Assessment mechanism of energy efficiency criteria for the granting of subsidies to urban public transport

The Plan of Urgent Measures for the Spanish Strategy on Climate Change and Clean Energy provided for the inclusion of energy efficiency criteria for the granting of subsidies to urban public transport. This measure, defined in the Energy Savings and Efficiency Activation Plan implemented by the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism through the IDAE (Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving), consists of establishing an energy efficiency valuation mechanism applied to public transport systems, which makes it possible to uniformly evaluate the progress made, and take it into account in distributing this aid. In this regard, 5% of the subsidy will be allocated based on the score obtained for compliance with environmental criteria.In this context, the IDAE defined certain efficiency criteria and minimum compliance ratios to obtain a score, looking ahead to a possible final assessment which varied according to city size. Generally speaking, the new allocation scheme for subsidies is based on compliance with certain ratios and conditions established for a set of efficiency criteria identified as necessary to classify the provision of the public transport service from the perspective of energy efficiency. Municipalities, under a competitive scheme and according to the final score obtained based on the compliance ratios for efficiency and environmental criteria, divide up part of the money from the distribution fund (5% of the total budget).This measure was approved in the general budget for financial year 2013 (Act 17/2012, of 27 December, on the General State Budget for financial year 2013. Article 102), although it did not come into force until one year later.

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