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Grant Analysis

Purpose & Target

A 'European City Facility' shall be run under the LIFE CET programme to support European cities, municipalities, or their groupings in developing investment concepts for energy efficiency and integrated energy transition. These concepts aim to mobilize significant investments in sustainable energy by transforming local climate and energy strategies into mature, financeable projects. - Explicitly targets organizations capable of running and managing a large-scale financial support facility across Europe. - SECTOR-SPECIFIC focusing on Clean Energy Transition, Energy Efficiency, and Renewable Energy. - Geographic scope: European cities and municipalities across Europe. - Key filtering criteria: Applicant's capacity to manage third-party financial support, deep roots in municipal energy planning, and ability to mobilize a critical mass of European cities. - Grant is a follow-up and scaling up of an existing, fundamental approach, implying a recurring program context.

Financial Structure

Total budget for the topic: EUR 15,000,000.
Maximum grant amount per proposal: Up to EUR 15,000,000.
Funding rate: 95.0% for Other Action Grants (OAGs).
Financial support to third parties: Expected to be 70-75% of the budget, provided as lump sum grants to cities, municipalities, or their groupings.
Eligible costs for the main grant cover activities related to running the facility, including providing services, managing sub-grants, capacity building, monitoring, communication, and dissemination.
Specific ineligible costs are not detailed in the provided documents.

Eligibility Requirements

Organizational Type and Structure

Eligible applicants are organizations or consortia capable of running a 'European City Facility'.
Proposals must be submitted by a consortium of at least 3 applicants (beneficiaries, not affiliated entities) from 3 different eligible countries.
Applicants should be deeply rooted in municipal sustainable energy/climate planning and financial engineering related to energy efficiency and integrated energy transition investments.
Applicants must demonstrate a deep understanding of the strategic nature of this initiative, including challenges in mobilizing private financing sources.
Applicants must be able to mobilize a critical mass of cities/municipalities or their groupings and have a sound, inclusive outreach strategy to cities and municipalities across Europe.

Capacity Requirements

Applicants must demonstrate the capacity to run a financial support scheme at a large scale, adhering to LIFE CET standards.
Applicants must be able to select the most cost-efficient and appropriate applications for sub-grants, considering the scale of potential investment and energy savings, as well as the number of inhabitants.

Eligible Third Parties (Beneficiaries of the Facility's sub-grants)

European cities, municipalities, or their groupings.
Must provide proof of political commitment.
Must clarify existing planning processes and resources.
Must demonstrate substantial potential for investment and energy savings based on politically approved Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans (SECAPs), local heating and cooling plans, or plans of similar ambition.
Must describe the investment sectors addressed, the type of financial solutions envisaged, and the governance structure for developing the investment concept.
Must develop a convincing strategy to engage key stakeholders (technical, financial, citizens).
Must plan long-term capacity building actions within their public administration.
Must commit to monitoring investment implementation for at least 1 year after the lump sum grant period ends.

Application Process

Application Deadline

The submission deadline for proposals is 2025-09-23.
The submission session became available on 2025-04-24.

Submission Process

Applications must be submitted through the Electronic Submission Service available on the Funding & Tenders Portal.
Applicants will be prompted to confirm their choice upon submission, as it cannot be changed afterward.
Existing draft proposals can be accessed by logging into the Funding & Tenders Portal and navigating to the 'My Proposals' section.

Required Documentation and Materials

Call Document: Required reading for detailed conditions on page limits and layout (section 5), eligible countries and conditions (section 6), financial and operational capacity (section 7), submission and evaluation processes (section 8), award criteria (section 9), indicative timeline (section 4), and legal/financial set-up of grants (section 10).
Application Form Templates: The specific application form (Part B) for this call is available in the Submission System (LIFE SAP and OAG).
Detailed Budget Table (LIFE).
Participant Information (LIFE).
Model Grant Agreements (LIFE MGA).
Additional Documents: Including the LIFE Multiannual Work Programme 2025-2027, LIFE Regulation 2021/783, EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509, Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment, EU Grants AGA – Annotated Model Grant Agreement, Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual, Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions, and Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement.

Application Assistance and Support

Applicants can seek support from their National Contact Point (NCP).
General support is available via the Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ for submission questions.
Technical assistance for IT-related issues (e.g., forgotten passwords, access rights, submission) can be obtained from the IT Helpdesk.
An Online Manual provides a step-by-step guide for processes from proposal preparation to project reporting.
Info session recordings, presentations, and Frequently Asked Questions are also available.

Evaluation Criteria

Expected Impact Contribution

Proposals should clearly present concrete results and demonstrate how these results will contribute to topic-specific impacts.
Demonstration must include a detailed analysis of the starting point, well-substantiated assumptions, and clear causality links between results and expected impacts.
Proposals should show how they will contribute to the follow-up and scaling up of the fundamental approach of the current European City Facility.
Results and impacts should be quantified using provided indicators (e.g., number of investment concepts delivered, number of investment concepts transformed into ambitious tangible investments, number of public authority staff with increased capacity).
Quantification of results and impacts is required for the end of the project and for 5 years after, using common LIFE Clean Energy Transition sub-programme indicators (e.g., investments triggered, primary energy savings, renewable energy generation, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions).

Scope Alignment and Approach

The proposal's ability to effectively run a 'European City Facility' that offers financial support and related services will be assessed.
Specific emphasis on the delivery of financial support to third parties (70-75% of the budget as lump sum grants to cities/municipalities).
Clarity on the necessity of financial support to third parties and how it will be managed.
Adherence to EU standards for transparency, equal treatment, conflict of interest, and confidentiality in the process and criteria for allocating financial support to third parties.
Clear description of results from third-party support, including the potential for regional/sectoral calls.
Demonstrated capacity to run a large-scale financial support scheme according to LIFE CET standards.
Ability to select the most cost-efficient and appropriate applications for sub-grants, considering investment scale, energy savings, and population coverage.
Provision of national-level services to support cities throughout the process (call applications, investment concept development, financing identification, investment implementation).
Implementation of appropriate capacity building schemes to help beneficiaries use financial support effectively and guide them in the post-investment concept phase.
Opportunities for exchange of best practices among cities and municipalities.
Establishment of a comprehensive framework for monitoring, analysis, capitalisation, communication, and dissemination of results and success stories.
Demonstrated deep understanding of the initiative's strategic nature, particularly in upscaling finance and mobilizing private funding sources.

Compliance & Special Requirements

Regulatory Compliance

Financial support provided to third parties by the awarded facility must adhere to EU standards regarding transparency, equal treatment, conflict of interest, and confidentiality.
The facility's operation must comply with LIFE Clean Energy Transition (CET) standards for financial support schemes.
General legal and financial set-up of grants must comply with provisions outlined in section 10 of the call document, as well as the LIFE Regulation 2021/783 and EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509.

Risk Management

Applicants are implicitly expected to demonstrate robust risk management capabilities, particularly in the effective and transparent management of the financial support scheme and the selection process for sub-grants.

Intellectual Property

Intellectual property policies are not specified in the provided grant materials; standard EU grant rules would typically apply.

Unique Aspects and Strategic Opportunities

The grant aims to build upon and scale up the successful approach of the existing European City Facility (EUCF), indicating a strong foundation and proven methodology.
A primary focus is on aggregating smaller energy transition projects into larger, more attractive investment packages and mobilizing substantial financial resources, especially private financing.
The initiative directly addresses the capacity gap in public authorities, particularly small and medium-sized municipalities, enabling them to transform strategic plans into mature investment concepts.
Investment concepts developed through the facility should facilitate access to diverse financing sources, including potential combination or blending with other EU financing streams (e.g., Cohesion Policy Funds, InvestEU Fund, National Recovery and Resilience Plans, Project Development Assistance Facilities).
The facility is expected to integrate and seek synergies with existing DG Energy initiatives such as the Smart Cities Marketplace and the Covenant of Mayors.

Cross-cutting Considerations

Emphasis on capacity building for public authority staff involved in energy transition.
Requirement for engaging key stakeholders (technical, financial) and citizens in the investment concept development and implementation.
Commitment to monitoring investment implementation post-grant period to track actual investment volumes and impacts.

Grant Details