Climate protection
Climate protection target
We refined our climate protection target as early as 2021: we will be climate-neutral by 2040. Our target year is therefore five years ahead of the Federal Government’s target year for Germany becoming climate-neutral.
To achieve this target, we rely on three strong levers:
- expanding eco-power,
- phasing out fossil fuels and introducing alternative drives, and
- entering the heat transition.
From 2025, all of our depots, office buildings and stations no. 147 n Germany will be fully eco-powered. By 2030, we will more than halve our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared with 2006 and increase the share of renewable energies in the traction current mix to 80%. And by 2038 at the latest, we will switch our traction current to 100% eco-power. As we move toward a climate-neutral DB Group, we no longer want to use fossil fuels. Around 90% of our volume sold in rail passenger and freight transport is operated on electricity already. We also focus on an approach that includes being open to new technologies, using alternative drives and fuels. Pilot projects, together with partners from industry, are also focusing on green local transport on road and rail. Plans include changing the bus fleet to one that uses more climate-friendly fuels, constructing new infrastructure for battery.powere trains no. 45 supplying hydrogen no. 53 for fuel cell trains, and using alternative fuels on road and rail. From summer 2022, the Sylt Shuttle will be fueled with the climate-friendly Biofuel HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil)no. 164. The continuous roll-out of driver assitance systems no. 8
at DB Regional, for example, or the use of longer trains at DB Cargo are helping us to further reduce consumption and increase energy efficiency. We are also emitting fewer greenhouse gases thanks to much younger train fleets in long-distance, regional and freight transport, as well as capital expenditures in sustainable technologies. In addition, we will make the heat supply greener by gradually replacing heating systems operated with fossil energy sources with climate-neutral alternatives after the end of their life cycle.
The Digitalization of the rail system no. 145 and trains and capital expenditures in our infrastructure are also having a positive impact on our climate footprint and our contribution to climate protection. In this way we can lay the foundations for the shift in the mode of transport toward climate-friendly rail services.
Further information on individual climate protection measures can be found in the chapter Development of the business units.
Climate resilience
As an infrastructure operator, we are more heavily impacted than any other major company in Germany by the effects of climate change in our core business area, the railway in Germany. We are therefore preparing for the increasingly extreme weather conditions caused by climate change. We are using this scientific data from the studies we commissioned with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) to strategically refine our climate resilience management and, above all, to prepare our infrastructure, vehicles and stations to an even greater extent so that they can withstand the impact of climate change more effectively.