Support for municipalities & local authorities investing in sustainable energy: apply now!

News text / Meta description

From 25 May to 2 October 2020, municipalities and local authorities located in the European Union and the UK have the opportunity to apply online to receive financial and technical support from the European City Facility.

The European City Facility (EUCF) aims to support municipalities, local authorities and groupings in developing investment concepts that promote the implementation of their energy and climate action plans. The ultimate objective of the EUCF is to build a substantial pipeline of sustainable energy investment projects across municipalities and local authorities in Europe.

Eligibility

The EUCF is open to all municipalities/local authorities and their groupings from the EU-27 and UK. Applicants require a politically approved climate and sustainable energy plan. This includes Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAPs) and Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan (SECAPs), developed within the Covenant of Mayors framework, or plans of similar ambition with climate and energy targets at least for the year 2020. Moreover, applicants have to demonstrate political commitment to the development of the investment concept through a letter of support, signed by the mayor or other relevant political representative. Details on the eligibility criteria can be found here.

Financial and technical support

Successful applicants receive financial support in the form of a 60,000 euro grant for the development of the investment concept. Among the activities that can be funded are feasibility studies, engineering analyses, legal analyses, social studies, market studies, financial analyses, and further supporting tasks, which can be delivered by in-house staff or subcontracted external experts. Moreover, technical support is provided by the EUCF team and by the respective Country Experts, which are assigned for each EU-27 member state and the UK to assist beneficiaries with locally-rooted technical and financial expertise. Additionally, municipalities and local authorities are supported through capacity building events as well as knowledge products and materials.

Regional calls for applications

Within the scope of the EUCF, a total number of four calls for applications with cut-off dates will take place. Each call is organised in parallel for three geographic regions (incl. UK) of the European Union: Central & Eastern Europe, Nordic countries & Western Europe and Southern Europe.

How to apply

The overall application process consists of two main steps: the eligibility check and the full application. The eligibility check is a simple, automated questionnaire and verifies whether an applicant is eligible to apply for financial support from the EUCF. After successfully passing the eligibility check, the applicant can complete the full application form, prepare the supporting documents and submit them via the EUCF website user zone.

The online application is accessible from 25 May 2020, 00:00 (Brussels time) until 2 October 2020, 17:00 (Brussels time) and can be started here.

Potential applicants and interested parties can find all necessary information on the application process in the Guidelines for Applicants, FAQs and Glossary on the EUCF website. For specific queries, the EUCF Helpdesk or the respective Country Expert can be contacted.

As part of the EUCF Team, adelphi research is looking forward to receiving many applications during the first EUCF call!