On 1 June 2026 the InCL-U-DE project officially began its work. Co-funded by the European Union's LIFE Programme, this 36-month initiative is dedicated to unlocking Ukraine's full potential as an active participant in one of Europe's most strategic funding instruments for environment, nature and climate action.
InCL-U-DE brings together a consortium of partners committed to a shared goal: making Ukrainian participation in the LIFE Programme not an exception, but a sustainable, well-supported practice. The project will work across the country with public authorities, civil society organisations, universities, research centres, municipalities and businesses, helping them turn ideas into competitive LIFE proposals.
Over the next three years, the project will deliver work across four interconnected pillars. The first is awareness raising, through a nationwide information campaign, regional information days and a strong digital presence that explains the LIFE Programme in plain, accessible language. The second is capacity building, including training courses, webinars and practical workshops on proposal development, project management, monitoring and reporting.
The third pillar is advisory support: an open consultation desk for potential applicants, expert reviews of project concepts, mentoring from experienced LIFE beneficiaries and tailored guidance for first-time applicants and municipalities. The fourth pillar is the LIFE:UA digital ecosystem, a bilingual platform that will host knowledge resources, training, a project database, an AI-assisted partner-search tool and the national LIFE Hub for Ukraine.
The launch of InCL-U-DE comes at a pivotal moment. Ukraine's path towards EU accession and the country's green recovery agenda place environment and climate at the centre of public policy. The LIFE Programme offers a unique combination of funding, partnerships and visibility for projects that protect nature, improve resource efficiency, support the circular economy and accelerate climate action, areas in which Ukrainian organisations have strong expertise and ambition.
Through its activities, InCL-U-DE will help remove the barriers that have historically kept Ukrainian organisations from applying to LIFE: limited awareness of the programme's priorities, gaps in proposal-writing capacity, difficulty in finding European partners, and a lack of structured local support. By the end of the project, Ukraine will have a stable national infrastructure for LIFE, ready to support new generations of applicants well beyond 2029.
In the coming months, the consortium will officially kick off the project, launch its public communication channels, open the first calls for participation in training and consultations, and begin building the LIFE:UA platform. The first wave of information days across Ukrainian regions will start in autumn 2026, followed by the first national forum dedicated to the LIFE Programme and Ukraine's participation opportunities.
We invite ministries, agencies, local authorities, NGOs, universities, research centres and businesses across Ukraine to follow InCL-U-DE, join our upcoming activities and prepare for the 2026 LIFE calls. Together, we are opening a new chapter for Ukraine in the LIFE Programme, inclusive, ambitious and built to last.