EARLINET history starts with a first workshop, held on May 3-4, 1999, at the Max-Planck-Institut für Meteorologie (MPI-M) in Hamburg, addressed to discuss and outline a proposal to establish an aerosol lidar network in Europe: 12 scientists representing 12 institutions from 7 countries were present, whereas 5 representatives of other institutions from 4 additional countries were not able to attend, but strongly supporting the idea. After the workshop, a second version of a proposal to submit to the EU was drafted by Jens Bösenberg (MPI-M). EARLINET was officially established in 2000, as a research project funded by the European Commission, within the 5th Framework Programme.
After the end of this 3-year project, the network activity continued, based on a voluntary association, according to the EARLINET Constitution and Bylaws (EARLINET General Assembly in Matera, 2004).
The network activity continued successfully and in 2006 the 5-year EC Project EARLINET-ASOS (Advanced Sustainable Observation System) started on the basis of the EARLINET infrastructure.
In 2011, a new season began for EARLINET. It was integrated in the FP7 EU research infrastructure project ACTRIS (Aerosol, Clouds, and Trace gases Research InfraStructure Network), with the aim to integrate several atmospheric science communities in Europe into one coherent RI. From this date, the history of EARLINET has been strictly related to ACTRIS history, as a result of a long path, traced by the ESFRI Roadmap since 2016, made of long-term collaborations within the atmospheric science community sustained by a series of INFRA projects that started in 2000.

With the establishment of the European Research Infrastructure on Aerosol, Clouds, and Trace Gases ACTRIS, the operational/measurement part of EARLINET moved to ACTRIS to have a sustainable framework for regular research lidars measurements. However, EARLINET remained as network of lidar expertise and science.

The new EARLINET hosts Institutions performing lidar measurements, lidar development and/or lidar research related to atmospheric aerosol and clouds. EARLINET aims to foster scientific exchange, development of new technologies and fundamental research on aerosol and clouds and its interaction.