New funding opportunity for municipalities and local authorities to plan clean energy activities

A new call for proposals has been launched under the European Urban Facility (EUCF) to support municipalities and local authorities in developing investment concepts related to the implementation of actions foreseen in their Climate and Energy Action Plans. The ultimate aim is to build a significant pipeline of sustainable energy investment projects in municipalities across Europe.

Eligible applicants and activities

Funded by the LIFE Programme of the European Union, this call is open to municipalities or local authorities, their groups and local public entities bringing together municipalities/local authorities from across the EU, Ukraine and Iceland. The final number of applicants to be funded from all countries is 75.

Applicants are required to have developed and implemented climate and/or energy plans with mitigation objectives, including Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans.

In addition, applicants must demonstrate political commitment to the development of the investment concept through a letter of support signed by the mayor or other relevant political representative.

Beneficiaries of previous calls for the European Urban Instrument cannot be funded again.

The types of activities eligible for financial support are activities that are necessary for the development of investment concepts, such as (technical) feasibility studies, engineering analyses, legal analyses, social studies, market studies, financial analyses and additional supporting tasks. The grant is not intended to directly finance investments, but may cover the costs of mobilising resources to access services and develop an investment concept that will enable subsequent investments. Applicants are at their discretion to propose specific activities, as long as they fall within the foreseen themes.

Grant amount

The maximum grant amount for the financing of approved investment concepts is EUR 60,000, provided as a lump sum.

Application Deadline

The application deadline is 15 March 2024, 17:00 (CET).

How to apply?

The entire application process consists of (1) an eligibility check and (2) the completion of an application form. After successfully passing the eligibility check, carried out by the applicants themselves directly on the EUCF website, the applicant will be directed to the online portal, which includes the application form, which must be completed and submitted.

The evaluation of applications is carried out after the closure of each call for applications by a dedicated evaluation team. Each application is assessed individually by at least two evaluators.

During the document verification, the evaluators check whether all supporting documents have been submitted and contain the required content. In case of incomplete documents, the application is rejected and the applicant receives a notification by email from the user area of ​​the EUCF website. Applications are then assessed on the basis of four evaluation criteria: (1.) Ambition of the proposed investment project, (2.) Governance structure, (3.) Stakeholder engagement strategy, (4.) Coherence and credibility.

At the end of the evaluation process, each applicant is informed of the final result with relevant feedback via a feedback report. The best-performing applications are selected to receive financial support from the EUCF. Unsuccessful applications can seek assistance from the EUCF Helpdesk and can participate again in the next call for applications.

Useful links

Link to the European Calls and Tenders Portal: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/competitive-calls-cs/4841?programmePeriod=2021%20-%202027&frameworkProgramme=43252405

Link to the call: https://www.eucityfacility.eu/fileadmin/inhalte/dokumente/Call/Call_6_document_final_01.pdf

Link to the Guidelines for Applicants: https://www.eucityfacility.eu/fileadmin/inhalte/dokumente/EUCF_APPLICATION_DOCUMENTS/LIFE_EUCF_Guidelines_for_applicants_V0.2_Call_6.pdf#page=12

Link to the eligibility check: https://fmp.eucityfacility.eu/iss/Check/