation practitioners must become more accessible and rapid to foster their take-up. Monitoring, reporting and evaluation are essential to setting a robust baseline against which to measure progress on adaptation.

3. Nature-based solutions in the management of land, coasts and marine areas

Implementing nature-based solutions on a larger scale would increase climate resilience and contribute to multiple Green Deal objectives.

Blue-green infrastructures are multipurpose ‘no regret’ solutions, which simultaneously provide environmental, social and economic benefits and help build climate resilience. They include the protection and restoration of wetlands, peatlands, coastal and marine ecosystems; the development of urban blue-green infrastructure; or the sustainable management of forests and farmland.

4. Adapting cities and regions to climate change

The local level is the bedrock of adaptation, and whilst climate change affects European regions and citizens directly, their exposure and vulnerability to climate impacts is unequal, often worsening pre-existing inequalities and vulnerabilities. This area is therefore all about local and regional projects, which foster local, individual and just resilience.

5. Climate-proofing and resilience of infrastructure and buildings

The built environment (like transport and energy networks, or security, telecommunications, health, water and waste management infrastructures, or buildings), which is characterised by a long life span and high investment and maintenance costs, needs to withstand the current and future climate extremes and global warming effects. The new EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change therefore includes specific actions to continue updating the extensive EU climate proofing guidance for new major infrastructure projects to advance relevant EU-level standardisation work, and to keep preparing Europe’s built environment for the impacts of climate change.

Within this context, projects addressing this intervention area should pilot, roll out and promote solutions to climate-proofing and enhancing the resilience of buildings and infrastructures, including by using blue-green infrastructure and nature-based solutions.

6. Adaptation solutions for farmers, forest managers, Natura 2000 managers and other land managers

Climate change will have far-reaching consequences and will increase the risks for agriculture, forest management, and Natura 2000 and other land management, both through the growing frequency and severity of extreme weather events, but also through slow-onset processes like desertification, biodiversity loss, ocean acidification or sea level rise.

Projects addressing this intervention area should therefore help to speed up the rollout of adaptation solutions, which help farmers, forest managers, Natura 2000 managers and other land managers to tackle climate risks and to identify and implement suitable adaptation approaches.

7. Water management

Europe is increasingly facing situations of either too much or not enough water, and climate change exacerbates the challenge of sharing water resources. Ensuring that freshwater is available in a sustainable manner is fundamental for climate resilience. It requires transformational changes in all sectors, and the wider use of nature-based solutions. We also need to reduce water use sharply and to maintain water quality.

Within this context, and in support of the Common Implementation Strategy of the Water Framework and Floods Directives, this intervention area encourages approaches and solutions, which ensure a stable and secure supply of high quality freshwater, prevent droughts, reduce water use, protect and restore wetlands, and prevent floods.

8. Preparedness for extreme weather events

Whilst the importance of adaptation is increasingly recognised, multiple reports highlight the lack of preparedness. Extreme weather events and their impacts have an almost constant presence in the media, and their increased intensity and frequency due to climate change is a particular concern for the EU outermost regions29, which are exposed e.g. to hurricanes. Yet, many European cities must also step up their preparedness e.g. for heatwaves and other climate-related health threats, or for growing damages to buildings and infrastructures.

9. Financial instruments, innovative solutions and public-private collaboration on insurance and loss data

The share of non-insured economic losses caused by climate-related disasters appears to be widening because of slow adaptation action and more frequent extreme weather events. It is therefore important to examine and promote natural disaster insurance penetration in Member States and to promote national disaster insurance schemes that encourage users to invest in adaptation.

Projects in this area should therefore work to promote financial instruments and innovative solutions to deal with climate-induced risks, and public-private collaboration to reduce the share of uninsured climate-related economic losses (including by improving collection and access to climate-related economic loss data).

• 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 (participating countries) or countries which are in ongoing negotiations for an association agreement and where the agreement enters into force before grant signature
• 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.

Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees for the protection of the EU financial interests equivalent to that offered by legal persons34.

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

Entities composed of members may participate as ‘sole beneficiaries’ or ‘beneficiaries without legal personality’. Please note that if the action will be implemented by the members, they should also participate (either as beneficiaries or as affiliated entities, otherwise their costs will NOT be eligible).

Beneficiaries from countries with ongoing negotiations may participate in the call and can sign grants if the negotiations are concluded before grant signature (with retroactive effect, if provided in the agreement).

Special rules apply for certain entities (e.g. entities subject to EU restrictive measures under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU) and entities covered by Commission Guidelines No 2013/C 205/0537). Such entities are not eligible to participate in any capacity, including as beneficiaries, affiliated entities, associated partners, subcontractors or recipients of financial support to third parties (if any).

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

Page limit – Part B: 120 pages

Indicative range of project budgets: EUR 1 to 5 Mio.

Estimated numner of projects to be funded: 15 projects

Funding rate for Standard Action Projects (SAPs): Maximum 60%