Financing sustainable mobility for local communities through energy savings

The originality of the TIMS programme lies in its financing method – energy saving certificates – which, moreover, is applied to projects at the crossroads of sustainable and inclusive mobility (generally in sparsely populated areas). In addition, it is a large-scale programme, with a budget over €30 million.

The Energy Savings Certificates (CEE) scheme, created in 2005, is one of the main instruments of France’s energy demand management policy. Set up to finance the energy transition, the scheme binds energy suppliers to finance energy savings, and in return – via work undertaken by homeowners or awareness-raising programmes – they obtain White Certificates, issued by the Ministry of Transition.

After 6 years of experience with the PEnD-AURA and PEnD-AURA+ programmes, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regional energy agency (AURA-EE) decided to embark on a new adventure, this time with three major partners in the energy transition: the national network of regional energy agencies (RARE), the CLER network for energy transition and Mob’In, the national network dedicated to inclusive mobility. Together, they created TIMS.

To be eligible for this type of funding, the programme’s promoters had to commit to quantifying the energy-saving effects of the actions carried out in the regions, and to setting up a precise governance structure – a complex undertaking, given the number of stakeholders involved and the funding involved!

“In a nutshell, TIMS is about offering eco-mobility solutions to households that are prevented from getting around, and to landlocked areas. This concerns those who have no mobility solutions, such as struggling households without a car and dependent on public transport that is too expensive or unavailable in their area,” explains Bouchra Zeroual, one of the programme’s coordinators. “Sustainable mobility already exists (car-sharing, public transport). Inclusive mobility too (bike schools, driving license assistance). But the meeting of these two types of mobility needs to be fully structured. That’s our goal with this programme”.

TIMS relies on 90 regional project leaders who have been selected via a call for interest. Coordination is organised at both national and regional level. They are also supported in terms of capacity-building and capitalising on their actions and experience.

Although the TIMS just launched, AURA-EE has already achieved a major change of scale and won the confidence of its partners and institutions alike.

This best practice is extracted from our publication ‘Sustainable Regions in Action‘. Discover more best practices here!