Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) -- European Union regulators started a 1.6 billion-euro ($2.3 billion) research initiative to develop cleaner, quieter airplanes and make air travel less damaging to the environment.

The Clean Sky project is one of Europe's largest research programs and involves 17 universities and 86 organizations in 16 industries, the EU commission said today in a statement on its Web site. Funding is being split between the EU and industry.

The commission is urging European companies and organizations to speed up development of clean technologies with guidelines it presented last month that attempt to reduce carbon dioxide, the main gas linked to global warming. The plane- technology initiative aims to reduce CO2 emissions by 40 percent, nitrogen-oxide emissions by 60 percent and noise by 50 percent, the commission said in June when it first made the proposal.

``The carbon footprint aviation leaves behind is seen as not being acceptable and Clean Sky is an excellent way of addressing the challenges we face in developing more sustainable aviation,'' said Ake Svensson, chief executive officer of Saab AB, in the statement.

Saab, based in Linkoeping, Sweden, builds fighter jets and defense and aerospace equipment. The company's products include the Gripen fighter plane, used by air forces in Sweden and South Africa.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeremy van Loon in Berlin at jvanloon@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 5, 2008 11:49 EST