Your EU – Your projects in Austria: driving green mobility forward

From smarter roads to cleaner shared transport and more flexible energy use, Austria is testing practical ways to make mobility more sustainable. Green mobility is not only about replacing petrol and diesel vehicles. It also means making transport systems safer and more efficient, supporting shared transport, and ensuring that growing demand for electric mobility can be integrated into a renewable energy system.

Across Europe, the transition to greener mobility is bringing together different technologies and approaches. Digital systems can help vehicles and infrastructure communicate, while flexible electricity use can help accommodate new demand from electric vehicles.

At the same time, shared and on-demand transport can provide alternatives to private cars where conventional public transport does not meet people's needs.

EU funding is helping projects in Austria turn these ideas into practical solutions.

Bringing shared transport to night workers

For people working at night, conventional public transport may not always provide a practical alternative to the private car. The LIFE MOONSET project is addressing this issue by developing an on-demand shared transport service for night-shift workers.

Funded by the LIFE programme, the project is being demonstrated in Vienna (Austria), Lisbon, (Portugal) and Ruse (Bulgaria), replacing journeys made mainly by single-occupancy cars with on-demand shared e-bus services using 100% green electricity.

LIFE MOONSET received an EU contribution of €1.73 million and expects to avoid 88.96 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent emissions by the end of the project. This corresponds to around 830,000 kilometres of driving - more than 20 times around the Earth. 

Making EV charging part of a more flexible energy system

The GtF: Green the Flex project is developing easy-to-use applications that help customers make better use of locally generated renewable energy. 

The project aims to connect and coordinate more than 2,500 mostly residential devices, including electric vehicle charging stations, heat pumps, hot-water systems and energy storage. By adjusting when these devices consume electricity, the system can help better match demand with the availability of renewable energy.

For someone charging an electric vehicle, this could mean that the car does not necessarily start charging immediately when it is plugged in. Instead, charging could be shifted to a time when more renewable or locally generated electricity is available, while still ensuring that the vehicle is ready when needed. By coordinating thousands of devices in this way, the project can help make growing electricity demand from electric vehicles easier to integrate into the energy system.

Supported by the Innovation Fund with a €1.91 million grant, the project expects to avoid 35,262 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent emissions over its lifetime. As a simple comparison, this is equivalent to the emissions from driving an average new car for around 330 million kilometres.

Making roads smarter and journeys safer

What if a road could communicate directly with vehicles? The C-Roads Austria 3 project is making this possible by deploying Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS), which allow vehicles and roadside infrastructure to exchange information. Co-funded by the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) with an EU contribution of €6.46 million, the project uses interoperable communication technologies harmonised by the European C-Roads Platform, bringing together 18 Member States.

Thanks to C-Roads Austria 3 and two predecessors projects, all co-funded by CEF, the entire motorway network in Austria has been equipped with C-ITS technologies and services, as well as the urban nodes of Graz and Klagenfurt.

By providing drivers and road operators with real-time information on roadworks, lane closures and changing speed limits, the project aims to make journeys safer and more efficient, while supporting the decarbonisation of transport.

European cooperation, local solutions

Together, these projects show that greener mobility depends on action in several connected areas. 

Their approaches are different, but all three illustrate how EU support can help test innovative solutions, connect expertise across countries and turn new ideas into practical applications. In Austria, this means safer and more connected roads, a more flexible electricity system and new options for sustainable urban travel.

More broadly, these projects demonstrate that the transition to greener mobility does not depend on a single technology or solution. It requires innovation across transport, energy and digital systems, as well as cooperation between public authorities, businesses and partners across Europe. 

These examples show how the EU programmes managed by the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) translate European ambition into concrete results and impact. By combining funding with expert advice and cross-border cooperation, the EU helps innovative projects scale up, deliver benefits for citizens and businesses, and support a more sustainable, resilient Europe.

Discover more stories in other countries!

More information about the projects 

LIFE MOONSET – Learn more

Green the Flex – Learn more

C-Roads Austria – Learn more