After more than a year of negotiations, the European Parliament and the Council came to a provisional agreement on the establishment of the EU Social Climate Fund in December 2022. While the text of the regulation, published in its entirety last month, still needs to be formally adopted, we can already report on the points that are relevant for cycling. These provisions have the potential to substantially contribute to the goal of doubling cycling in the EU until 2030, as demanded recently for example by the European Parliament, by improving financing of purchase subsidies and tax incentives, bike sharing schemes and cycling infrastructure.

Some general context about the Social Climate Fund: This measure is part of the wider “Fit for 55” (% greenhouse gas emissions reductions in 2030 compared to 1990) package of climate legislation. It is supposed to address the social impacts of creating an emissions trading system for the building and road transport sectors, and the rising costs that might ensue especially for households, micro-enterprises and transport users that are particularly vulnerable to energy and transport poverty. To this effect, a maximum of €86.7 billion (ca. €69 billion from European emission allowances auctioning revenues + 25% of national contributions) is set to be disbursed between 2026 and 2032 through so-called “Social Climate Plans” at national level.

The regulation also contains a definition of transport poverty that goes beyond notions of (fossil fuel) transport costs and includes the concept of accessibility (defining transport poverty as, amongst others, the “lack of or limited access to transport needed for … access to essential socio-economic services and activities”). This was one of the demands by ECF and other sustainable mobility stakeholders. It is important because it lays the ground for widening the range of possible solutions to transport poverty from purely financial instruments, like subsidies for electric cars or direct income support, to measures like support for shared mobility or improvements for active mobility.

While member states will have some flexibility in defining the priorities for financing, the regulation establishes a clear list of eligible measures and investments that can be included in the plans. Cycling features prominently here, with the following measures being eligible for inclusion:

• “provide access to… bikes,... including financial support or fiscal incentives for their purchase…”
• “…support private and public entities, including cooperatives in developing and providing… shared mobility services and active mobility options;”

Especially the last point, the general inclusion of active mobility promotion, has been a demand from ECF that was taken up during the negotiation phase compared to the original Commission proposal, which would have only allowed active mobility measures for certain areas (“rural, insular, mountainous, remote and less accessible areas or for less developed regions or territories, including less developed peri-urban areas”)

In the negotiations between the Council and Parliament, an annex was added to the regulation establishing a concrete list of common indicators for the monitoring of the national plans and the Fund as a whole. The output indicators related to cycling translate the measures quoted above into tangible impact for cycling promotion:

• Indicator 23: Number of bicycles and micro-mobility vehicles supported by measures and investments financed under the Fund.
• Indicators 26 + 27: Additional shared mobility and mobility on demand solutions
• Indicator 28: Length of dedicated cycling infrastructure newly built or significantly upgraded by projects supported under the Fund.

After this success at the European level, a lot of the work still remains to be done: The actual inclusion of these measures and indicators in the Social Climate Plans will depend on member states’ individual decisions. Therefore, it will be crucial that cycling sector organisations at national level make their voices heard when these plans are being compiled during the next years until 2026 under the provisions for public consultation established by the regulation. ECF will support its members and other stakeholders in this task.

Interested in learning more about progress in cycling advocacy in the EU? Join Plenary 1: Leading the transition on Tuesday 9 May at Velo-city Leipzig 2023, where we will be joined by Minister Gilkinet and Daniel Mes, Member of the Cabinet of Executive Vice-President on the European Green Deal Frans Timmermans, among others. Register here!