European Commission Awards LIFE Grants to 135 Projects Across Europe
Nature, circular economy, climate and clean energy projects share the funds, with governments, businesses and other backers covering the rest.
- By Danielle Naidu
- October 21, 2026
Newly selected environmental and climate projects will share more than €390 million from the European Union through its LIFE program, the European Commission said.
That amount covers over half of the projects’ combined €579 million in investment needs. The rest of the money comes from businesses, civil society groups, project partners, public-private partnerships, and local, regional and national governments.
Nature and biodiversity work makes up 29 of the projects, which draw over €151 million from the EU toward more than €223 million in total investment. Another 36 projects, focused on quality of life and a circular economy, get nearly €91 million from the EU out of nearly €163 million.
For 26 climate adaptation and mitigation projects, the EU is providing over €61 million of more than €102 million in total. The 44 remaining projects, all multi-country efforts on the clean energy transition, get nearly €87 million in EU money out of over €91 million.
The projects were chosen from 1,095 applications to the program’s 2025 calls for proposals, the commission said. It also said the funding the LIFE program allocated rose 9% from last year.
The current phase of the program began in 2021, runs until 2027 and has a €5.43 billion budget. The European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency manages LIFE grants.
