European Investment Bank Launches Initiative to Accelerate Electric Mobility Across Six Spanish Cities

Ayuntamiento de Zaragoza

(IN BRIEF) The European Investment Bank has launched a technical assistance programme to support six Spanish cities—Barcelona, Madrid, Seville, Valencia, Valladolid and Zaragoza—in expanding electric mobility infrastructure and advancing climate neutrality goals. Delivered in collaboration with the European Commission, the initiative will help cities plan and finance electric vehicle charging networks, encourage public-private partnerships, and identify investment opportunities. As part of the EU’s Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission, the programme also promotes knowledge sharing and the development of scalable solutions that can be replicated across Europe. With support from the SUEZ and IDOM consortium, the initiative aims to accelerate sustainable urban mobility while ensuring measurable long-term environmental benefits.

(PRESS RELEASE) LUXEMBOURG, 15-Apr-2026 — /EuropaWire/ — European Investment Bank has launched a new technical assistance initiative to support six major Spanish cities—Barcelona, Madrid, Seville, Valencia, Valladolid and Zaragoza—in accelerating the transition to climate-neutral urban mobility. The initiative is being delivered in collaboration with the European Commission under the Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission.

The programme is designed to advance the rollout of electric vehicle charging infrastructure for cars, vans and light goods vehicles, while also supporting the broader integration of electric mobility into urban transport systems. Through the advisory service, the participating cities will be able to define their investment needs and plan the phased expansion of charging infrastructure up to 2030.

In addition to infrastructure planning, the initiative aims to foster closer cooperation between public authorities and private sector stakeholders. It will help cities identify suitable European funding opportunities and develop innovative financing models, including public-private partnerships, to accelerate the deployment of sustainable mobility solutions.

All six cities are part of the European Union’s Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission and have been awarded the EU Mission Label, positioning them as frontrunners in the transition to climate-neutral urban environments. The agreement also seeks to promote the exchange of knowledge and best practices among participating cities, enabling the development of replicable models that can be applied across Spain and other European regions.

The advisory support, delivered through the EIB Advisory service and financed by the InvestEU Advisory Hub, will focus on several key areas. These include building a strong pipeline of e-mobility projects, identifying and addressing barriers to investment, and strengthening collaboration between municipalities, investors and technical experts to drive innovation and accelerate deployment.

Another important component of the initiative is the monitoring of environmental and economic impacts. By applying robust evaluation frameworks, the cities will be able to measure progress and ensure that the benefits of electric mobility are sustained over the long term.

The technical assistance will be implemented with the support of the SUEZ and IDOM consultancy consortium, which will help guide the planning and execution of electric mobility strategies across the participating cities.

Background information:

Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission

The Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission, under Horizon Europe, supports Europe’s green and digital transition and contributes to the European Union’s key priorities on industrial competitiveness, innovation and sustainable urban development, including the Clean Industrial Deal and the Agenda for Cities.

The Cities Mission involves local authorities, individuals, businesses and investors, as well as regional and national authorities, to speed up innovation and investment in urban climate solutions, with the aim of:

• delivering climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030, with over 100 cities already awarded the EU Mission Label for their climate-neutral plans and investment strategies;
• ensuring that these cities act as experimentation and innovation hubs to enable all European cities to move towards climate neutrality by 2050.

In October 2023, several Spanish cities – including Madrid, Valencia, Valladolid and Zaragoza – led the way by being among the first European cities to obtain the EU Mission Label in recognition of their aim to achieve climate neutrality by 2030. They were then joined by others such as Barcelona and Seville in March 2024, reinforcing the leading position occupied by Spain in the Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission. As part of the Mission, these cities work actively together, sharing common goals and courses of action, demonstrating a collective approach that will serve as inspiration for other Spanish, as well as European, cities. Their joint initiatives are coordinated on the citES2030 platform.

Climate-neutral and smart cities – European Commission

Climate neutral and smart cities – EIB

The commitment to electric mobility and climate neutrality by the participating cities:

Barcelona is backing the decarbonisation of mobility through public transport, active mobility and electrification. While rapid headway is being made with the municipal fleet, electrification of private vehicles faces challenges due to high urban density – this has led to a focus on logistics hubs and public car parks. There are now more than one thousand charging stations in the Endolla network, which is working on extending coverage and ultra-fast charging; there are also subsidies and possible changes in the law envisaged. The EIB is helping to identify goals and find innovative solutions.

Madrid has committed to transport electrification in its route map towards climate neutrality by 2050, and is promoting a public network of fast charging points that will be supplemented by private initiatives. To achieve this, it is providing municipal land, equipment and subsidies to develop charging infrastructure in accessible areas off the public highway.

Seville faces serious climate challenges caused by the increase in extreme heat and irregular rainfall intensified by climate change; this has an impact on urban management, health, energy and water resources. Working in conjunction with the EIB has allowed more effective planning and execution of strategic projects for progressing towards a more resilient and sustainable city aligned with EU climate goals.

Valencia  is collaborating with the EIB to reinforce the city’s climate strategy and accelerate the rollout of sustainable mobility, backed by the European Commission. EIB technical support will improve project planning, attract investment and move toward a cleaner and more efficient transport model.

Within Spain, the city of Valladolid is a pioneer in electric mobility, an integral part of its urban sustainability strategy. It has implemented a public-private governance model to deploy an interoperable charging network using renewable energy and has put in place a solid and replicable ecosystem that is strengthened by its participation in European projects such as REMOURBAN.

EIB Group

The European Investment Bank Group (EIB Group) is the financial arm of the European Union, owned by its 27 Member States, and is one of the largest multilateral development banks in the world. In 2025, the EIB Group signed €100 billion in new financing and advisory services for more than 870 high-impact projects serving eight core priorities that pursue EU policy objectives: climate action and the environment, digitalisation and technological innovation, security and defence, cohesion, agriculture and bioeconomy, social infrastructure, strong global partnerships and the savings and investments union. Besides long-term lending for major infrastructure, the EIB Group attracts private investment for high-risk innovative enterprises and projects, and plays an ever-growing role in European markets for venture debt, venture capital, guarantees and securitisation. In addition to financing, the EIB Group offers advisory services via EIB Advisory, assisting public and private clients to develop markets, strengthen capacity and support high-impact investment projects.

In 2025, the EIB Group completed financing and investment operations in Spain totalling around €11 billion, which came alongside an additional €2.9 billion under the Regional Resilience Fund (NextGenerationEU loans).

Photos of the management team and EIB Group headquarters, and files containing the logo and B-roll video for media use are available here.

InvestEU

The InvestEU programme provides the European Union with long-term funding by leveraging substantial private and public funds in support of a sustainable recovery. It also helps crowd in private investment for the European Union’s strategic priorities such as the European Green Deal and the digital transition. InvestEU brings all EU financial instruments previously available for supporting investments within the European Union together under one roof, making funding for investment projects in Europe simpler, more efficient and more flexible. The programme consists of three components: the InvestEU Fund, the InvestEU Advisory Hub and the InvestEU Portal. The InvestEU Fund is implemented through financial partners who will invest in projects using the EU budget guarantee of €26.2 billion. The entire budget guarantee will back the investment projects of the implementing partners, increase their risk-bearing capacity and thus mobilise at least €372 billion in additional investment.

Media Contact:

Maite Cordero
m.corderomunoz@eib.org
+34 606 66 82 62

Press Office

press@eib.org
+352 43791

SOURCE: European Investment Bank