Green light for the Sustainable Mobility Bill, which mandates the implementation of sustainable mobility plans and sets the roadmap towards decarbonizing transport in Spain

The Plenary of the Congress of Deputies has approved the Sustainable Mobility Bill and agreed to forward it to the Senate to continue the parliamentary process.

The bill seeks to provide the legal system with a homogeneous framework that integrates mobility infrastructure, services, and policies, aligns national objectives with EU energy and climate regulations and strategies, and strengthens cooperation between public administrations. Among its core pillars are the following:

• Establishing mobility as a collective right and setting guiding principles of environmental, social, and economic sustainability, digitalization, universal accessibility, system resilience, and transparency.
• Creating governance and cooperation instruments: the General Sustainable Mobility System, the Higher Council for Sustainable Mobility, and the Integrated Mobility Data Space (EDIM).
• Strengthening the financing of urban public transport through a new State Fund for Contribution to Sustainable Mobility (FECMO-FCPJ), with a regulated methodology and objective criteria.
• Promote active mobility and public transport in urban environments, enable reserved lanes, and deploy fast and ultra-fast charging infrastructure, with special attention to the needs of heavy-duty vehicles.
• Decarbonize air and maritime transport by promoting renewable electricity, hydrogen, biomethane, and sustainable fuels, with specific action frameworks at airports and ports.
• Implement sustainable mobility plans for work: mandatory for workplaces with more than 200 employees or 100 per work shift, to be implemented by companies within 24 months of entry into force. The plans must be negotiated with the legal representatives of the employees under the terms set out in the regulation, must be registered in the EDIM, and must be monitored every two years. 
  
  The regulation determines the content of the plans, including the possibility of offsetting the carbon footprint that cannot be acted upon, and establishes that their preparation must take into account the sustainable mobility plan of the local authority in whose territory the workplace is located and the mobility regulation instruments approved by the competent transport and mobility authority. Specific content is envisaged for plans for high-occupancy workplaces (centers with more than 1,000 workers located in municipalities or metropolitan areas with more than 500,000 inhabitants) and refers to regulatory development for the implementation of the role of mobility manager.

In addition, the text sets multiple deployment milestones, including, for example:

• Approval of a first Sustainable Mobility Guidance Document (DOMOS) within 18 months.
• Development of an investment evaluation methodology within 2 years.
• Publication of the regulatory bases for urban transport subsidies within 12 months.
• Mandatory digitization of certain control documents in freight transport within 10 months.
• Specific sectoral regulatory frameworks in ports and airports with defined timetables.

From the outset, the project provides for the progressive approval of numerous regulatory developments, as well as ministerial orders to specify methodologies and indicators for compliance with the obligations set out therein.

A new model of mobility in Spain

In short, the future Sustainable Mobility Law is a milestone in the configuration of a new model of mobility in Spain, aimed at guaranteeing the right to travel safely, accessibly, and sustainably, in line with the European Union's climate and energy commitments. Its approval will provide a comprehensive legal framework that articulates infrastructure, services, and policies under criteria of efficiency, digitization, and climate neutrality, while strengthening inter-administrative cooperation and stable financing for public transport.

It will be necessary to monitor its progress in the Senate to see whether or not the text approved by Congress is subject to amendments.