Alternative fuels infrastructure is essential to decarbonise the transport sector. City authorities have deployed recharging and refuelling points to achieve climate and air quality goals, as part of sustainable urban mobility strategies. The revision of the alternative fuels infrastructure Directive is an opportunity to accelerate this transition.

Cities will be at the centre of the shift to alternative fuels and it is therefore crucial to shape the legislative framework to meet the needs of city authorities at all stages of deployment. Our policy paper ‘Better alternatives for city authorities’ offers our views on how to achieve this. Eurocities believes that the revised alternative fuels infrastructure Directive should:

• Establish multilevel governance frameworks to coordinate the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure and address potential gaps
• Develop charging infrastructure deployment methodologies that reflect investment needs and demand
• Recognise urban space as a limited resource and promote infrrastructure that supports sustainable modal shift
• Drive the deployment of charge points in residential and non-residential buildings
• Increase the information and accessibility of charge points to increase their potential use and support local planning processes
• Define a minimum and flexible set of criteria for smart charge points and require publicly accessible charge points and charging infrastructure developed with public funds to meet this definition
• Ensure coherence with relevant EU climat eand energy legislation

Read the policy paper here: Better alternatives for city authorities