The European Commission announced the projects related to the environment which will be funded with a total investment of some €516.5 million, of which the EU will provide €268.4 million, in particular, from the LIFE+ Programme.

€268.4 million from the LIFE+ programme, the European Union's environment fund, will contribute to fund 203 new environment projects. Particularly, projects that will be funded under this funding will cover actions in the fields of nature conservation, environmental policy, climate change and information and communication on environmental issues. The Commission's 2011 call for proposals closed in July 2011. However the 2012 call for proposals is still on going.

The 202 projects were selected for co-funding through the programme’s three components: LIFE+ Nature and Biodiversity, LIFE+ Environment Policy and Governance and LIFE+ Information and Communication. Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik highlighted that these latest LIFE+ projects continue a trend, started two decades ago, for innovative and best-practice actions furthering nature conservation, improving the environment and tackling climate change.

The Commission received 1,078 applications from the 27 EU Member States in response to its 2011 call for proposals. LIFE+ is the European financial instrument for the environment and has a total budget of €2.143 billion for the period 2007-2013.