EC Proposes Low Carbon Transport Grants

The European Commission said October 1 it has proposed to invest €695.1mn ($806mn) in 49 key transport infrastructure projects, many promoting greater use of low or zero-carbon fuels.

More than one-third, so over €250mn, will be invested in 26 projects dedicated to promoting alternative fuels including: building a network of bio-LNG filling stations on roads connecting southern Spain and eastern Poland, via France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany; and LNG bunkering at Swinoujscie and Ystad ports (in Poland and Sweden respectively); plus hydrogen and electric infrastructure.

Of the remaining two-thirds, the largest grant (€290.3mn) will go towards modernising Europe’s air traffic management system. Railway, port and inland waterway upgrades, and new technology will absorb the balance. EU transport commissioner Violeta Bulc said she expected the roughly €700mn of grants to unlock a total of €2.4bn of public and private co-financing.  

Assuming EU member states approve the proposal, the commission will adopt a formal decision in the coming weeks, and its Inea unit will then sign the grants with beneficiaries by January 2019.

A previous round of such transport grants totaling €1bn was announced November 30 2017 with grants signed shortly afterwards.

At an October 1 2018 event in Brussels, Repsol chairman Antonio Brufau reiterated his call for gas to become a key energy source, alongside renewables, as part of a strategy to reduce emissions and replace coal in electricity generation. EU industry commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska, a former Polish deputy prime minister, also attended.