Today, the European Commission adopted its Communication on the Sustainable Transport Investment Plan (STIP) which sets out a roadmap to accelerate the transition energy in the aviation and maritime transport sectors and which aims to quickly unlock the investments and increase the production of renewable and renewable fuels low carbon emissions needed to decarbonise the two mode of transport.

Highlighting that with the STIP the Commission strongly signals investors that its objectives are firm and that it will support sectors throughout the transition, the executive body specified that, with the EU measures provided for by This plan, it is estimated that at least 2.9 billion euros will be mobilized euros by the end of 2027. In particular, the plan provides that, in order to quickly remove the main barriers to investments and close the price gap between the traditional and sustainable fossil fuels, the European InvestEU designed to boost private investment mobilize at least two billion euros by 2027 for the production of sustainable alternative fuels. In addition, the Commission will propose the expenditure of 300 million euros by the end of this year through the European Hydrogen Bank to support the production of hydrogen for sustainable fuels for aviation (SAF) and maritime transport (SMF) and will support with about 133 million euros for research and innovation projects under the European research and innovation programme Horizon Europe. As part of the European funding programme Fund for Innovation, the European Commission will also allocate 153 million euros to support fuel projects for air transport and €293 million for projects related to naval fuels. Finally, by the end of this year the pilot project "eSAF Early Movers Coalition", in cooperation with Member States involved, with the aim of mobilising at least €500 million for synthetic aviation fuel projects.

Announcing these measures, the European Commission recalled whereas in order to achieve the fuel targets for aviation and maritime transport established respectively with the European regulations ReFuelEU Aviation and FuelEU Maritime, a substantial volume will be needed by 2035 of about 20 million tonnes of alternative fuels including 13.2 million tonnes of biofuels and 6.8 million tonnes of e-fuels, and that this requires huge investments by the market, with an estimated 100 billion euros needed by 2035 to stimulate their production.

"Our Investment Plan for Transport Sustainable - stressed the European Commissioner for Transport sustainable tourism and tourism, Apostolos Tzitzikostas - is a step towards a sustainable future. It is not just a matter of reducing emissions, but to build a stronger Europe, A leader in sustainable transport. This ambitious plan demonstrates the Commission's firm commitment to increase the use of renewable and low-emission fuels carbon in aviation and waterborne transport. Success will depend on close cooperation between Member States, industry, financiers and civil society to transform this challenge into a strategic opportunity for Europe".

Among the first reactions to today's presentation of the plan STIP, that of Airlines for Europe (A4E), the European association of European airlines, according to which 'the communication of the Sustainable Transport Investment Plan sends a clear message: more needs to be done to accelerate access to affordable SAF." Detecting that "the plan provides some, but not all, of the elements of the market needs," Airlines for Europe points out that, "however, the words on paper must be urgently supported by decisive political action to maintain the promises. "The mandates, alone," Ourania pointed out Georgoutsakou, CEO of Airlines for Europe - not create a functioning SAF market, and the time has come to collectively admit it and to take action to accelerate access to SAF at affordable prices. The STIP represents a more of these challenges. Now we must transform the words on the into concrete actions by national governments and the Commission, given that the nascent European SAF market is not still took off as planned".

According to the association, however, "the plan includes a set of sound policy elements to step up the stimulus of the market, such as reducing the price gap between fuel and for conventional aviation and SAF, the extension of SAF and the introduction of bilateral auctions. The simplification of the administrative burdens, the clarification of the obligations of fuel suppliers and the reference to the Book and Claim system - notes Airlines for Europe - these were strategic moves Smart. However - the association points out - the strong tilt towards e-SAF, while biofuels are shelved and bio-SAF, fails to achieve the target at a critical stage of the development of the SAF market. Ultimately, reducing costs SAF and ETS is essential to ensure that the remains accessible to all, while strengthening competitiveness of European and European airlines as a destination and as a hub".

Today, the European Commission also presented a Plan to accelerate the development of high-speed rail across the EU, which aims to build a rail network high-speed, efficient and faster by 2040, with key actions structured around four pillars starting with the one to accelerate investments and harmonising a European high-speed rail network truly interoperable through the elimination of bottlenecks on the basis of binding deadlines to be established by 2027 and with the identification of options for speed higher than 250 km/h when economically sustainable. To this end, the Commission - a strategy will be developed in the coming months funding strategy, supported by a dialogue with Member States, industry and key players with the aim of better coordinating the sources of financing and private investment and to strengthen the EU financial ecosystem for high-speed rail projects speed, ensuring the completion of the TEN-T network within 2040.

The second pillar is the establishment of a framework challenging and competitive regulatory framework for rail services, with measures to support the development of a second-hand market for rolling stock, with the presentation next year of a proposal to improve ticketing and booking systems cross-border railway, simplifying planning and the purchase of cross-border journeys for passengers, with a better access to the protection of passenger rights when use multiple operators, and with measures to eliminate barriers to entry for new high-speed operators.

The plan therefore proposes support measures in order to achieve A strong, innovative and harmonised European rail sector through the submission in 2026 of a call for research "Europe's Rail" to support the development of material high-speed rolling stock by financing the research and innovation to overcome the technical barriers that currently prevent individual high-speed trains from operate without interruption throughout Europe. In addition, the next European rules will be revised to simplify the certification of train drivers, making it easier for them manage cross-border services.

The last pillar provides for the strengthening of governance at to coordinate and deliver the plan. In particular, for Better coordinate capacity utilization railway infrastructure managers, will be authorized and legally required to cooperate to provide a foreseeable cross-border capacity of interest to long-distance services, in line with the proposed regulation on the capacity utilisation of railway infrastructure. In addition, barriers to the establishment of new services between the major cities will be discussed and addressed in tables with stakeholders and progress towards solutions identified will be supervised by the European TEN-T coordinators. The Commission will then set up an Scoreboard to monitor progress in the field of high-speed and in 2026 the mandate of the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) will be revised in order to allow it to redundant national rules and to release authorizations and certifications more efficiently, thus supporting the implementation of innovation.