LIFE-Environment: 53 environmental innovation projects selected

The 2006 LIFE-Environment projects will be implemented in 14 EU countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom). The  66 million from LIFE will contribute to a total investment of  215 million. Demonstration projects addressing the environmental impact of economic activities (15) take the largest share of EU funding (some  24 million, or 36 percent of the total EU funding). Water Management is the second most popular theme with 15 projects sharing  18.5 million, or 28 percent of the total. A further 14 projects deal with waste management, sharing almost  15 million (i.
e, 23 percent of the total). Three projects address the reduction of the environmental impact of products and services (just over  5 million, or 8 percent of the total EU funding). Finally, three projects cover land-use development and planning, sharing over  3 million (5 percent of the EU funding available).
In addition,  7.2 million will be used to co-finance 3 LIFE Environment 'preparatory' projects. These aim to provide direct input to European policy development in separate thematic areas: air pollution, an EU Environmental Technologies Verification Scheme (EU ETV), and the safe disposal of surplus mercury.