AFIF, a great opportunity in CEF Transport

European decarbonisation is gaining momentum with AFIF and the CEF Transport programme, which has just closed the 2021 call for proposals with 7 funding priorities totalling 7,050 million euros.

At Zabala Innovation we are experts in the editions of this strategic programme, as demonstrated by the good results achieved: in the previous CEF Transport 2014-2020 programme we obtained funding for 19 projects. And in one of the priorities, CEF Transport Blending (now called AFIF), the seven proposals we submitted were approved, representing 50% of those funded in Spain and 16% of those funded in Europe as a whole.

In the first call of the current CEF Transport programme (also called CEF2 Transport), we submitted eight of the 447 proposals received by the European Commission. However, although the call has now closed, the AFIF priority remains open and will have 4 additional closing dates during 2022 and 2023.

AFIF (Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Facility)

The objective of the AFIF call for proposals is to support the deployment of alternative fuels supply infrastructures, contributing to the decarbonisation of transport along the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T). To achieve this, it focuses on three key areas: green hydrogen, electromobility and liquefied natural gas.

With a total budget of €1.575 billion, 22 proposals worth €131 million have so far been submitted to AFIF. However, the funds available are much higher, indicating that a high number of investment initiatives are expected to be financed. The two cut-off dates for 2022 are 7 June and 10 November, so this is a great opportunity to prepare valuable proposals.

Which projects are eligible for AFIF funding?

In this great green transition challenge, projects that plan to deploy charging infrastructure in the following areas are eligible for a grant:

• Electromobility on roads and port/airport logistics.
• Green hydrogen on roads, railways and ports.
• Liquefied natural gas in ports.

Therefore, applicants can be any public or private entity that promotes investments in any of these areas located in the trans-European transport network (TEN-T).

CEF Transport for all

The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) brings together three components: Energy, Telecommunications and Transport.

The specific Transport component, CEF Transport, is a funding instrument that seeks to develop European transport infrastructure policy. It does so by supporting investment in the construction of new transport infrastructure in Europe or the rehabilitation and modernisation of existing infrastructure.
Its origin dates back to the TEN-T programme, developed during the period 2007-2013. This was followed by the first edition of the CEF Transport programme (2014-2020), and the current CEF2 Transport 2021-2027 has a budget of 25.8 billion.

The priority themes for this period are all types of actions in rail, maritime, road and inland waterway transport, sustainable and multimodal mobility, safe mobility and military mobility. Moreover, this programme is not only reserved for large entities, but is open to all actors capable of developing and improving transport infrastructure at European level. Therefore, the opportunities are there and at Zabala Innovation we can help you to benefit from them.