EIB advises six Spanish cities on promoting e-mobility and moving towards climate neutrality

• Barcelona, Madrid, Seville, Valencia, Valladolid and Zaragoza have signed a technical assistance agreement with the EIB under the Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission.
• This assistance will help in the rollout of electric charging infrastructure for cars, vans and light goods vehicles.
• This agreement will enable these cities to share best practices and public-private partnership strategies to speed up investment in electric mobility and the move towards climate neutrality.

Working jointly with the European Commission, the European Investment Bank (EIB) has launched a technical advisory service via its EIB Advisory service to promote electric mobility and advance climate neutrality in six Spanish cities: Barcelona, Madrid, Seville, Valencia, Valladolid and Zaragoza.

The aim is to encourage both investment in charging infrastructure and broader inclusion of electric vehicles in urban transport systems. This technical assistance should enable cities to determine their investment requirements for charging infrastructure and phase in deployment by 2030. The agreement supports the integration of public and private sector strategies, identifying European funding mechanisms and developing innovative contractual frameworks such as public-private partnerships, to pave the way for sustainable mobility projects.

The cities taking part belong to the European Union Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission and have been awarded the EU Mission Label. The advisory service is financed by the InvestEU Advisory Hub This technical assistance was launched today in a meeting attended by representatives from the six cities, EIB Advisory and the European Commission.

Another goal of the agreement is to identify models that can be replicated within Spain and across Europe to drive the development of a collaborative ecosystem between public authorities, the private sector and a community of experts in electric mobility and urban climate neutrality. Such a joint approach will help to speed up investment, design replicable solutions and position Spanish cities at the cutting edge of sustainable urban mobility.

The technical assistance provided is not linked to EIB financing and focuses on advisory services to:

• build up the portfolio of e-mobility investments and projects;
• close any investment gaps through analysis of the obstacles restricting investment and rollout of electric mobility;
• encourage collaboration between authorities, private investors and sector experts to boost investment and innovation;
• oversee the impact using reliable metrics, ensuring that environmental benefits can be measured and sustained in the long term.

The EIB-led technical assistance will be developed with the support of the SUEZ/IDOM consultancy consortium, helping cities to plan and roll out electric mobility solutions.

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.