Our commitment to the environment
Our journey to net zero
We take our environmental responsibilities very seriously, and we recognise that we have an important part to play in reducing emissions and combating climate change.
This is why it’s our vision to be the UK’s most sustainable coach company.
One coach can take up to one mile of cars off the road and just a 15% increase in coach passenger journeys by people in the UK each year could save over a quarter of a million tonnes of carbon dioxide. Reducing reliance on car travel also reduces noise pollution, improves air quality, and helps to tackle social inequality.
Because of this, we have committed to making our coach fleet zero emission by 2035 - ahead of the UK net zero target of 2050.
Don't just take our word for it, look at the figures below on the performance of our vehicles, which show how they compare to other transport modes.
The future of sustainable mobility...
As part of National Express Group, we have a collective commitment to driving a more sustainable approach to travel across the globe.
Our 2023 Sustainability report outlines our progression to date and our plans for the future.
Our Fleet
Our core white coach fleet is Euro VI standard - the highest engine emission standard available. The Levante III Euro VI coach specification is bespoke and exclusive to National Express. We tested its emissions performance in early 2020:
- Our Levante III produces an average of 21.7 grams of greenhouse gas emission (GHG) at tailpipe per passenger kilometre at 100% passenger capacity.
- In an urban environment, our Levante III produces 13.6% less GHG emissions per passenger kilometre than other types of Euro VI coaches on the road today.
- Based on the Department for Transport’s latest data on transport emissions, an average of 33 grams of GHG per passenger kilometre is produced when travelling by coach, when considering both direct and indirect emissions.
Grams of greenhouse gas per passenger km when travelling by:
Key
Direct emissions: emissions produced by the vehicle itself.
Indirect emissions: emissions produced by the extraction, refining, and transportation of the fuel used to power the vehicle. For electric vehicles, this includes the generation and transmission of electricity.
Indirect effects: complex effects produced by greenhouse gases interacting with the atmosphere, e.g. contrails produced by planes in the atmosphere, which reflect sunlight. Due to their complexity, their GHG effect is uncertain and what is presented here is a central estimate. Indirect effects are only included in the calculation of air travel in our analysis.
