German rail company ratchets up climate ambition ahead of UN climate conference

Germany’s biggest power consumer, Deutsche Bahn (DB), has set itself new climate protection targets ahead of the COP23 UN climate conference in Bonn next month, Henrik Mortsiefer reports for the Tagesspiegel. The company – including its global logistics subsidiary Schenker – aims to reduce CO₂ emissions by 50 percent by 2030, compared to 2006 (it already achieved a 25 percent cut in 2016). DB currently gets 42 percent power for its rail operations from renewables, and aims to increase this share to 70 percent by 2030. “Rail travel equals climate protection,” DB’s CEO Richard Lutz said in a press release. Switching to a 100-percent renewable power supply by 2030 isn't possible because Deutsche Bahn has long-term contracts for coal power, Mortsiefer writes.

Read the DB press release in English here and the Tagesspiegel article in German here.

For background, read the CLEW dossier The energy transition and Germany’s transport sector.