Deadline: 07-Oct-20
The Ministry of Environment and Water has announced a Call for proposals under the Open Call “Climate” under Outcome 4: “Increased ability of local communities to reduce emissions and adapt to changing climate” under the Programme: Environment Protection and Climate Change, cofinanced by the EEA Financial Mechanism 2014-2021.
The purpose of the Call is to increase the capacity of local municipalities to evaluate their strategic plans and programs in terms of planned and implemented actions, resulting in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and adaptation to the adverse effects of climate change. As a result, it will facilitate the planning and implementation of new strategic steps to put in place good practices to prevent or minimize the damage they may cause.
Under this Call, pilot and innovative projects implemented in a consortium of several municipalities – 1 beneficiary municipality with several partner municipalities – will be promoted, with the aim of transferring results to more than one municipality and / or bilateral initiatives implemented.
Funding Information
- Total procedure budget is EUR 3 000 000. The minimum amount of funding is EUR 200,000 and the maximum is EUR 500,000.
- The duration of the project is from 12 months to 24 months.
Eligible Activities
The following activities shall be considered eligible under this Call:
- Project management activities. These include activities related to project planning and coordination of daily activities between partners, reporting, financial management, interaction with monitoring and control authorities and similar nontechnical activities necessary for the successful implementation of the project; Ensure publicity under the Communication and Design Guide of the EEA Financial Mechanism for 2014-2020.
- Specific minimum required technical activities related to this Call, namely for the purpose of addressing issues identified in Outcome 4: ” Increased ability of local communities to reduce emissions and adapt to changing climate “, are as follows:
- Improvement of the competence of municipal employees in the planning of climate change mitigation and adaptation measures;
- Improvement of skills and expertise at local level in order to review and evaluate the effectiveness of their strategic plans and measures already taken, as well as to facilitate their efforts to identify gaps in climate change mitigation and adaptation actions, incl. to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and actions in extreme weather events;
- Development and implementation of measures for climate change mitigation and adaptation in the transport, waste, construction, energy and water sectors;
- Dissemination of good practices by Donor States in the field of climate change adaptation;
Other eligible activities that can be funded are, as follows:
- Municipal projects for implementation of activities under national and local strategic plans. Activities should focus on reducing or limiting greenhouse gas emissions and strengthening the resilience of local communities to climate change;
- Assessment of the municipal plans in terms of the achievement of the objectives for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and outlined measures for climate change adaptation;
- Development of local plans for reducing green house gas emissions and climate change adaptation;
- Project-related knowledge acquisition activities as a result of a partnership with a Donor State.
Eligibility Criteria
- Under this Call, eligible Applicants are municipalities in the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria.
- Applicants may apply individually or in partnership. The application is made by submitting an Application form (by the applicant) on behalf of all partners.
- One municipality may be a Project promoter within only one project and/ or partner in not more than two projects under this Call.
- Ineligible (even if meeting the above criteria) shall be any Applicant/partner(s) who:
Was convicted by an enforced judgement (unless rehabilitated) for:
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- a crime against the financial, tax or insurance system, including money laundering, under Art. 253 – Art. 260 of the Bulgarian Penal Code or similar foreign legislation;
- a bribery under Art. 301 – Art. 307 of the Bulgarian Penal Code or similar foreign legislation;
- participation in an organized criminal group under Art. 321 and Art. 321 of the Bulgarian Penal Code or similar foreign legislation;
- an offence against property under Art. 194 – Art. 217 of the Bulgarian Penal Code or similar foreign legislation;
- an offence against the economy under Art. 219 – Art. 252 of the Bulgarian Penal Code or similar foreign legislation;
- a crime under Art. 108a of the Bulgarian Penal Code or similar foreign legislation;
- Has declared bankruptcy
- Is in liquidation proceedings or in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure under national laws and regulations.
- Has exceeded the de minimis threshold for de minimis state aid granted by his/her state under the relevant legislation of that state. Other irregularities or obstructions may also lead to the rejection of an Applicant. These include inter alia:
- Obligations to the state or to a municipality within the meaning of item 1 of art. 162 (2) of the Bulgarian Tax Insurance Procedure Code or any amount to be recovered under different project due to an irregularity.
- Any other proven breach of good governance, as defined in Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 and/or the applicable law in the Applicant’s Country
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For more information, visit https://bit.ly/2CRvfej.