Objective
The European City Facility (EUCF) aims to support municipalities and local authorities in developing Investment Concepts related to the implementation of actions identified in their climate and energy action plans. The ultimate objective of the EUCF is to build a substantial pipeline of sustainable energy investment projects across municipalities in Europe.
The EUCF finances the development of an Investment Concept with a fixed grant of 60 000 EUR for each beneficiary. The ongoing call, closing on June 30, 2023, at 17.00 CEST, will fund 70 beneficaries.
Eligibility
The EUCF is open to all municipalities/local authorities, their groupings, and local public entities aggregating municipalities/local authorities from the 27 EU Member States, Iceland and Ukraine. Applicants are required to have a climate and/or energy plan. This includes SECAPs (Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans), developed within the Covenant of Mayors initiative, or other climate and/or energy plans with mitigation targets.
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. The applicant must commit to the EUCF monitoring period of two years.
Take the quick eligibility check here.
Background of the EUCF Call
Investment Support in EUCF
What can be financed
The EUCF finances activities, such as (technical) feasibility studies, market analyses, stakeholder analyses, legal, economic and financial analyses, risk analyses, etc., that are required to develop the investment concept. These activities can be delivered by in-house staff or subcontracted external experts.
The grant cannot directly finance the actual investments, but it covers costs to mobilise resources and access services to develop an investment concept.
Applications are evaluated based on 4 evaluation criteria:
Ambition of the proposed investment concept
Governance structure for the development of the investment concept
Stakeholders engagement strategy
Coherence and plausibility
Please find the full details of the evaluation process in the Guidelines for applicants.
Advantages of joint applications
In line with the EUCF objectives, local authorities/municipalities are strongly encouraged to join forces and resources and submit joint applications, to increase the ambition of the application and increase the chances of success.
Do you want to apply as a grouping? Check our guidelines and see what you should consider when applying as a grouping.
Local public entities aggregating municipalities/local authorities are also eligible. A non-exhaustive list of potential eligible applicants included in this category can also be found in the EUCF guidelines for applicants.
Timeline
The fifth EUCF call opened on the 28th of April 2023, 00:00 (Brussels time). The deadline for submitting your application is on the 30th of June 2023, 17:00 (Brussels time).
Budget
This 5th call will support the development of 70 investment concepts, with a total budget of 4.2 M EUR allocated to the three regions according to the table below:
Region | Countries | Budget available for the 5th call (in M EUR) | Number of Investment Concepts financed |
|---|---|---|---|
Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) | Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia Ukraine. | 1.68 | 28 |
Nordic countries & Western Europe (NC&WE) | Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Sweden. | 1.08 | 18 |
Southern Europe (SE) | Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain. | 1.44 | 24 |
Total available for this call | 4.2 M EUR | 70 | |
Regional Approach
The EUCF calls are organised in parallel for three geographic regions including all eligible countries (EU 27 Member States, Iceland and Ukraine) as displayed in the map below:
Expected output
The expected output is the developed investment concept, i.e. a document providing investors and financial institutions with necessary information to assess an investment project.
Overall, each call for applications is open for at least two months.
| Call for Applications | Tentative dates |
|---|---|
| 5th call | Now - 30 June, 2023, 17:00 CEST |
| 6th call | January 2024 - February 2024 (to be confirmed) |
| 7th call | November 2024 - December 2024 (to be confirmed |