Project Development Assistance for sustainable energy investments

LIFE-2026-CET-PDA provides technical assistance grants to prepare and launch pipelines of energy efficiency and renewable energy investments across eligible LIFE countries, with an indicative topic budget of €8,000,000 and recommended EU contributions of €1.0–€1.5 millionper proposal. The grant is budget-based with a funding rate of 95% for Other Action Grants and requires applicants to be legal entities such as public authorities, infrastructure operators, energy agencies, ESCOs, large property owners or industry actors established in eligible countries. Projects must demonstrate the actual launch of sustainable energy investments within the project duration and a leverage factor of at least €15 of investments per €1 of EU support (or 10 for residential-only pipelines), evidenced by signed contracts or equivalent proof. The single-stage call opens on 21 April 2026 and the submission deadline is 16 September 2026, 17:00 Brussels time, via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal.

What it funds

Technical assistance to prepare and launch pipelines of sustainable energy investments (energy efficiency and/or renewable energy). Typical activities: project bundling, feasibility and technical studies, energy audits, legal and procurement support, financing design and market structuring, stakeholder engagement and launch of investment contracts.

Expected outputs and performance requirements:Projects must result in the actual launch of sustainable energy investments during the project and demonstrate a leverage factor of at least €15 invested per €1 of EU support (or at least 10 for projects targeting exclusively residential buildings). Results must be quantified for end of project and for 5 years after ¹.

Who can apply

Single applicant or applicants from a single eligible country. Eligible applicants include public authorities or their groupings, public/private infrastructure operators, energy agencies, ESCOs, retail chains, large property owners, industry and other public or private project promoters.

Scope and eligible sectors

Eligible pipelines:existing residential and non‑residential buildings (renovation only), decarbonisation and modernisation of district heating/cooling, local electricity grid digitalisation, energy efficiency in public infrastructure and industry, decentralised renewables replacing fossil fuels. Innovative organisational or financing solutions (e.g., aggregation, project development units, EPCs, blended finance) are central; novel unproven technologies are out of scope.

Financials and timetable

Call deadline:16 September 2026 (17:00 Brussels time). Funding rate for Other Action Grants (OAGs) is 95%. The LIFE programme suggests proposals requesting €1–€1.5 millionfrom the EU are appropriate, but other amounts may be considered. The LIFE CET calls include an indicative PDA topic budget of €8,000,000 (2026). Projects must provide evidence (e.g., signed contracts) that investments will be launched within the project duration.

1. 1Deadline: 2026-09-16T17:00 Brussels time
2. 2Suggested EU contribution per project: €1.0–€1.5 million (indicative)
3. 3Funding rate: up to 95% (OAGs)
4. 4Call budget (topic-level, 2026): €8,000,000

Submit via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal:EU Funding & Tenders Portal. Read the call document, application templates and Annexes in the Portal before preparing the proposal.

Footnotes

1. 1See the topic description and required impact indicators in the Call document and Annexes on the Funding & Tenders Portal for reporting requirements and indicator definitions: Call Document.

Call identifier:LIFE-2026-CET-PDA. Programme: LIFE Clean Energy Transition (sub-programme of LIFE). Call type: Call for proposals — LIFE Project Grants (LIFE-PJG), LIFE Action Grant Budget-Based (LIFE-AG). Opening date: 21 April 2026. Deadline: 16 September 2026, 17:00 Brussels time. Submission route: EU Funding & Tenders Portal (single-stage submission). Funding rate: Other Action Grants (OAGs) — 95%. Indicative total budget for this topic: €8,000,000 (budget year 2026).

What this topic funds and expected impact

Purpose:Project Development Assistance (PDA) provides technical assistance to convert sustainable energy project ideas into actual investments. Grants support public and private project promoters through project development steps required to deliver energy efficiency and/or renewable energy investments of ambition and scale. PDA targets the launch of investment pipelines and the design of innovative organisational and/or financing approaches that mobilise private capital and reduce public budgetary costs per unit of investment.

Mandatory impact and performance expectations:proposals must quantify results at project end and for five years after project end using provided indicators. A central selection requirement is demonstration that each €1 million of EU support will lead to at least €15 million of investments launched during the project lifetime (leverage factor >= 15). For projects targeting exclusively residential building investments a minimum leverage factor of €10 million investment per €1 million EU support applies. Evidence of investment launch (signed contracts or equivalent convincing proof) is required as deliverables and must be clearly identified in the proposal.

Scope and eligible sectors:PDA supports preparation and launch of investment pipelines for energy efficiency and/or renewable energy projects. Activities can include project bundling, technical studies, energy audits, financing option assessments, legal advice, tender preparation, stakeholder engagement and capacity building. Target sectors explicitly include: (1) Buildings — existing residential (including rental, social housing, district renovation) and existing non-residential (public buildings, hospitals, academies, defence, commercial). New-build is out of scope. (2) Local energy and other infrastructures — decarbonisation/modernisation of existing district heating/cooling networks (extensions only if fully based on low-temperature renewables or waste heat), digitalisation/modernisation of local electricity grids supporting efficiency, renewables, electrification and flexibility, and efficiency improvements in public infrastructure such as water/wastewater services. (3) Industry — companies, SMEs and industrial clusters pursuing organisational and financial innovations to advance beyond business-as-usual. (4) Renewables — decentralised renewable electricity and renewables that directly replace solid or fossil fuels in end uses, provided solutions are commercially available (innovative technological R&D is out of scope).

Eligibility and application model

Submission model and language:single-stage full proposals submitted electronically through the Funding & Tenders Portal. Applications may be prepared in any official EU language, but the project abstract must be provided in English. The call implements LIFE Project Grants Budget-Based (LIFE-AG) Model Grant Agreement (LIFE MGA) rules and the Application Form (Part A and Part B) templates available in the Submission System must be used.

Who can apply:Eligible applicants include public or private project promoters: public authorities or their groupings, public/private infrastructure operators and bodies, energy agencies, energy service companies (ESCOs), retail chains, large property owners, service companies and industry actors. Applications may be submitted by a single applicant or by applicants from a single eligible country — the call explicitly allows single-applicant submissions or applicants grouped within one eligible country. Legal entities must be established in eligible countries as described in the call document (EU Member States, overseas countries/territories linked to the EU and countries associated to the LIFE Programme). Natural persons are not eligible.

Key financial and delivery rules

Recommended project EU contribution:the Commission considers that a request in the €1.0–€1.5 millionrange is appropriate to address the specific objectives, although other amounts can be proposed. Funding rate: 95% for Other Action Grants (OAGs). Expected deliverables include the project development outputs and, critically, convincing evidence of investments launched (signed work or investment contracts or specific alternative proof justified in context). The proposal must quantify project results and impacts at project end and for five years after project end using the topic-specific and common LIFE CET indicators (primary and final energy savings, renewable generation, GHG emission reductions, investments triggered, jobs created, staff with increased skills, organisations with increased capacity, and the leverage factor).

Leverage and co-funding expectations:Leverage requirement: the proposal must demonstrate and commit to launching sustainable energy investments during the project duration showing a leverage factor of at least €15 million of investments per €1 million of EU support (or €10 million per €1 million for projects exclusively targeting residential buildings). Co-funding: the LIFE grant finances up to the funding rate indicated (95%); applicants normally provide the remaining financing (co-funding) where required by the LIFE budget rules or to complete the investment structuring. The call requires demonstration of a realistic investment pipeline and, where relevant, confirmation of complementary or leveraged funding from other sources (letters of support, complementary funding declarations, financial commitments).

Application logistics and evaluation

Submission:electronic submission through Funding & Tenders Portal — follow the Call page link, use the specific Application Form templates (Part A / Part B), Detailed Budget Table (LIFE), Participant information, Table of investments (LIFE OAG CSA PDA) and other Annex templates provided in the Submission System. Page limits and layout rules apply (Part B page limits, A4, Arial 10 minimum, margins), and supporting documents are uploaded as annexes. Evaluation: described in the Call document and Online Manual. The call is single-stage; applicants must satisfy admissibility and eligibility checks and pass award criteria (quality, impact, and implementation). The call timeline and indicative evaluation milestones are provided in the call documentation.

1. 1Application type: open call, single-stage through EU Funding & Tenders Portal
2. 2Templates provided: Standard Application Form (LIFE SAP and OAG) in Submission System; Detailed Budget Table (LIFE); Participant Information; Table of investments (LIFE OAG CSA PDA); Model Grant Agreement (LIFE MGA); Complementary Funding Declaration; other annex templates
3. 3Admissibility checks: proposal page limits and layout (Part B) and mandatory documents per call conditions
4. 4Evaluation stages: eligibility checks, expert evaluation against award criteria, possible clarification steps, final award and Grant Agreement preparation

Eligible Applicant Types (detailed)

Eligible applicant types for this topic (explicit in the call):public authorities and their groupings, public/private infrastructure operators and bodies, energy agencies, energy service companies (ESCOs), retail chains, large property owners, services and industry (including SMEs and industrial clusters). In practice eligible legal entity types include: public bodies, regional and local authorities, municipally owned utilities, infrastructure operators, universities and research institutions where acting as project promoters, private companies (SMEs and large enterprises), non-profit bodies and energy agencies, and public-private entities acting as project developers. Natural persons are not eligible to apply directly.

Funding Type

Primary financial mechanism:grant. Type: EU action grant under LIFE (Other Action Grants / Coordination and Support Actions category in the LIFE Clean Energy Transition call architecture). The grant is budget-based and follows the LIFE Action Grant Budget-Based model agreement rules (LIFE MGA).

Consortium Requirement

Consortium model:single applicant or multiple applicants from a single eligible country. The call text explicitly allows single-applicant proposals and proposals submitted by applicants from a single eligible country. Therefore, neither multi-country consortia nor mandatory multi‑partner consortia are required for this topic; projects may be delivered by a single project developer or a set of partners within the same eligible country acting together.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility)

Geographic eligibility:LIFE Programme eligible countries — EU Member States and territories linked to the EU, plus countries associated to the LIFE Programme (see call document Section 6 for the complete list). The call is targeted at activities implemented within LIFE eligible countries; proposals should identify the targeted territories and demonstrate involvement/commitment of local/regional authorities where relevant.

Target Sector(s)

Thematic/industry sectors targeted:clean energy transition across buildings (residential and non‑residential existing buildings), local energy infrastructures (district heating/cooling, digitalised/local electricity grids, water/wastewater public infrastructure), industry (manufacturing, services, industrial clusters), and decentralised renewables that replace fossil fuels in targeted end uses. Cross-cutting themes: organisational innovation, aggregation/bundling approaches, project development units, one-stop-shops, and financial engineering (blending, EPCs, on-bill/on-tax schemes, community financing, dedicated instruments) for investment mobilisation.

Mentioned Countries

The call text refers to LIFE eligible countries (EU Member States and overseas countries/territories linked to the EU) and countries associated to the LIFE Programme. The call also references EU-level policies and initiatives (REPowerEU, Green Deal Investment Plan) and suggests coordination with EU instruments (European City Facility, InvestEU) but does not list an explicit closed list of countries in the topic text published — applicants must consult the Call document Section 6 (Eligibility) and the Portal for the full list of eligible countries.

Project Stage (expected maturity)

Expected project maturity:project development, preparation, validation and launch of investments. PDA funds project development activities (technical, economic, legal, organisational, financial) that turn concepts into bankable, ready‑to‑finance investments. Typical TRL/TRL-equivalent: mature technologies commercially available (TRL 8–9) with focus on project structuring and market/contractual readiness rather than RDI. Activities concentrate on development, validation, procurement preparation and launch (demonstration of actual investment commitments during project lifetime).

Funding Amount (range and scale)

Call-level budget for LIFE-2026-CET-PDA:€8,000,000 (indicative). At proposal level the Commission guidance: proposals requesting a contribution from the EU in the range €1.0–€1.5 millionare considered appropriate to address the objectives. Proposals requesting other amounts may be submitted; the selection will consider scope and ambition.

Application Type

Open call. Single-stage full proposal submission via the Funding & Tenders Portal. Applicants must use the Submission System templates and follow the Portal instructions. The call is open and competitive; no invitations or prior expressions of interest are required.

Nature of Support

The primary support is monetary (EU grant). The action also provides non-monetary technical assistance as part of the grant-funded project activities (capacity building, technical studies, legal advisory, tender preparation, stakeholder engagement, training and knowledge transfer). The grant finances the project developer’s PDA activities; the expected output is launched investments financed by third parties and documented during the project.

Application Stages

Number of application stages:1 (single-stage call). Applicants submit a full application (Part A and Part B) in one submission window and the proposal is evaluated against admissibility, eligibility and the award criteria defined in the Call document.

Success Rates

Success rate:not explicitly published for this topic. The call is competitive; selection depends on proposal quality, expected impact and budget available. The topic budget is €8,000,000; the number of grants to be awarded is indicative and depends on selected proposals and requested EU contributions. Applicants should assume a competitive selection and prepare high-quality, evidence-based proposals with realistic, well‑documented pipelines and leverage proofs.

Co-funding Requirement

Co-funding requirements:LIFE grant finances up to the funding rate (95% for OAGs). Applicants should provide any additional co-funding needed to implement their PDA activities and to evidence the mobilisation of the investment pipeline. The call requires proposals to demonstrate mobilised investment amounts and complementary resources; there is no mandatory fixed co‑finance percentage beyond funding-rate mechanics, but applicants must account for total project costs and how additional funding (public or private) will be deployed or accessed.

Templates and Application Structure

Templates available and required documents (applicants must use Portal templates in Submission System and upload annexes): Standard Application Form (Part A — administrative forms auto-generated in Submission System), Technical Description (Part B using LIFE SAP and OAG template), Detailed Budget Table (LIFE) — Excel, Participant Information template, Table of investments (LIFE OAG CSA PDA), Participant Information annex (to be uploaded), Complementary Funding Declaration (if complementary public funding is foreseen), Model Grant Agreement (LIFE MGA), LIFE Multiannual Work Programme 2025–2027, LIFE Regulation and EU Financial Regulation references, and other reference documents. The Participant Information annex provides structured fields for each participant: legal name, description, key staff, relevant projects, affiliated entities, and associated partners. Detailed budget and personnel effort tables must be completed in the provided Detailed Budget Table spreadsheet. Applicants should include letters of support and signed commitments by investment counterparties where available and include a Table of Investments (pipeline) with clear project-by-project data, amounts, timelines, and contractual evidence plan. The Portal provides Part B page limits and layout rules (Part B content is subject to page limits and minimum font size).

1. 1Application Form: Part A (administrative) and Part B (technical) — use the SAP/OAG template in the Submission System
2. 2Detailed budget table (LIFE) — mandatory annex
3. 3Participant Information (LIFE) — mandatory annex (project-level details for each beneficiary)
4. 4Table of investments (LIFE OAG CSA PDA) — to document envisaged pipeline and leverage
5. 5Complementary Funding Declaration — to be used where external public financing will complement the PDA action
6. 6Model Grant Agreement (LIFE MGA) and reference documents — read carefully before submission

Evaluation focus and proposal requirements (guidance)

The evaluation will judge relevance, quality and effectiveness of the project development plan, credibility of the envisaged investment pipeline and leverage, technical and financial feasibility of the investment launch during project lifetime, innovation in organisational and/or financing approaches (showcase dimension and replicability), capacity-building outcomes (staff and institutional skills), stakeholder engagement and readiness of investment counterparties, and quality of the monitoring and impact quantification (end of project and 5‑year post-project calculations). Proposals must establish clear causality between PDA activities and the expected investments, provide market/barrier analysis, quantify indicators, and commit to deliver the contractual evidence of investment launch as project deliverables.

Key indicators applicants must quantify

1. 1Investments in sustainable energy launched and evidenced by project end (cumulative, million EUR) and the leverage factor (investments launched per EUR of EU support)
2. 2Primary and final energy savings triggered by the project (GWh/year)
3. 3Renewable energy generation triggered (GWh/year)
4. 4Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (tCO2-eq/year)
5. 5Number of staff with increased skills within project organisations
6. 6Number of organisations with increased capacity to deliver sustainable energy investments and/or tailored organisational structures
7. 7Number of jobs directly and indirectly created

How to demonstrate investment launch and evidence

Evidence requirements:signed work or investment contracts, binding procurement contracts, signed investment agreements, binding loan/financing commitments, or similarly convincing documentation must be identified in the proposal and submitted as project deliverables. Generic contractual access to finance without project-specific, signed commitments is not considered sufficient. If similar alternative evidence is proposed, applicants must clearly justify why it is equivalent and credible in the specific investment context and how it guarantees that investments will be launched during the project period.

Recommended proposal structure highlights:Part B must include: starting point analysis and baseline; detailed investment pipeline (project-by-project table with sizes, beneficiaries, technologies, timelines and evidence plan); market/barrier analysis; technical, legal and financial due diligence plans; detailed PDA tasks (bundling, technical studies, audits, tender preparation, stakeholder engagement); clear financial engineering and mobilisation plan showing blending and private finance mobilisation strategies; capacity-building and institutional set-up; monitoring and data collection plan with LPI reporting; risk register with mitigation; and an exploitation/replication strategy for after the grant ends.

Practical support and references

Submission portals and guidance:proposals must be prepared and submitted via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. The Portal contains the call page, templates, Online Manual and IT guidance. Additional support: LIFE call documentation (Call document, Work Programme), Model Grant Agreement (LIFE MGA), LIFE Multiannual Work Programme 2025–2027, EU Financial Regulation, online manual and CINEA guidance and NCP support. Info sessions and Portal helpdesk will be available during the call lifecycle. Examples of relevant prior projects and facilities to consult: earlier LIFE CET PDA projects, Horizon 2020 PDA examples, the European City Facility (EUCF) project pipeline and methodologies, and LIFE CET heating and cooling support outputs. Applicants are strongly encouraged to consult the call documentation and the Portal resources to ensure full compliance with admissibility/eligibility and to use the correct templates and annex structures.

Useful supporting documents and templates (examples that will be available inside the Submission System and Call page): Application form templates (LIFE SAP and OAG), Detailed budget table (LIFE) spreadsheet, Participant information (LIFE), Table of investments (LIFE OAG CSA PDA), Complementary funding declaration template, LIFE Multiannual Work Programme 2025–2027, LIFE Regulation 2021/783, EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509, Model Grant Agreement (LIFE MGA), Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual, Portal helpdesk and CINEA/NCP support.

Risks and evaluation pitfalls applicants must avoid:Common weaknesses that lead to low scores: weak or unsubstantiated investment pipelines; absence of credible signed commitments or reasonable equivalently justified proof; unclear causality between PDA activities and investment launch; insufficient demonstration of private financing mobilisation; inadequate market/barrier analyses; missing stakeholder engagement evidence; poor quantification of impacts (end of project and 5-year projections); missing or incomplete annexes, letters of support or complementary funding evidence.

For further official guidance and templates consult the Call document and the Submission System on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. Applicants are advised to contact the LIFE Info Desk, their National Contact Point (NCP) and to use the Portal helpdesk in case of IT or eligibility questions. The Portal also provides LPI guidance and KPI reporting templates for LIFE projects ¹.

Footnotes

1. 1Call documentation, templates and submission instructions are available on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal call page (Project Development Assistance for sustainable energy investments — LIFE-2026-CET-PDA) and in the Submission System application template library. Applicants must use the official templates (Application Form Part A/B, Detailed Budget Table, Participant Information, Table of Investments and Complementary Funding Declaration).

Funding Opportunity Overview

The LIFE-2026-CET-PDA call provides technical assistance grants to convert sustainable energy project ideas into actual investments. This opportunity supports public and private project developers in preparing and launching investment pipelines for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects across Europe. The call is part of the LIFE Clean Energy Transition sub-programme, which aims to accelerate the clean energy transition through capacity building, market barrier removal, and investment mobilisation.

Key Funding Details

Total Budget Available:€8,000,000 for the 2026 call year.

Recommended Grant Range:€1 to €1.5 millionper proposal. The Commission considers this range appropriate to address the specific objectives, though other amounts may be submitted and selected.

Funding Rate:95% of eligible costs for Other Action Grants (OAGs). Beneficiaries must cover the remaining 5% through co-financing.

Submission Deadline:16 September 2026, 17:00 Brussels time. This is a single-stage submission process.

Eligibility Criteria

Who Can Apply

Proposals may be submitted by a single applicant or by applicants from a single eligible country. Eligible applicants include public or private project promoters such as public authorities or their groupings, public/private infrastructure operators and bodies, energy agencies, energy service companies, retail chains, large property owners, services or industry. Applicants must be legal entities (public or private bodies) established in eligible countries.

Eligible Countries:EU Member States, Ukraine, Moldova, and North Macedonia. Activities must take place in these countries.

Consortium Requirements:Single applicant proposals are permitted. Multi-applicant proposals must involve at least 3 applicants (beneficiaries, not affiliated entities) from 3 different eligible countries if pursuing a multi-country approach.

Financial and Operational Capacity

Applicants must demonstrate adequate financial and operational capacity to carry out the proposed project. This includes having sufficient resources, expertise, and management structures. Applicants subject to exclusion grounds under EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509 are ineligible.

Project Scope and Objectives

Project Development Assistance (PDA) offers technical assistance to convert sustainable energy project ideas into actual investments. The primary objective is to support project developers in preparing and launching investment pipelines of sustainable energy projects, including energy efficiency and renewable energy initiatives. PDA projects contribute to implementing key EU directives including the Energy Efficiency Directive, Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, and Renewable Energy Directive.

Eligible Sectors

• Buildings: Existing residential buildings (including rental sector, social housing, district-level renovation approaches) and existing non-residential buildings (public buildings, hospitals, academies, defence facilities, commercial buildings). New building construction is excluded.
• Local Energy and Other Infrastructures: Decarbonisation and modernisation of existing district heating/cooling networks, digitalisation and modernisation of existing local electricity grids, and energy efficiency improvements in existing public infrastructure such as water/wastewater services.
• Industry: Industry, businesses and services, including SMEs or industrial clusters, clearly advancing beyond business-as-usual approaches in terms of organisational and financial innovation.
• Renewables: Decentralised renewable electricity production and other renewable energy production directly replacing solid and/or fossil fuel use in targeted end-use sectors, advancing beyond business-as-usual approaches. Innovative technological solutions not yet commercially available are excluded.

Required Leverage Factor

PDA projects must lead to the actual launch of sustainable energy investments within the project duration, demonstrating a leverage factor of at least 15 compared to the technical assistance grant (or at least 10 for projects targeting exclusively investments in residential buildings). This means every €1 million of EU support must result in at least €15 million of investments in sustainable energy launched during the project duration (or €10 million for residential-only projects).

Expected Activities and Deliverables

PDA projects should provide and build technical, economic and legal skills and expertise for project developers. Activities can include project bundling, technical studies, energy audits, assessing financing options, legal advice, tendering procedure preparation, outreach and engagement, and other project development support services.

Innovation Requirements

Proposals should demonstrate a clear showcase dimension in delivering innovative solutions for accelerating sustainable energy investments across Europe. This includes organisational innovation regarding the mobilisation and/or structuring of the investment programme (such as setting up facilitation structures, project development units, one-stop-shops, aggregation and bundling/pooling approaches, or efficient procurement procedures for large-scale portfolios) and/or financial engineering tailored to the specific project context, with a particular focus on leveraging private investment including blending public with private financing or improved combination of existing funds. Examples include Energy Performance Contracting (EPC), dedicated financial instruments, on-bill and on-tax payment schemes, and community-based financing schemes.

Impact Indicators and Monitoring

Proposals must quantify results and impacts using specified indicators, with measurements for both the end of the project and 5 years after project completion. Topic-specific indicators include investments in sustainable energy launched and evidenced by project end, ratio of sustainable energy investments launched to EU support requested (leverage factor), number of staff with increased skills within project organisations, number of organisations with increased capacity to deliver sustainable energy investments, and number of jobs directly and indirectly created.

Common LIFE Clean Energy Transition 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)

Application Process and Timeline

Submission Method:Applications must be submitted online via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. Proposals must be prepared using the standard application form templates available in the submission system.

Application Components:Part A contains structured administrative information generated by the IT system. Part B is a narrative technical description of the project submitted as a PDF. Supporting documents can be provided as annexes.

Evaluation Timeline:Calls typically allow 3-6 months for submission, with evaluations taking around 4-5 months and project agreements signed 8-12 months after the call deadline.

Admissibility and Evaluation Criteria

Admissibility Conditions

Proposals must comply with page limits and layout requirements specified in the call document. The proposal must be submitted before the deadline and include all mandatory documents. Applicants must declare compliance with eligibility criteria and confirm that project activities have not started before proposal submission (unless explicitly authorised).

Award Criteria

Proposals are evaluated based on relevance to the call topic, quality of the proposed approach, credibility and ambition of expected impacts, quality of implementation including work plan and consortium composition, and sustainability of results. Detailed scoring and thresholds are provided in the call document section 9.

Grant Agreement and Financial Management

Grant Form:Budget-based action grant with 95% funding rate.

Eligible Cost Categories:Personnel costs (employees, natural persons under direct contract, seconded persons, SME owners, volunteers), subcontracting costs, purchase costs (travel and subsistence, equipment, other goods/works/services), and indirect costs (7% flat-rate of eligible direct costs).

Payment Schedule:Initial prefinancing payment upon entry into force, additional prefinancing if applicable, interim payments during project implementation, and final payment upon project completion. Payments are made 90 days from receiving periodic reports.

Financial Guarantees:A prefinancing guarantee may be required. The granting authority determines the guarantee amount based on risk assessment.

Mandatory Requirements and Obligations

• Proposals must result in the actual launch of sustainable energy investments within the project duration with evidence in the form of signed work or investment contracts or similar convincing proof.
• A dedicated project page must be established on beneficiaries' websites.
• An exploitation plan including replication component or business plan including replication component must be developed.
• Project data from the LIFE KPI webtool must be extracted and reported at month 9 and end of project.
• Communication and dissemination activities must ensure visibility of EU funding through use of the European flag and funding statement.
• Beneficiaries must maintain records and supporting documents for at least 3 years after final payment.
• Continuous reporting of deliverables is required through the Funding & Tenders Portal.
• Periodic technical reports and financial statements must be submitted according to the reporting schedule.

Strategic Context and Policy Alignment

This call supports the implementation of the European Green Deal, REPowerEU roadmap, and EU energy and climate targets for 2030 and 2050. PDA projects contribute to achieving climate neutrality by 2050 and reducing EU dependence on fossil fuel imports. The call aligns with the Clean Industrial Deal, Affordable Energy Action Plan, and supports the phase-out of EU fossil fuel imports from Russia. Projects should address energy system resilience against geopolitical crises and support long-term structural sustainable energy measures.

Key Considerations for Applicants

• Clearly identify the initially envisaged investment pipeline and demonstrate the necessity of intervention to foster energy efficiency improvements and renewable energy deployment.
• Provide detailed market/barrier analysis and specify financial and organisational approaches to be investigated and operationalised during the project.
• Demonstrate engagement of key stakeholders, including financial stakeholders, through consortium participation or tailored letters of support.
• Ensure high ambition levels regarding investments, leverage envisaged, innovation, sectors and locations addressed, and energy savings and decarbonisation targets.
• Build on or complement results from other EU-funded projects, particularly those under Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe.
• For industrial sector proposals, consider applying under LIFE-2026-CET-INDUSTRY if the focus is on supporting clean energy transition of European industries and businesses.
• For private building proposals, consider applying under LIFE-2026-CET-OSS if the focus is on developing integrated services for clean energy transition in private buildings.
• Coordinate with national hubs of the European Energy Efficiency Financing Coalition where relevant.

Support and Resources

Applicants should consult the LIFE Multiannual Work Programme 2025-2027, LIFE Regulation 2021/783, EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509, and the Model Grant Agreement (MGA) for detailed guidance. The EU Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual provides step-by-step procedures for registration and proposal submission. National Contact Points (NCPs) offer support for proposal preparation. The LIFE database and CORDIS website contain information on previously funded projects that may serve as references.

Important Notes

Double funding from the EU budget is strictly prohibited except under EU Synergies actions. Applicants must declare that neither the project nor any parts of it have benefitted from or will be submitted for other EU grants. False statements or incorrect information may lead to administrative sanctions under EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509. All communication with the granting authority will be conducted through the Funding & Tenders Portal electronic exchange system.