Alleviating household energy poverty in Europe

LIFE-2026 is a LIFE Clean Energy Transition call for proposals to actively alleviate household energy poverty across eligible European countries, with an indicative topic budget of €6,000,000 and a Commission guidance of up to €1.75 million per project; the submission deadline is 16 September 2026 (17:00 Brussels time). Projects must address one of two scopes: Scope A establishes long-term cross-sectoral policy and coordination structures and capacity-building for public authorities and stakeholders, while Scope B facilitates energy renovation of residential multi-apartment buildings in vulnerable neighbourhoods, including governance, financing and measures to ensure affordability and avoid renovictions. Eligible applicants include consortia of at least three independent beneficiaries from three different eligible countries (public bodies, NGOs, research institutions, SMEs, housing organisations, etc.), and funding is provided as Other Action Grants with a 95% funding rate. Proposals must quantify project impacts at end of project and five years after using topic-specific and LIFE CET common indicators, demonstrate baselines and causality, and submit via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal using standard LIFE templates.

What it funds

Grants to support actions that alleviate energy poverty (including summer energy poverty) via either Scope A: policy and coordination structures for public authorities and stakeholders or Scope B: facilitating energy renovation of residential multi-apartment buildings in vulnerable neighbourhoods.

Who can apply

Consortia of at least three independent applicants (beneficiaries, not affiliated entities) established in three different eligible countries. Eligible applicants include public authorities, NGOs, research organisations, utilities, social housing providers, energy agencies and other entities able to deliver the proposed scope; affected public authorities and homeowner/tenant organisations should be involved or provide formal commitment as requested in the topic description.

Key eligibility rule:Proposals must be submitted by at least 3 applicants from 3 different eligible countries and must address only one scope (A or B). See call documentation for eligible countries and detailed admissibility conditions ¹.

Money available and funding terms

This topic is part of the LIFE Clean Energy Transition call. The indicative total contribution to this topic is shown in the call budget overview; individual project funding is via LIFE Other Action Grants (OAGs) with a funding rate of 95% of eligible costs.

Typical project size:The Commission considers that proposals requesting up to €1.75 million from the EU would allow the topic objectives to be addressed appropriately; larger or smaller requests may be considered based on quality and impact ¹.

1. 1Funding rate: Other Action Grants (OAGs) — 95%
2. 2Guidance target EU contribution: up to €1.75 million (indicative)
3. 3Call-level indicative contribution to LIFE-2026 topic: €6,000,000 (see call budget overview)

What to propose (scope highlights)

Scope A:Set up formal, long-term cross-sectoral coordination structures and deliver tailored capacity building for public authorities and stakeholders to tackle energy poverty and influence policy. Scope B: Enable energy renovation of residential multi-apartment buildings in vulnerable districts by addressing governance, financing strategies, split incentives and advisory/support services; measures should ensure affordability and residents can remain in their homes.

Deadlines and submission

Expected impacts and KPIs

Proposals must quantify results at project end and 5 years later using topic indicators (examples: number of energy poor households with reduced energy costs; buildings renovated; coordination structures established; policies changed). Projects should also report common CET indicators: primary and final energy savings (GWh/year), renewable generation (GWh/year), CO2-eq reductions and investments triggered (EUR million).

Application practicalities

Follow admissibility rules (page limits, templates), provide required annexes (detailed budget table, participant information, letters of support from public authorities/stakeholders), and use the Portal submission templates and online manual. Project applicants should justify baselines, methods for quantification and plans for sustainability beyond project lifetime.

1. 1Use the standard LIFE application form (Part A and Part B) available in the Portal Submission System
2. 2Provide letters of commitment from public authorities, homeowners or tenant associations where requested by scope
3. 3Ensure monitoring indicators and impact quantification are in the proposal (end of project and +5 years)

Footnotes

1. 1Detailed eligibility, admissibility, Annex requirements and templates are in the call document and application templates on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal (Portal Online Manual and Call Document).

Call, programme and deadlines

Call title:LIFE Clean Energy Transition — Topic LIFE-2026: Alleviating household energy poverty in Europe. Type of action: LIFE Project Grants (LIFE-PJG) under LIFE Action Grant Budget-Based (LIFE-AG). Opening date: 21 April 2026. Deadline: 16 September 2026, 17:00 Brussels time. Single-stage submission via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. The call document and templates are available on the portal.

Objective and expected impact

Objective:support actions that actively alleviate household energy poverty in the EU and build coordination, governance, financing and renovation capacity to reduce both winter and summer energy poverty. Two alternative project Scopes are defined: Scope A focuses on setting up formalised long-term cross-sectoral policy and coordination structures and capacity-building for public authorities and stakeholders; Scope B focuses on facilitating energy renovation of residential multi-apartment buildings in vulnerable neighbourhoods with predominantly energy poor inhabitants, addressing governance, legal barriers, finance strategies, split incentives and measures that preserve residents in place (avoiding renovictions). Expected impact is both qualitative and quantitative and must be quantified for project end and for five years afterwards using the topic indicators and the LIFE CET common indicators (primary/final energy savings; renewables generation; GHG reductions; investments triggered). Proposals are requested to present robust problem analyses, baselines and clear causality between activities, results and impacts and to account for rebound/prebound effects where relevant.

Scope details

Actions must address only one scope (A or B). Scope A:set up long-term cross-sectoral coordination structures across governance levels (national/regional/local), including energy, social, health and housing sectors; deliver structured, in-depth, tailored capacity-building in local languages; secure high-level commitment from public authorities and stakeholders (letters of support at executive level); justify need and added-value where similar structures exist; define hosting and long-term sustainability beyond project lifetime. Scope B: support energy renovation of residential multi-apartment buildings in spatially related vulnerable districts with energy poor residents; implement building-level and community/neighbourhood-integrated measures including passive and active cooling solutions; ensure affordability (upfront and lifetime costs), address split incentives, adapt governance and decision-making of building ownership/tenants, propose tailored financing strategies and avoid renovictions. For both scopes proposals must quantify multiple benefits (health, comfort, air quality, social inclusion) where relevant and provide project-specific indicators in addition to the list of topic indicators.

Eligibility and consortium

Mandatory consortium composition:at least 3 applicants (beneficiaries; not affiliated entities) from 3 different eligible countries. Eligible countries and other eligibility rules are defined in the call document and call annexes. Proposals must state which Scope (A or B) is addressed and identify the target territories and the public authorities and stakeholders involved; when homeowners, tenant associations or housing organisations are relevant (Scope B), they must be either in the consortium or provide concrete letters of support.

Indicative budget and grant amount:Topic indicative contribution: the Commission considers that proposals requesting up to €1.75 million from the EU would allow objectives to be addressed appropriately, but requests for other amounts can be submitted. Funding rate: Other Action Grants (OAGs) — 95% ¹.

1. 1Call model and type: single-stage LIFE-PJG, LIFE-AG budget-based (OAG).
2. 2Funding rate: 95% of eligible costs for OAGs.
3. 3Indicative individual project contribution referenced by Commission: up to €1.75 million (guidance, not a fixed ceiling).
4. 4Budget for the LIFE-2026-CET package and indicative topic-level budgets are listed in the call fiche.

What must a proposal demonstrate and measure

Proposals must:present concrete, quantified results for project end and 5 years after end; rely on a solid analysis of the current situation and baselines; establish causality between activities, outputs, results and impacts; quantify impacts using the topic-specific indicators and the LIFE CET common indicators where relevant. The topic provides a comprehensive list of quantitative indicators per scope (examples below). Proposals are not expected to address every indicator but must select, justify and quantify those relevant to the proposed activities.

1. 1Number of energy poor households with reduced energy costs.
2. 2Number of energy poor consumers benefitting from the activities.
3. 3Number of residential multi-apartment buildings renovated or renovations triggered (Scope B).
4. 4Number of governance/decision-making structures reinforced/adapted for multi-apartment building renovation (Scope B).
5. 5Number of tailored financing strategies developed for multi-apartment building renovation with energy poor residents (Scope B).
6. 6Number of agreements between homeowners and tenant associations showing commitment to renovation (Scope B).
7. 7Number of energy poverty coordination structures established or reinforced (Scope A).
8. 8Number of legislative or implementation acts, policies or strategies created/adapted on energy poverty (Scope A and B).
9. 9Number of public authorities and stakeholders with increased capacity/skills and training hours per participant (mainly Scope A).
10. 10Primary and final energy savings (GWh/year), renewable energy generation triggered (GWh/year), GHG reductions (tCO2-eq/year), and cumulative investments in sustainable energy (million EUR) as LIFE CET common indicators.

Eligibility, exclusions and administrative conditions

Admissibility, eligibility and exclusion rules, page limits, layout, and all administrative conditions (financial and operational capacity, documentation, model grant agreement type and reporting rules) are described in the call document, annexes and the Portal templates. Proposals must comply with page limits and formatting in the Part B template found in the Submission System. Applications are submitted entirely through the Funding & Tenders Portal; the portal’s Online Manual and call annexes contain mandatory templates (Application forms; detailed budget tables; participant information; complementary funding plan and declaration where relevant).

Application and evaluation process

Single-stage submission. The evaluation procedure, award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in the call document. The submission session for this topic is available in the Portal. Proposals must be submitted by the deadline via the Submission System entry point matching the chosen Model Grant Agreement. The evaluation timeline and indicative grant agreement signature schedule are described in the call document.

Eligible applicant types

Eligible applicant types for this topic are wide and correspond to LIFE Project Grants (LIFE-PJG). Typical eligible applicants include public authorities and administrations, municipalities and regional authorities, non-profit organisations, NGOs, consumer organisations, housing organisations, tenant and homeowner associations, universities and research institutes, SMEs and private sector partners where relevant. For Scope B, housing organisations, homeowners or tenant associations and financial institutions are expected to be involved or provide letters of support. For Scope A, public authorities (national, regional, local) and sectoral stakeholders (health, social, housing, energy, civil society) should be in the consortium or officially committed.

Eligible Applicant Types:startup; SME; large enterprise; municipality/local government; regional authority; national public authority; university; research institute; nonprofit; NGO; housing associations; tenant/homeowner associations; energy utilities and energy service companies; financial institutions.

Funding type and nature of support

Funding type:EU grant (action grant) delivered as an Other Action Grant (OAG) under LIFE Clean Energy Transition. Funding is financial (money): the award reimburses eligible project costs at the funding rate set for OAGs (95%). The grant is budget-based and obligations on eligible costs, reporting and audits apply. The grant finances operational project activities; it is not a loan, equity or guarantee.

Consortium requirement, geographic eligibility and project stage

1. 1Consortium requirement: consortium of at least 3 independent beneficiaries (not affiliated entities) from 3 different eligible countries (mandatory). Single-member proposals are not eligible.
2. 2Beneficiary scope (geographic eligibility): EU Member States and other eligible countries as defined in section 6 of the call document (consult the call document for the full list). The action focuses on Member States and regions with energy poverty needs; proposals are encouraged to consider areas with less developed energy poverty alleviation frameworks.
3. 3Project stage and expected maturity: implementation/real-life deployment and capacity-building. Scope A expects policy/coordination structure set-up and institutional capacity-building; Scope B expects active facilitation and triggering of building renovations (pilot renovations, governance reform, financing strategies, one-stop-shop coordination). Projects should be at development/implementation/validation stage rather than pure research or idea stage.

Target sectors and thematic areas

Primary sectors:energy efficiency, buildings, social policy and health (energy poverty intersects with housing, social policies and public health). Secondary sectors: renewable energy, urban planning, cooling/adaptation, financial instruments and community energy. This is a cross-sectoral topic requiring collaboration between energy, housing, social and health actors.

Mentioned countries and geographic focus

The call text discusses Europe and Member States (EU). It references EU-wide instruments and EU directives (EED, EPBD) and EU initiatives (Energy Poverty Advisory Hub; Covenant of Mayors). Proposals must target eligible countries as defined in the call document (EU Member States and countries associated to the LIFE programme). Specific Member States are not mandated and are to be chosen by the applicants; geographic focus should be justified in the proposal.

Funding amount and application type

Rough funding range:the Commission considers proposals requesting up to €1.75 million appropriate for this topic (indicative guidance). The call’s budget overview lists topic-level indicative budgets; selection does not preclude proposals requesting other amounts. Application type: open single-stage call (open call) submitted through the EU Funding & Tenders Portal submission system; use the LIFE Project Grants / LIFE-AG budget-based entry point.

Nature of Support and number of application stages

Nature of support:monetary grant funding (reimbursement of eligible costs at the LIFE OAG funding rate). Application stages: single-stage submission (1 stage).

Success rates and competition

The call is competitive; success rates depend on quality of applications and topic budget. Typical success rate information is not provided on the call page; applicants should assume a selective process and design proposals aligned to award criteria and scoring thresholds set in the call document.

Co-funding and complementary funding

Co-funding:beneficiaries are expected to provide the non-EU share of eligible costs (co-financing) as required by the grant rules. Complementary funding plans and confirmations (where relevant, e.g. LIFE SIP/SNAP or where complementary funds are expected) should be provided using the complementary funding templates included in the Submission System (Complementary funding plan and Complementary funding declaration). Proposals should explain additional funding sources (local/regional/national funds, ESIF, Social Climate Fund, Just Transition, etc.) and how they complement LIFE support.

Application templates and structure

Applications must be prepared using the standard LIFE templates available in the Portal Submission System. Part A administrative forms are filled in online. Part B (technical description) must be uploaded as PDF following the page limits and layout rules. Mandatory annexes include the detailed budget table, participant information, co-financing declaration when relevant, and other templates listed in the call documents. Applicants must follow the Application Form structure: relevance, impacts, implementation (work packages, deliverables, milestones, timeline), resources (consortium, staff, budget), risk management, ethics and security where applicable. See Portal templates for full structure and required annexes.

1. 1Application Part A: administrative forms — completed online in Submission System.
2. 2Application Part B: technical description — uploaded PDF (use the LIFE SAP and OAG template where indicated).
3. 3Annexes: detailed budget table, participant information, complementary funding plan/declaration where relevant, maps and supporting documents required by the call.

Application practicalities, support and contact

Submit through the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. Consult the Portal Online Manual, call document, Model Grant Agreement (LIFE MGA), templates, and additional guidance. Use National Contact Points (NCPs) and the Portal Helpdesk for questions. The Portal provides partner search features and allows publication of partner requests. Proposal drafts are saved in the Portal My Proposals area. IT Helpdesk and step-by-step guidance are available via the Portal.

Templates and application form structure (summary)

The main templates and forms applicants must use are:the LIFE standard application form (Part B technical description PDF) with sections: relevance (background, objectives), impact (ambition, credibility, sustainability, exploitation), implementation (work plan, work packages, deliverables, timetable, stakeholder engagement), resources (consortium, management, budget, risk management), complementary funding (if SIP/SNAP) and annexes. Additional compulsory uploads include the Detailed Budget Table (Excel), Participant Information annex, Cofinancing declaration (if needed), and any other call-specific annexes referenced in the call document. The Portal also contains templates for certificates, model grant agreements and guidance documents.

Templates — key uploaded annexes:Detailed budget table (LIFE) in Excel; Participant information (LIFE template); Cofinancing declaration (if relevant); Complementary funding plan (if SIP/SNAP); Maps and site descriptions (if relevant). Model Grant Agreement and annotated MGA are available via Portal reference documents.

How to structure your proposal (recommended outline)

1. 11. Project summary and Scope (A or B).
2. 22. Background and problem analysis (energy poverty specifics, baselines and data).
3. 33. Objectives (specific, measurable, time-bound) and theory of change linking activities to impacts.
4. 44. Implementation plan: work packages, tasks, deliverables, milestones, timeline, responsibilities and consortium roles.
5. 55. Stakeholder engagement, letters of support and commitment (public authorities, homeowner/tenant associations, housing organisations, financial institutions where relevant).
6. 66. Monitoring and impact measurement plan: list and quantify topic indicators and LIFE CET common indicators for project end and for 5 years after.
7. 77. Replication, sustainability and long-term governance arrangements (hosting entities, financing beyond project lifetime).
8. 88. Detailed budget table consistent with Part B and Annex 2; co-financing plan; justification of costs.
9. 99. Risk assessment and mitigation measures.
10. 1010. Communication and dissemination plan, visibility measures, public outreach and awareness activities.

Recommendations and evaluation alignment

Align the proposal with the award criteria (relevance; impact; quality and efficiency of implementation; budget and cost-effectiveness as described in the call document). Demonstrate political commitment from authorities and the replication potential. Quantify energy, social and economic impacts and ensure monitoring systems and baseline data are robust. Where existing services are in place (e.g. one-stop-shops or advisory services), explain how your project builds on and does not duplicate them. For Scope B, include concrete renovation pilots, affordability measures and contractual arrangements that secure resident housing post-renovation.

Checklist of mandatory features to include

1. 11. Explicit selection of Scope A or Scope B in the proposal introduction.
2. 22. Consortium of at least 3 independent beneficiaries from 3 eligible countries.
3. 33. Clear baseline and quantified targets for end of project and for 5 years after.
4. 44. Letters of support from key public authorities and stakeholder organisations at executive level where required.
5. 55. Detailed budget table (Annex 2) and adherence to Part B page limits and formatting.
6. 66. Capacity-building plan (for Scope A) and renovation pilots and financing strategies (for Scope B).
7. 77. Clear replication and sustainability plan with hosting entity and long-term resources.
8. 88. Risk management, ethics and data protection compliance where applicable.

Portal entry point and further documents are available on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal topic page for LIFE-2026; consult the call document, the Online Manual and the Model Grant Agreement for full legal, financial and procedural obligations. Portal: EU Funding & Tenders Portal — LIFE-2026-CET-ENERPOV Call document and templates LIFE call page. ¹

Footnotes

1. 1For LIFE Other Action Grants (OAGs) the standard funding rate indicated for the Clean Energy Transition call is 95%. See the call document and Model Grant Agreement for exceptions, specific budget category rules and detailed eligibility conditions.

Opportunity Overview

This is a call for proposals under the LIFE Clean Energy Transition sub-programme, specifically addressing household energy poverty across Europe. The call aims to support actions that actively alleviate energy poverty through policy coordination, capacity building, and residential building renovation measures. The opportunity is designed to tackle the multidimensional challenge of energy poverty affecting approximately 9.2 percent of Europeans who cannot adequately heat their homes, with over 20 percent unable to maintain comfortable cooling during summer months.

Call Identification and Timeline

Call Reference:LIFE-2026

Opening Date:21 April 2026

Submission Deadline:16 September 2026, 17:00 Brussels time (single-stage submission)

Project Duration:Flexible, typically 3 to 5 years depending on proposal scope

Funding Details

Total Budget Available:€6,000,000

Funding Rate:95 percent for Other Action Grants (OAGs)

Estimated EU Contribution per Project:Up to €1.75 million is considered appropriate for addressing specific objectives, though other amounts are not precluded

Type of Action:LIFE Project Grants (LIFE-PJG), Other Action Grants (OAGs) - Coordination and Support Actions (CSAs)

Eligible Applicants and Geographic Scope

Eligible Countries:All EU Member States, Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs), Moldova, Iceland, North Macedonia, and Ukraine

Eligible Entity Types:Education and training institutions, international organisations, non-profit organisations and NGOs, private institutions including private companies, public bodies at national, regional and local levels, research institutions and universities, and small and medium-sized enterprises

Consortium Requirements:Mandatory partnership of at least 3 applicants (beneficiaries, not affiliated entities) from 3 different eligible countries. Proposals must be submitted by beneficiaries, not affiliated entities, to ensure genuine partnership.

Project Scope and Objectives

Applicants must select and address only one of two scopes. The scope addressed must be clearly specified in the proposal introduction.

Scope A: Policy and Coordination Support to Public Authorities and Stakeholders

Actions should support national, regional and/or local authorities and relevant stakeholders in setting up formalised, long-term, cross-sectoral coordination structures to tackle energy poverty. The coordination structures should foster cross-departmental and cross-sectoral collaboration across government structures and involve relevant public bodies and private/public stakeholders such as civil society organisations, healthcare providers, economic operators, and academia.

Key activities include:establishing coordination structures with clear organisational structure and engagement strategy; delivering tailored capacity-building activities for authorities and stakeholder organisations; ensuring representation across energy, social, health, and housing sectors; identifying main public authorities involved; demonstrating support from stakeholders through direct consortium participation or letters of support at executive decision-making level; clarifying whether structures address national, local, and/or regional levels; and setting out a convincing plan for long-term sustainability beyond project duration, including expected hosting entities.

Scope B: Facilitating Residential Multi-Apartment Building Renovation

Actions should support energy renovation of residential multi-apartment buildings in spatially related vulnerable districts/neighbourhoods with predominantly energy poor inhabitants. The goal is reducing and optimising heating and cooling needs while improving health and comfort of energy poor residents.

Proposed actions should concretely support renovation by implementing strategies including:reinforcing and/or adapting governance and decision-making structures of building management and homeowners or tenants associations; tackling regulatory barriers such as property/rental laws and condominium laws; defining appropriate financing strategies for the specific target group; addressing split incentives; and setting up and/or coordinating relevant support or advisory services such as resource centres and one-stop shops.

Actions are encouraged to consider both winter and summer energy poverty and integrate building-level measures with community or neighbourhood-level approaches. Proposals should demonstrate affordability for energy poor residents in terms of both upfront and longer-term costs and ensure residents can remain in their homes after works, thereby avoiding renovictions. Homeowners or tenant associations and housing organisations should be directly involved in the consortium or demonstrate concrete commitment through tailored letters of support.

Key Requirements and Conditions

• Actions must contribute to actively alleviating energy poverty and build on tools, indicators and resources of existing initiatives such as the Energy Poverty Advisory Hub and the energy poverty pillar of the Covenant of Mayors
• Proposals are encouraged to focus on summer energy poverty alleviation and/or actions in geographic areas with less developed energy poverty alleviation measures and frameworks
• Proposals should take into account multiple benefits from energy efficiency and renewable energy for different energy poor target groups, including improved health, comfort, air quality, and better social inclusion
• Specific attention should be paid to particular groups more at risk of energy poverty or more susceptible to adverse impacts, taking into account gender where relevant
• Proposals are not expected to develop new IT tools, databases or platforms unless their added value compared to existing ones is justified and potential scale-up beyond the project is convincingly addressed
• Results and impacts should be quantified for the end of the project and for 5 years after project completion
• Proposals must demonstrate clear causality links between activities, results and impacts based on solid analysis of current situation, realistic assumptions and baselines

Expected Impacts and Performance Indicators

Proposals should present concrete results and demonstrate how these contribute to topic-specific impacts. In qualitative terms, proposals should demonstrate contribution to reduction of summer energy poverty for targeted households (Scope B) and development of successful coordination structures (Scope A) that can be replicated in other regions or Member States.

Topic-Specific Quantitative Indicators

• Number of energy poor households with reduced energy costs (Scope A and B)
• Number of energy poor consumers benefitting from activities (Scope A and B)
• Number of residential multi-apartment buildings renovated or renovations triggered by project end (Scope B)
• Number of governance and decision-making structures reinforced/adapted for residential multi-apartment buildings to facilitate energy renovation investments (Scope B)
• Number of tailored financing strategies developed for multi-apartment building renovation with energy poor residents (Scope B)
• Number of agreements concluded between homeowners and tenant associations demonstrating commitment to energy renovation investments (Scope B)
• Number of energy poverty coordination structures established or reinforced (Scope A)
• Number of legislative or implementing acts, policies or strategies created/adapted on energy poverty, including summer energy poverty where relevant (Scope A and B)
• Number of public authorities and stakeholders with increased capacity and skills (mainly Scope A)
• Number of training hours per participant in capacity-building programmes (Scope A)
• Increased energy poor household ability to maintain home below critical heat threshold (Scope A and B)
• Quantified multiple benefits for energy poor households such as improved physical and mental health, comfort and indoor environment, better indoor air quality, improved social inclusion, reduced public health expenditure (Scope A and B)

Common LIFE Clean Energy Transition Sub-Programme Indicators

• Primary energy savings triggered by the project in GWh/year
• Final energy savings triggered by the project in GWh/year
• Renewable energy generation triggered by the project in GWh/year
• Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in tCO2-eq/year
• Investments in sustainable energy (energy efficiency and renewable energy) triggered by the project (cumulative, in million Euro)

Policy Context and Legal Framework

This call implements key EU legislation and policy frameworks including the European Green Deal, the Fit for 55 package, the recast Energy Efficiency Directive (EED), the revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), and the Citizens Energy Package. The call supports Member States in fulfilling their obligations to empower and protect energy poor people and implement energy efficiency improvement measures as a priority among affected populations, vulnerable customers, and people in low-income households.

The call also addresses the split incentive dilemma and removes barriers to energy efficiency measures in multi-owner properties. It supports the implementation of the European Commission's guidance on EED implementation and the EC Recommendation on Energy Poverty with accompanying Staff Working Document setting out measures and policies that can be adopted.

Application Process and Documentation

Submission Method:Online submission via the EU Funding and Tenders Portal (single-stage process)

Required Documents:Application Form Part A (administrative information, generated by the Portal system), Application Form Part B (technical description, uploaded as PDF), detailed budget table, participant information forms, co-financing declarations, and letters of support from stakeholders demonstrating commitment

Language:Proposals may be submitted in any official EU language, though English is strongly recommended for efficiency. Project abstract/summary should always be in English.

Page Limits:Full proposals typically limited to 200 pages (excluding annexes), with minimum font size Arial 10 points and margins of at least 15mm on all sides

Evaluation and Award Criteria

Proposals will be evaluated based on relevance, impact, and implementation quality. Evaluators will assess how well proposals address the call objectives, demonstrate credible and ambitious impacts, show realistic and achievable implementation plans, and present sustainable results with potential for replication and upscaling. The evaluation will consider the quality of the consortium, the clarity of the work plan, the adequacy of resources, and the strength of stakeholder engagement and support.

Key Considerations for Applicants

• Ensure genuine partnership with at least 3 beneficiaries from 3 different countries; affiliated entities do not count toward this requirement
• Clearly specify which scope (A or B) the proposal addresses in the introduction
• For Scope A proposals, demonstrate added value of any new coordination structures compared to existing initiatives and secure support from main public authorities involved
• For Scope B proposals, ensure homeowners or tenant associations are directly involved or provide strong letters of support; demonstrate affordability and prevent renovictions
• Build on existing initiatives such as the Energy Poverty Advisory Hub and Covenant of Mayors rather than duplicating efforts
• Provide realistic baselines and assumptions with clear causality links between activities, results and impacts
• Include specific activities for monitoring, evaluation and reporting of impacts throughout and after project completion
• Develop a convincing sustainability plan ensuring results continue beyond project funding
• Demonstrate how results can be replicated in other regions or Member States
• Ensure visibility of EU funding in all communication and dissemination activities
• Consider complementarity with other EU funding mechanisms such as the Social Climate Fund or Just Transition Mechanism
• Avoid developing new IT tools unless clear added value and scale-up potential are demonstrated

Support and Resources

Applicants should consult the LIFE Multiannual Work Programme 2025-2027, the LIFE Regulation 2021/783, the EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509, the EU Grants AGA (Annotated Model Grant Agreement), and the Funding and Tenders Portal Online Manual. National Contact Points (NCPs) provide support for proposal preparation. The Energy Poverty Advisory Hub and EU-PEERS project offer practical guidance and best practice examples. Info sessions and recordings may be available to support applicants in understanding the call requirements and developing competitive proposals.

Related Calls and Complementary Opportunities

Applicants addressing building renovation actions without a clear focus on energy poor households should consider applying under LIFE-2026-CET-BETTERRENO. Those addressing One-Stop-Shops for renovation should consider LIFE-2026-CET-OSS. Proposals addressing support services for energy communities should consider LIFE-2026-CET-ENERCOM. The broader LIFE Clean Energy Transition call includes 13 topics addressing different aspects of the clean energy transition, with a total budget of €589 million available in 2026.

Footnotes

1. 1According to the call document, energy poverty is defined in line with Article 2(52) of the EED (recast) as a household's lack of access to essential energy services providing basic levels and decent standards of living and health, including adequate heating, hot water, cooling, lighting, and energy to power appliances, caused by a combination of factors including non-affordability, insufficient disposable income, high energy expenditure and poor energy efficiency of homes.