Skip to main content

EIB and European Commission present Cleaner Transport Facility

At a recent TTE council meeting, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Commission present the Cleaner Transport Facility (CTF) initiative, aimed at financing the decarbonisation of the transport sector in Europe. The support for alternative fuels and cleaner technology in transport is aligned with European Union policies on climate action and sustainable transport and specifically the recently-adopted strategy of the European Commission on low-emission mobility. The CTF is a new umbrella in
December 2, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
At a recent TTE council meeting, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Commission present the Cleaner Transport Facility (CTF) initiative, aimed at financing the decarbonisation of the transport sector in Europe.

The support for alternative fuels and cleaner technology in transport is aligned with European Union policies on climate action and sustainable transport and specifically the recently-adopted strategy of the European Commission on low-emission mobility. The CTF is a new umbrella initiative targeting the deployment of alternative fuels in the transport sector. Its objective is to support the accelerated deployment of cleaner transport vehicles and their associated infrastructure needs, such as for charging and refuelling, which are expected to foster socio-economic benefits including reduced health costs due to cleaner air and lower noise.

Projects that deploy alternative fuels, according to the Directive on the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure, will fall under the CTF. Thereby the facility targets transport vehicles that have lower greenhouse gas emissions - or enhanced environmental performance - compared to conventionally-fuelled transport vehicles. These alternative fuels include electricity, hydrogen, biofuels and natural gas, including biogas, compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The first project under the facility is expected to be signed early next year and will support the purchase of new hydrogen fuel cell buses, trolley buses and associated infrastructure in Riga, Latvia. Further operations are under approval in Artois-Gohelle in France and in Las Palmas and Palma de Mallorca in Spain.

Related Content

  • March 26, 2021
    EU offers vision of mobility
    Major changes are in the air for ITS in Europe: José Diez of ERF considers what the European Commission’s newly-released policy strategy for sustainable and smart mobility will mean
  • May 5, 2021
    ‘Shining moment of opportunity for tolling’
    Climate change is already affecting tolling operations in many parts of the world. IBTTA’s Bill Cramer explains how the sector can be seen as a proven funding and financing mechanism for surface transportation
  • December 8, 2014
    EU to boost long distance travel for fuel cell cars
    The EU's TEN-T programme will invest almost US$4.3 million in studies preparing a European network of hydrogen infrastructure for transport. The network is expected to enhance the use of fuel cell vehicles in Europe leading to cuts in overall transport emissions. The uptake of fuel cell cars, zero emission vehicles that run on electricity powered by hydrogen, depends on the availability of refuelling infrastructure on the main European roads. This project is the second part of a larger action aiming
  • April 3, 2019
    EC and EIB establish CEF transport blending facility
    The European Commission (EC) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) are launching a CEF transport blending facility, a funding instrument to support projects contributing to environmental sustainability and transport efficiency. With an initial budget of €200 million from the EU budget, the CEF (Connecting Europe Facility) will finance investments in the European Railway Traffic Management System and alternative fuels infrastructure. It will utilise funds from the EIB, National Promotional Banks and the p