Three outstanding LIFE projects were awarded the LIFE Awards 2025, held as part of European Green Week to recognise excellence in nature conservation, circularity and climate resilience.

The winners were selected from nine finalists in three categories: nature, circular economy and quality of life, and climate action. Together, they represent some of the most creative and impactful initiatives helping to create a greener Europe.

The LIFE Award for Nature went to LIFE Lynx, which brought together conservationists, hunters and local communities to successfully reverse the decline of the Alpine Lynx in the Dinaric Alps. The runners-up in this category were LIFEraisedbogs and LIFE living Natura 2000.

LIFE Lynx also won the LIFE Citizens’ Prize, awarded to the project that received the most public support in an online vote.

The winner of the LIFE Award for Circular Economy and Quality of Life was LIFE POPWAT, which piloted a new nature-based technology to remove hazardous man-made chemicals from contaminated water in Czechia and Poland. The runners-up in this category were LIFE EMERALD and LIFE LANDSCAPE FIRE.

The winner of the LIFE Award for Climate Action was LIFE DESERT-ADAPT, a project combating desertification improving soil quality, improved water retention capacity and improved ecosystem resilience in Italy, Spain and Portugal. The runners-up in this category were NATURAL HVACR 4 LIFE and LIFE Natur’Adapt.

This year a special category was introduced – “Rising Star Recognition” – for projects making a remarkable contribution to the circular economy. This special Award went to LIFE RE-ZIP, a Danish project which aims to replace thousands of tonnes of commercial packaging waste with more environmentally friendly reusable eCommerce packaging. When the project ends in 2026, more than 120 million reusable packages will be in circulation, with 17,000 tonnes of cardboard and plastic waste saved and more than 300 jobs created.

About the LIFE Awards

The LIFE Awards celebrate the most impactful projects implemented under the LIFE Programme each year. Since 1992, LIFE has funded thousands of projects focused on environmental protection and climate action.

The LIFE Awards 2025 were awarded by a jury of experts including Konstantinos Bakoyannis, Chair of the Commission for the Environment, Climate change and Energy (ENVE) of the European Committee of the Regions; Sara Segantin, a writer, journalist, science storyteller and EU Climate Pact Ambassador and Hans Bruyninckx, Professor of Environmental Governance at the University of Antwerp, former European Environment Agency (EEA) Director, and Member of the International Resource Panel.

The jury commended the winners for the immediate and long-term environmental, economic and social improvements of their projects. They recognised their innovation, scale-up potential, and relevance to the EU’s decarbonisation, circularity and biodiversity goals.

Full list of LIFE Awards 2025 finalists 

Nature Protection 

LIFE Lynx: bringing together conservationists, hunters and local communities to successfully reverse the decline of the Alpine Lynx in Slovenia and Croatia.

LIFEraisedbogs: restoring over 900 hectares of rare raised peat bogs across 10 different sites in Denmark.

LIFE living Natura 2000: campaigning for understanding, acceptance and appreciation of the Natura 2000 network in Germany.

Circular Economy and Quality of Life

LIFE EMERALD: reducing air pollution and improving citizens’ health in Ireland.

LIFE POPWAT: piloting new technology to remove hazardous man-made chemicals from contaminated water in Czechia and Poland.

LIFE LANDSCAPE FIRE: combining traditional and modern fire prevention techniques to reduce large-scale forest fires in Portugal and Spain.

Climate Action 

LIFE DESERT-ADAPT: tackling desertification by improving soil health, enhancing water retention, and building ecosystem resilience in Italy, Spain and Portugal.

NATURAL HVACR 4 LIFE: developing viable natural air-conditioning systems to replace climate-damaging F-gases (fluorinated greenhouse gases) in Belgium, Germany, France and Czechia.

LIFE Natur’Adapt: promoting climate change adaptation tools among 1 300 managers at 21 natural protected sites across France.

About the LIFE Programme 

The LIFE Programme is the EU’s funding instrument for the environment and climate action. It has been bringing green ideas to life since 1992 and, to date, has co-financed over 6,000 projects across the EU and in third countries. For the 2021-2027 period, the European Commission has increased LIFE Programme funding by almost 60%, up to €5.4 billion, and included the clean energy transition sub-programme.

The recently-announced work programme for the implementation of the LIFE Programme in 2025-2027 established an overall budget of €2.3 billion for projects tackling circular economy, zero pollution, nature and biodiversity, climate mitigation and adaptation, and clean energy. The LIFE Programme is managed by the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA).

For further details on the LIFE Awards 2025, please visit the following link.