Food & Environment / Protecting Nature

The EU is helping to fund a range of environmental projects through its LIFE programme. Many of these projects have helped to develop clean technologies*, manage waste and water more efficiently, and restore and preserve the natural habitats of protected species.

200 Projects have been co-financed in the UK since 1992, with the EU contribution amounting to around £150 million.

There are currently 29 ongoing projects being co-financed by the EU in the UK. Completed projects include the Living Rainforest in Berkshire, where tests were carried out to ascertain whether the environmental impact of greenhouse gases could be significantly reduced, and the RENEW project, managed by the Energy Saving Trust, which examined how to improve the eco-efficiency of the residential sector with a view to moving towards significant potential savings in household energy and water consumption.

(Note* these are now under the CIP –Competitiveness and Innovation Programme)