European City Facility grant for setting up a one-stop shop

Running until the 18th of December 2024, the 7^th – and last – call for applications of the European City Facility - financed by the LIFE CET programme - offers financial and technical support to 71 local governments across the European Union, Ukraine and Iceland. The European City Facility (EUCF) supports local authorities in developing investment concepts related to the implementation of actions identified in their climate and energy action plans. 

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 an investment concept. These activities can be delivered by in-house staff or subcontracted external experts. 

N.B.: the grant cannot directly finance the actual investments, but it covers costs to mobilise resources and access services to develop an investment concept.

Learn from previous EUCF beneficiaries 

Mechelen, Belgium

Mechelen’s project was meant to further support the investigation of technical and economic feasibility of co-owned condominiums retrofits. Thanks to the EUCF grant and the following CondoReno project (LIFE CET programme), the city carried out a comprehensive mapping exercise of the building typologies from the 1970s and 1980s with significant renovation potential. This exercise revealed valuable insights, emphasising the need to refine the EUCF investment concept into smaller, concrete projects suitable for funding. The city is now looking to finance the retrofit of condominiums by blending private and public funding sources. Private funding will primarily come from co-owners’ contributions, ideally supplemented by financing from an ESCO. Public funding will be provided through the Flemish grant for residential retrofits.

Donegal County Council, Ireland

Donegal County Council applied for the EUCF grant to support the decarbonization of the region, and created an energy agency, serving as OSS.

Their target was to retrofit 33000 homes with 26000 heat pumps. EUCF provided them with a structured approach to produce an investment concept and a support mechanism helping them to involve all relevant organisations and decision-makers. The EUCF grant was used for engineering analysis, development of a business case, development of a stakeholders’ engagement strategy, etc. The work is now continuing with the LEAP project (LIFE CET programme) and the county is also discussing with the European Investment Bank to move ahead with the implementation of the action.  

Find out more on the actions carried out by the EUCF beneficiaries here.

Apply to the EUCF before the 18^th of December!

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