Applications can be made until 30 June 2023 and local councils and island councils may be beneficiaries of this aid.

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The call for 8.6 million euros

On Monday 23 January, the Vice-Presidency and Regional Ministry of Energy Transition, Productive Sectors and Democratic Memory will open the public call for applications for subsidies for the approval and implementation of Low Emission Zones (ZBE) in the Balearic Islands as part of the actions set out in the Investment Plan for the Energy Transition of the Balearic Islands (PITEIB), for a total of 8.6 million euros.

This aid is part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan financed by the European Union (NextGenerationEU) and may be applied for until 30 June 2023 or until the date of possible exhaustion, within this period, of the economic amount allocated to this call. Applications must be submitted exclusively online through the website http://energia.caib.cat, which corresponds to the website of the Directorate General for Energy and Climate Change.

In the words of the Vice President of the Government, Juan Pedro Yllanes, “the deployment of low-emission zones will shift the type of mobility towards alternative transport in the Balearic Islands, where alternative vehicles will have a transcendental importance, starting with single-occupancy vehicles in passenger cars. Shared mobility, as well as electric mobility, must be increasingly accessible, and that is why the Government is not only helping to delimit the so-called ZBEs, but also complementing this with aid for the purchase of electric vehicles, charging points and shared mobility”.

The Director General for Energy and Climate Change, Pep Malagrava, recalled that “Law 7/2021 of 20 May on climate change and energy transition established that municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants and island territories must adopt their sustainable urban mobility plans by 2023 and that mitigation measures must be introduced to reduce emissions from mobility, including, among others, the establishment of low-emission zones by 2023. We are helping all those obliged entities, but also those that want to continue improving air quality, to carry out these actions and to develop them, by making this 8.6 million available to them”.

Details of the aid line

Article 14.3 of Law 7/2021, of 20 May, on climate change and energy transition defines low emission zones as the area delimited by a public administration, in the exercise of its powers, within its territory, of a continuous nature, and in which restrictions on access, circulation and parking of vehicles are applied to improve air quality and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, according to the classification of vehicles by their level of emissions in accordance with that established in the General Vehicle Regulations in force.

The PITEIB aims to finance seven Low Emission Zones projects and their main actions and specifically, in its programme 3 “Main challenges of insularity, sustainable mobility, decarbonisation of the sea and the water cycle”, the P3.L2 line of action on Low Emission Zones is established, with a budget of 70 million euros, of which 8.6 million euros are for this specific call for proposals aimed at the approval and implementation of Low Emission Zones.

Beneficiaries, incentive programmes and eligible actions

Local entities in the Balearic Islands, town councils and island councils may be beneficiaries of this aid. Likewise, 5 incentive programmes have been established with various eligible actions:

-Incentive programme 1: Eligible are the expenses for the drafting of the project and the processing of the Creation of Low Emission Zones. The maximum amount of aid for each beneficiary for all the actions of this programme will be 200,000 euros for local entities with a population of over 50,000 inhabitants. Likewise, the maximum amount of aid for each beneficiary for all the actions of the programme will be 100,000 euros for local entities with a population of 50,000 inhabitants or less.

-Incentive programme 2: It is aimed at complementary studies to the creation of Low Emission Zones and the expenses incurred in these studies, both prior and subsequent to their creation, are eligible for subsidy. Expenditure on studies that serve to create, evaluate or improve Low Emission Zones, such as traffic modelling studies, air quality and noise assessment studies and modelling studies that serve to predict the effect of Low Emission Zones, are also eligible. The maximum amount of aid for each beneficiary for all the actions of the programme will be 50,000 euros for local entities with a population of more than 50,000 inhabitants and 25,000 euros for local entities with a population of less than or equal to 50,000 inhabitants.

-Incentive programme 3: Aimed at plans or policies that relate to or derive from the creation of Low Emission Zones. Expenditure to carry out these plans is eligible. The maximum amount of aid for each beneficiary for all the actions of the programme will be 50,000 euros for local entities with a population of over 50,000 inhabitants and 25,000 euros for local entities with a population of 50,000 inhabitants or less.

-Incentive programme 4: Aimed at the expenses for the necessary actions for the creation of Low Emission Zones. The maximum amount of aid for each beneficiary for all the actions of the programme will be 1 million euros for local entities with a population of more than 50,000 inhabitants and 500,000 euros for local entities with a population of 50,000 inhabitants or less.

-Incentive programme 5: It is aimed at complementary actions to the creation of Low Emission Zones. The maximum amount of aid for each beneficiary for all the actions of the programme will be 500,000 euros for local entities with a population of more than 50,000 inhabitants and 250,000 euros for local entities with a population of 50,000 inhabitants or less.

Incentive programmes 2, 3, 4 and/or 5 must be carried out jointly with incentive programme 1, except by those local entities that justify that they have already created Low Emission Zones, that they already have the Low Emission Zones project, or that have applied for aid from other calls for proposals for the financing of incentive programme 1.