Sustainable infrastructure
Connecting Europe Facility (CEF)
The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) is a key funding instrument for more growth, jobs, and competitiveness in Europe. CEF supports projects that focus on the development and construction of new and modernised infrastructures in the transport, energy, and telecom sectors.
CEF programmes focus on sustainable investments in European infrastructure. The new CEF (2021 – 2027) will focus more on climate change, digital connectivity, and renewable electricity.
In short
CEF overview
Governments (state, provinces, municipalities)
Companies (port, industrial, logistics and service companies)
The current CEF Transport call closes on 18 January 2023.
CEF Transport AFIF currently has a rolling call for proposals which will remain in effect until 2023.
A new CEF Energy call is expected in 2023.
The budget for CEF Transport 2021-2027 is € 25.81 billion, this is divided into:
- General envelope: € 12.83 billion
- Cohesion envelope: € 11.29 billion (not for the Netherlands)
- Military mobility: € 1.69 billion
The budget for CEF Energy 2021-2027 is € 5.84 billion.
The budget for CEF Digital 2021-2027 is € 2.07 billion.
Grant for research and development of modern infrastructure
Grant for improvement and renewal of transport, telecom and energy infrastructure in Europe
Overview of
CEF themes
CEF Transport
- Shifting to innovative energy-efficient and low-carbon transport technologies
- Making transport systems more sustainable and efficient
- Solving missing links in the network
- Removal of existing infrastructure bottlenecks
- Better interconnection of the railway networks and transport services of the Member States
- Improving cross-border infrastructure
- Alternative Fuels Infrastructure facility (AFIF).
CEF Energy
- Connecting, digitising and making energy systems smarter in Europe for a powerful energy network.
CEF Digital (Telecom)
- Improving digital connectivity
- Creating very high-capacity broadband networks
- Increasing the resilience and capability of backbone networks
- Improving the digitalisation of transport and energy networks.
Meet the requirements
CEF conditions
To be eligible for financial support under CEF, your project must be classified as a Project of Common Interest.
You can only submit a project if the country in which the project owner is located supports it.
Why this grant?
Purpose of CEF
”The way in which we will travel and transport goods in the coming years is going to be more sustainable, and I am excited to be able to contribute to these physical changes. My perseverance in turning projects into a good-news story and bringing the right parties together is my main asset.”
Contact Simone Zwijnenberg →
Project funding
How much CEF funding can you receive?
How much CEF funding can you get for a project? Depending on the nature of the project, you can be reimbursed for the following costs:
Studies or study projects with pilot activities: these are projects that prepare for large-scale implementation projects, so-called works. These projects generally receive a grant of 50% of the project costs.
Implementation projects: these receive grant percentages ranging from 30% to 50% of the project costs.
Keep up to date
News
Celebrating an Innovation Fund success with EGEN
This year, EGEN contributed to several successful Innovation Fund applications. This list includes InnoSolveGreen, a project by Green Genius, which was submitted under the small-scale Innovation Fund Call 2021 and was one of only 16 projects to receive funding. To...
CEF Transport call 2023 launched
On 26 September 2023, the brand-new CEF Transport call 2023 was published. With this grant round, the European Commission is looking for projects that will contribute to an efficient and interconnected multimodal transport system in Europe. The call, with a budget of...
The future of Europe’s Energy infrastructure
The EU is working on a strong, resilient and greener European energy infrastructure, that will make us less dependent on external sources. A recent funding round by the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) has recently been closed, but new opportunities are already being...