DB sets new climate protection target ahead of UN Climate Change Convention in Bonn
DB’s CEO Lutz: “Rail travel equals climate protection”
Deutsche Bahn has set itself a new, ambitious climate protection target. “By 2030 we will have reduced specific CO2 emissions worldwide by at least fifty percent. This is a major step toward becoming a completely climate-neutral group, which we will be in 2050,” said Dr. Richard Lutz, Chairman of the Management Board and CEO of Deutsche Bahn, in Berlin ahead of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change taking place in Bonn on November 6-17, 2017. “Rail travel equals climate protection. Rail is already the most climate-friendly mode of transport and we are continuing to expand this environmental advantage. Nothing less than the future of successive generations is at stake. That is why we are amplifying our efforts and responding actively to climate change and its impact.”
The next milestone is being targeted by DB Long Distance, in that every passenger will travel using 100 percent renewable power on and after January 1, 2018. As a result, some 140 million passengers annually will travel entirely CO2-free. Previously, this was only the case for holders of BahnCards or monthly and annual passes and passengers who had paid an additional euro for green energy on each leg of their journey. Since 2013, DB Long Distance has invested around 100 million euros in sustainable wind and hydroelectric power purchased in addition to regular energy. Deutsche Bahn intends to increase the share of power it uses from renewable sources in all of its rail operations (local, regional, long distance and freight), from 42 percent currently to 70 percent by 2030.
It was already a goal under the DB2020+ Group strategy to reduce CO₂ emissions by 30 percent by 2020, relative to 2006 levels. The tangible and constant increase in renewable energy’s share in the traction current mix in particular is expected to lead to further reductions.
Deutsche Bahn has now launched the “Das ist grün” ("This is green") marketing campaign. More than 100 projects, addressing such wide-ranging topics as green long distance travel, biodiversity conservation and biodegradable workwear, are being presented in publications, at stations and on trains. By these means, DB is demonstrating the ecological nature of its products and services in all their diversity for the first time.
(Source: DB)
