Scope

Proposals under this topic should provide targeted support to help local and regional authorities develop actionable and integrated LHCPs covering different energy carriers, infrastructures and economic sectors.

Support should be clearly tailored to the targeted local and regional contexts, and used by municipalities and regional authorities. By the end of the action, proposals must result in the actual delivery of LHCPs in the targeted municipalities or regions. The plans should align with EU and Member State guidance and requirements and be developed through highly participatory processes.

Proposals should serve multiple municipalities in each targeted region and country. They should guide LHCP development by supporting data collection and use of tools, building technical capacity, engaging citizens and stakeholders, and supporting financing of decarbonisation measures. Proposals should include a detailed analysis of the current state of heating and cooling planning and related challenges in the targeted regions and countries.

Proposals should ensure that support activities are made available to the municipalities in the targeted territories, including those with fewer than 45,000 inhabitants. They should also facilitate joint action among municipalities at regional or other appropriate governance and territorial levels, to pool skills and resources and support inter-municipal and/or regional energy system planning.

Expected impact

Proposals should present the concrete results which will be delivered by the activities and demonstrate how these results will contribute to the topic-specific impacts. This demonstration should rely on a solid analysis of the current situation, realistic assumptions and baselines, and establish clear causality links between proposed activities, results and impacts. In terms of qualitative impact, proposals under this topic should demonstrate how they will contribute to the following outcomes:

• Increased collaboration between key stakeholders, including public authorities, towards the goal of upskilling professionals in the construction and renovation value chains
• National skills roadmap with detailed measures and action plan addressing the identified skills gaps, endorsed by key stakeholders
• Increased visibility and attractiveness of energy efficiency professions through communication and awareness raising campaigns.

In terms of quantitative impact, proposals should quantify their results and impacts using all the indicators provided below. The results and impacts should be quantified for the end of the project and for 5 years after the end of the project. The quantitative indicators for this topic include:

• Number of key stakeholders involved in the national platform
• Number of meetings of the platform, including thematic working groups organised
• Number of relevant national stakeholders endorsing the updated national roadmap
• Number of people impacted by the communication and awareness raising campaign (to be measured through specific indicators e.g. gross reach, net reach, recall, increased knowledge, percentage of audience who took action as a result of the campaign)
• Amount of funding secured (public and/or private) to roll out training and qualification programmes.

Proposals may also provide indicators which are specific to their proposed activities.

Proposals should also quantify their impacts related to the following common indicators for the LIFE Clean Energy Transition sub-programme:

• 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).

Actions

The call covers the following topics:

– LIFE-2026-CET-HEATCOOLPLAN: Supporting the delivery of actionable, integrated, and comprehensive local heating and cooling plans

– LIFE-2026-CET-POLICY: Towards an effective implementation of key legislation in the field of sustainable energy

– LIFE-2026-CET-RENEWHC: Strengthening national frameworks for renewable and efficient heating and cooling in existing buildings

– LIFE-2026-CET-BETTERRENO: Energy renovation solutions – Boosting building renovation through effective markets and instruments

– LIFE-2026-CET-INDUSTRY: Supporting the clean energy transition of European industry and businesses

– LIFE-2026-CET-BUILDSKILLS: BUILD UP Skills – National Platforms on energy efficiency skills for the clean energy transition

– LIFE-2026-CET-DIGITAL: Supporting digitalisation of Distribution System Operators for a smart energy transition

– LIFE-2026-CET-PRIVAFIN: Crowding in private finance

– LIFE-2026-CET-OSS: One-Stop-Shops – Integrated services for clean energy transition in private buildings

– LIFE-2026-CET-PDA: Project Development Assistance for sustainable energy investments

– LIFE-2026-CET-EMPOWER: Scaling up smart and clean energy solutions for affordability in EU cities

– LIFE-2026-CET-ENERPOV: Alleviating household energy poverty in Europe

– LIFE-2026-CET-ENERCOM: Facilitating cooperation among energy communities