18.2.2022
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
C 80/43
157.
Where the aid is granted in the form of an endowment, equity, a guarantee or a loan to an energy efficiency fund or renewable energy fund or other financial intermediary, the Commission will verify that conditions are in place to ensure that the energy efficiency fund or renewable energy fund or other financial intermediaries do not receive any undue advantage and apply a commercially sound investment strategy for the purpose of implementing the energy performance aid measure.
In particular, the following conditions must be fulfilled: (a) financial intermediaries or fund managers must be selected through an open, transparent and non-discrimi­ natory process which is made in accordance with applicable Union and national laws; (b) conditions are in place to ensure that financial intermediaries, including energy efficiency funds or renewable energy funds, are managed on a commercial basis and will ensure profit-driven financing decisions; (c) the managers of the energy efficiency fund or renewable energy fund or other financial intermediaries pass the advantage on to the largest extent possible to the final beneficiaries (the owner(s) or tenant(s) of the building), in the form of higher volumes of financing, lower collateral requirements, lower guarantee premiums or lower interest rates.
4.3 Aid for clean mobility 158.
Sections 4.3.1 and 4.3.2 set out the conditions under which State aid for certain investments to reduce or avoid emissions of CO2 and other pollutants from air, road, rail, waterborne and maritime transport sectors can facilitate the development of an economic activity in an environmentally-friendly manner, without adversely affecting trading conditions to an extent contrary to the common interest of the Union. 159.
Aid for investments in light duty and heavy-duty road vehicles using gas (notably, LNG, CNG and biogas), and in the relevant gas refuelling infrastructure for road, except for LNG infrastructure exclusively for the refuelling of heavy-duty road vehicles, falls outside the scope of these guidelines.
Based on the current stage of market development, these technologies are expected to have a significantly lower potential to contribute to climate change mitigation and air pollution reduction, compared to cleaner and more innovative alternatives and therefore are expected to unduly distort competition by displacing investments into those cleaner alternatives and locking in mobility solutions which are not in line with the 2030 and 2050 targets.
4.3.1 Aid for the acquisition and leasing of clean vehicles and clean mobile service equipment and for the retrofitting of vehicles and mobile service equipment 4.3.1.1 R a t i o n a l e f o r t h e a i d 160.
To achieve the Union’s legally binding climate neutrality objective by 2050, the European Green Deal Communi­ cation established the goal to reduce transport emissions by at least 90 % compared to 1990 levels by 2050.
The Communication on a Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy (77) sets out a path towards achieving that objective through the decarbonisation of both the individual modes of transport and the whole transport chain (78). 161.
While existing policies may provide incentives for the uptake of clean vehicles, by setting binding CO 2 emission targets for the new road vehicle fleet of manufacturers (79), by internalising the climate and environmental externalities (80), or by boosting vehicle demand through public procurement (81), they may not be sufficient to address in full the market failures affecting the sector concerned.
Despite existing policies, certain market barriers and market failures may remain unaddressed, including the affordability of clean vehicles compared to conven­ tional vehicles, the limited availability of recharging or refuelling infrastructure and the existence of environmental externalities.
Member States may therefore provide aid to address those residual market failures and support the development of the clean mobility sector.
(77) Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions ‘Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy: putting European transport on track for the future’, COM(2020) 789 final.
(78) The Communication includes among others the ambition to have at least 30 million zero-emission cars and 80 000 zero-emission lorries in operation by 2030 and that by 2050 nearly all cars, vans, buses and new heavy-duty vehicles will be zero-emission.
(79) Regulation (EU) 2019/1242 and Regulation (EU) 2019/631 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 setting CO2 emission performance standards for new passenger cars and for new light commercial vehicles, and repealing Regulations (EC) No 443/2009 and (EU) No 510/2011 (OJ L 111, 25.4.2019, p. 13).
(80) For instance, through Directive 1999/62/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 1999 on the charging of heavy goods vehicles for the use of certain infrastructures (OJ L 187, 20.7.1999, p. 42) and the Union’s ETS.
(81) For instance, through Directive 2009/33/EC.