LIFE: The key connection between tourism and environment

Life is the European Programme dedicated to funding projects in environment and climate action. The budgeting period 2021-2027 allocates 5,43 billion to be spent in support of the Green Transition. This year the Programme celebrated its 30th anniversary, which testimonies the solidity and continuity of European action in “bringing green ideas to LIFE”.  

The implementation of LIFE  is managed through four sub-programmes: 

1. Nature and Biodiversity
2. Circular Economy and Quality of Life
3. Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation
4. Clean Energy Transition 

The subdivision helps with the achievement of the following aims: 

• facilitating the shift towards a sustainable, circular, energy-efficient, renewable energy-based, climate-neutral and resilient economy 
• protecting, restoring and improving the quality of the environment, including the air, water and soil 
• halting and reversing biodiversity loss 
• tackling the degradation of ecosystems 

Tourism is not directly part of the Programme. However, tourism projects dealing with environmentally sensitive topics could benefit from funding. In this case, the tourism proposals should be related to the themes of circular economy, energy efficiency and renewable energy measures, as well as climate neutrality. 

At Twissen we observe a growing level of awareness towards the environmental topic. However, concrete actions are still limited to a minority of actors. In this sense, the role of European funds is essential to spread and promote interventions positively impacting both environment and climate action.  

For more information on projects funded in the 2014-2020 budgetary period, see LIFE SUSTAINHUTS; Burren Tourism for Conservation; Sustainable Cruise; Integrated information campaign for the reduction of smoking-related litter on beaches 

Chiara Durigon

Graduating in Local Development and a convinced Europeanist, she studies and researches European projects at national, regional and local level for Twissen.