0 emission travel? Sure, just take the FlixBus and FlixTrain!

All FlixTrains are already carbon neutral today, running on 100% green electricity from wind and waterpower. Together with our climate conscious customers, we are driving transformative change towards the future of sustainable mobility.

How does it work? Our guiding principle: Avoid-Reduce-Offset!

We are a dynamic, enthusiastic, tech-forward company with a bigger purpose - smart and green mobility for everyone to experience the world. Our vision is to become 100% carbon neutral in the future. To achieve this, we will:

Increase the use of renewable energies through Alternative Drive & Fuel technologies
Commit to 100% green electricity in FlixTrains
Ensure high environmental standards of FlixBus fleet
Improve energy efficiency in operations via sustainable offices and travel policies
Formulate a fair compensation model for remaining emissions

Alternative mobility innovations

Innovation lays the backbone of our business. We strive to become the sector’s game changer when it comes to the switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy options, including looking into buses that drive on green hydrogen and biogas.
In 2018, FlixBus launched pilot projects with the world's first electric long-distance buses in France and Germany. Since Feb 2020, a bus with solar panels installed on the roof has been running from Dortmund to London (via Eindhoven, Antwerp, Bruges and Calais), reducing 7% CO₂ emissions on average in its first weeks of operation.

CO₂ compensation through international-renowned NGO partner atmosfair

Traveling by bus is climate friendly, but not 100% CO₂ neutral. For passengers who are willing and able to go the extra mile, we offer the possibility to offset through the most credible UN Gold Standard projects in the Global South and at the same time to shape the future of sustainable mobility in the cities and communities we live in.

With a simple click of a button, you can not only compensate the exact emissions of your trip but also make direct impact on sustainable living in your local communities.

When making an online booking in the FlixBus ticket shop, simply tick the “CO₂ compensation” box after you have chosen which European bus journey you would like.

The CO₂ emissions from your journey are then calculated based on the distance of your journey. The calculated amount is then automatically added to your ticket price. Your environmental contribution is usually approximately 1–3% of your original travel price.P.S. Of course, we compensate 100% of our own business-related travels! #WalktheTalk”.

Where does the money go?

75% of your climate contribution are used to fully compensate the emissions associated with the trip by financing fuel-efficient cookstoves in rural Rwanda. The remaining 25% flow into the “Future of Mobility Fund” set up together by FlixBus and atmosfair, to drive sustainable mobility and decarbonization in the cities and communities where we operate. Here your donation helps to take emerging carbon-neutral technologies out of the lab and onto the road for real impact. You will also support local communities, NGOs and volunteer groups to make eco-friendly living choices accessible to everyone. Worldwide more than 6.5% of our passengers choose to make such climate contributions and ride on carbon neutral journeys with us.

What have we achieved together so far?

With the help of FlixBus passengers and other partners, atmosfair subsidizes the sale of highly efficient cookstoves.

Clean cooking for health and environment in Rwanda

In rural Rwanda, most people rely on open fires to cook their meals – an inefficient technology that requires a lot of firewood and has contributed to massive deforestation. With the help of FlixBus passengers and other partners, atmosfair subsidizes the sale of highly efficient cookstoves – called Save80 – that use 80 percent less firewood, cutting tremendous carbon emissions and taking pressure off the local forests. Besides, atmosfair’s local partners, SaferRwanda and Rwanda Women’s Network, employ workers to assemble the stoves locally and organize sales across the country, providing jobs and training to over 200 workers so far. The project is certified by the UN as well as the Gold Standard and is regularly audited independently. Until 2020, the project has saved more than 300,000 tonnes of CO₂.

In addition to protecting the environment, the Save80 cookstoves protect the health of users by reducing smoke. atmosfair is currently partnering with the NGO Buana e.V. to conduct a field study examining how using Save80 cookstoves instead of open fires improves lung function in Rwandan users.

Since 2017, FlixBus passengers have offset more than 60,000 tonnes of CO₂ through the Rwanda project. This equals more than 2 billion kilometers traveled by FlixBus!

Charging infrastructure for electric coaches

As the first company worldwide, FlixBus is testing electric coaches on scheduled long-distance routes. In 2018, we brought Germany’s first electric long-distance coach to the road. Your climate contribution helped pave the way for this milestone and future electric coaches by financing the necessary charging infrastructure. The lack of charging stations that are able to supply large vehicles with electricity is one of the main barriers currently holding back electric coaches from taking over our roads.

Running between Mannheim and Frankfurt for 12 months, the coach saved roughly 1 ton of CO₂ per 1,000 km by avoiding the combustion of diesel. The carbon footprint of the lithium iron phosphate battery of the coach was thus fully compensated after about 39,000 km.

Electric cargo bikes put food and cargo delivery on green wheels

In 2016 we asked you on Facebook, what you would like us to spend your climate contribution on. With more than 1000 votes, the decision fell on supporting sustainable urban mobility by financing electric cargo bikes. Thanks to your good will and contribution, we have provided 16 cargo bikes to 5 different social organizations including Foodsharing e.V., Tafel and Caritas in 11 cities all over Germany and 2 cities in Austria. In response to the pandemic 2020, four bikes were donated to social organizations who delivered food and goods to vulnerable groups during the lockdown. Whenever not in use these bikes will be made available to the public for free via cargo bike rental platforms.

Out of the 16 bikes, 13 have been donated to Foodsharing to support their work in saving food from going to waste. Food waste is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, as about one third of all food produced worldwide is wasted every year. The local volunteers use the bikes to save excess food from the dumpster and distribute it to charities and within their communities. With the electric cargo bikes, volunteers can save approximately 100 tons of food every year, thus avoid CO₂ emissions of about 700 tons. This amount of CO₂ is equivalent to a FlixBus circling the equator about 21 times.

Children learn about their carbon footprint in a playful and fun way

Climate Change Education

Steak or veggies? Plane or bus? What difference does it make for the climate? This is a question that 4th graders find answers to in climate education lessons funded by your climate contribution. In these lessons that are professionally devised and taught by the educational non-profit Deutsche Umweltaktion (DUA), children learn about their carbon footprint in a playful and fun way. In total, 32 lessons were held in schools in Germany, France and Austria.

In 2020, your climate contribution financed the installation of a solar PV system for the SOS Children’s Village in Sarajevo.

Solar energy for SOS Children’s Village

In 2020, your climate contribution financed the installation of a solar PV system and a plug-in hybrid car for the SOS Children’s Village in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. This solar system will provide clean electricity to the approx. 100 children and staff living in the village and displace electricity consumption from the mainly coal-based national grid. Furthermore, the clean electricity will be used to charge the car and allow for running errands around the city in a sustainable way. Per year, the solar system will thereby save around 24 tons of CO2. This is roughly equivalent to flying 10 times from Berlin to New York and back.

SOS Children’s Villages provide alternative families to children without adequate parental care. The village in Sarajevo was built to care for children orphaned during the Bosnian war and has given a new loving home to children in need ever since.