European Commission’s Call for Proposal to Support NGOs Primarily Active in the Areas of Environment and Climate Action

Deadline: 3 June 2019

European Commission is inviting proposal to promote better environmental and climate governance by broadening stakeholder involvement, including NGOs, in policy consultation and implementation.

The Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, acting under powers delegated by the European Commission, invites non-governmental organisations (NGOs) which are primarily active in the areas of environment and/or climate action and which have an environmental/climate objective, to submit a proposal.

Priorities

The strategic plan shall have one or more of the following priorities as spelt out in the 7^th European Environment Action Plan:

To protect, conserve and enhance the Union’s natural capital;
To turn the Union into a resource-efficient, green and competitive low-carbon economy;
To safeguard the Union’s citizens from environmental and climate-related pressures and risks to health and wellbeing;
To maximise the benefits of the Union’s environment legislation by improving implementation;
To increase knowledge about the environment and widen the evidence base for policy;
To secure investment for environment and climate policy and account for the environmental costs of any societal activities;
To better integrate environmental concerns into other policy areas and ensure coherence when creating new policy;
To make the Union’s cities more sustainable;
To help the Union address international environmental and climate challenges more effectively.

Themes

Each applicant shall identify its main area(s) of work among the following thematic priorities:

Water
Waste
Resource efficiency – Environment and health
Air
Forestry
Agriculture
Greenhouse gas emission reduction
Climate adaptation
Energy
Transport
Biodiversity
Finance
Trade

Funding Information

The indicative total budget earmarked for the co-financing of NGO operating grants is estimated at EUR 24,000,000 (twenty-four million euros) for a two year period, i.e. EUR 12,000,000 (twelve million euros) yearly, subject to budget availability for 2021.
The maximum EU contribution will be EUR 700,000 (seven hundred thousand euros) per grant per year.

Eligibility Criteria

Proposals must be submitted by a single legal entity that fulfils the below requirements.

To be eligible, any applicant must:
- Be a non-profit making legal person;
- Be independent, in particular from government, other public authorities, and from political or commercial interests;
- Be primarily active in the areas of environment and/or climate action and have an environmental/climate objective which is aimed at:
  - the public good,
  - sustainable development, and
  - the development, implementation and enforcement of European Union environmental and/or climate policy and legislation;
In case of doubt, EASME will refer to the statutes (or equivalent) of the NGO to determine its objective.
- Be established (legally registered) in one of the European Union Member States.
- Be operating at Union level with a structure and activities covering at least three European Union Member States.
Applicants will have to demonstrate a structure and activities covering at least three European Union Member States. To this end, partnerships, networks and memberships are taken into account if they are formally established as legal entities. Partnerships, networks and memberships must be represented by a management board or any other administrative forum that is mandated by its members to represent them at EU level and is responsible for the activities of the network. So-called “loose co-operations” or temporary partnerships are not eligible under this call. Memberships comprise exclusively legal entities, i.e. not natural persons. All members must be listed in the application. Nevertheless, members are not eligible for funding. Only the applicant NGO, if selected, will become the single beneficiary of the grant and can claim costs. Entities affiliated13 to the applicant are not eligible to receive funding under this Call for proposals.
Statutes and/or activity reports of memberships, partnerships or networks will serve asevidence for the structure and activities covering at least three countries.