Arriva Blog: Working in partnership to transition to a climate neutral future

The UN Climate Conference started in Bonn this week to analyse what has been achieved since COP26 last November and to lay the foundations for COP27 where all nations will be expected to lay out their plans for accelerated climate action.

By pulling together and committing, change can be accelerated.  Every business and every nation will need to play its part and in our capacity as a leading passenger transport provider, we know that we have a really important role, but we also know we can’t achieve our goals alone – partnership is essential and critical to success!

Last week we launched our Zero Emission Institute (ZEI) to help us accelerate our own journey.  It will be a central hub of knowledge and expertise where we will work in partnership throughout Europe to share best practice and build strategies which will enable the transition to net-zero.

The ZEI will harness our experience, built up across our pan-European group, to help inform sustainable mobility strategies. It will also analyse the full lifecycle cost of vehicles and their environmental impacts to help find solutions to making them more sustainable and affordable.

It has been widely reported that the transport sector accounts for close to 25 per cent of Europe's greenhouse gas emissions when all forms of transport are taken into consideration, and this is the main cause of air pollution in cities. As part of the EU’s objective to reach climate neutrality by 2050, the transport sector must decarbonise.

We take our responsibility seriously and we are passionate about building a more sustainable future. This means two things:

1. We must encourage modal shift! Getting people out of cars and onto public transport is one of the biggest changes we can make as a society right now.
2. We must work together to ensure the public transport sector itself becomes greener, more sustainable and fit for a zero-emission future.

Across our Group and the countries in which we operate, we are already investing in zero-emission bus fleets, hybrid trains and alternative fuels. We are trialling new technologies that can help us reduce our emissions, and we are starting to future-proof our depots in preparation for growing number of zero-emission vehicles.

But we cannot achieve decarbonisation alone. Full decarbonisation is complex and transitioning to zero-emission technologies takes time and partnership with transport authorities, vehicle manufacturers, energy providers, research institutions, and many others.

I am excited that Arriva has launched a ZEI to centralise our experience and expertise - and support cities and regions as they create cleaner mobility strategies and networks. I look forward to partnering with stakeholders to accelerate change and help to tackle one of the biggest challenges of our generation.

There is much to do across Europe, from electrifying depots and accelerating the deployment of alternative fuel infrastructure, to working with energy companies to ensure the grid is able to cater for demand, but I am confident that by working together in partnership we will build a better and greener future where passenger transport is the best choice!