Umwelt und Klima

Climate change affects us all! It is one of the most critical risks facing our world today. But we all have an important lever at our disposal when it comes to reducing CO₂ emissions and meeting the 1.5 degree target set by the Paris Agreement: urban mobility. HOCHBAHN is well aware of the responsibility it carries on behalf of the city. Even now, 25% of Hamburg’s CO₂ footprint can already be attributed to mobility. By 2050, 70 to 80% of the world’s population will live in cities.

We have set ourselves an ambitious goal: by 2030, HOCHBAHN will be carbon neutral in terms of emissions from energy consumption and the loss of volatile gases.

We will achieve this by reducing these emissions by at least 80% compared to 2019 and offsetting any remaining emissions through approved climate protection and neutralisation projects.  

How will we do that? 

• With 100% high-quality certified green electricity 

• By investing in zero-emission buses only 

• With a fleet of vehicles that will be emission-free in the future 

• By reducing emissions produced from heating and cooling our operating and administrative locations 

• With approved climate protection and neutralisation projects for remaining CO₂ residues.  

We are monitoring other indirect emissions (Scope 3), including the carbon footprint of procured products and services, and are committed to continuously reducing these emissions. 

Transporting Hamburg to a sustainable future: 

We’re in the process of replacing our fleet of some 1,000 diesel-fuelled buses with emission-free vehicles. The first “climate protectors” to roll off the production line are already driving passengers around Hamburg. And since 2020 we have only been placing orders for e-buses. The entire HOCHBAHN fleet will be replaced by 2030.  

What’s more, our diesel-fuelled buses also emit considerably less nitrogen oxides and fine particles than their predecessors. Since 2018, only vehicles that meet Euro V and Euro VI standards have been in operation in Hamburg. 

You can learn more about the conversion of our fleet to e-buses here. 

Saving for all it’s worth 

As a member of the “UmweltPartnerschaft Hamburg”, the city’s Environmental Alliance, we have been focused on a strict drive since 2007 to cut down on our energy consumption and pollutant emissions. One of the ways we’re doing this is with flywheel energy storage. Our modern U-Bahn trains feed up to 40 percent of the energy generated during braking back into the traction current network. Other U-Bahn vehicles can then re-use this energy again. And if there doesn’t happen to be a train nearby that can use the energy, it is stored instead. Thanks to our two flywheel storage systems, we save a total of up to 800,000 kilowatt hours of energy each year. 

Shorter stopping times also mean that our escalators save 140,000 kWh per year. After all, if nobody is using an escalator at a particular time, there is no reason for it to be moving. 

100 family households in Hamburg... 

... could be supplied with the electricity that we are now set to save every year since replacing fluorescent lighting with LEDs in 2019. 

400,000 kilowatt hours less electricity: that is the result of our drive in 2018 to replace lights at bus stops, in depots and works garages. 

Sustainability at HOCHBAHN: