Our ambition is to be the partner of choice for innovative and sustainable transport, accelerating the transition to a zero carbon world.
Every day, FirstGroup plays its part in tackling climate change. Our buses and trains take passengers out of cars and off short‑haul flights, helping to reduce carbon emissions.
This is a crucial time for the transport sector, as the general public are increasingly concerned about the environmental impact of their travel choices. The bus and rail industry has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change how people travel and encourage more people to take public transport.
Not only are we playing a pivotal role in reducing UK transport emissions and helping the Government meet its net‑zero commitments, we are helping to create a healthier planet and green jobs for a sustainable future. In line with our goal to become a net‑zero business by 2050, we continue to make significant progress in decarbonising our operations as we work towards a zero‑emission bus fleet by 2035 and continue to support the UK Government’s target to remove all diesel‑only trains from service by 2040.
Reduction in total carbon emissions since 2019
Of First Bus fleet powered by low or zero carbon energy
Of all our rail kilometres powered by zero carbon energy
Solar panels being installed at 20 of our First Bus depots
We were the only UK transport operator to be included in this year’s S&P Sustainability Yearbook, ranking in the top 6% of more than 300 companies included in the ‘Transportation and Transportation Infrastructure’ sector. We achieved an overall score of 62 out of 100, outperforming the industry average of 32.
We were also named one of the world’s cleanest 200 publicly-listed companies for the fifth year in a row, achieving a place in the 2024 Clean200 report. We are one of only eight UK companies to be included and is the only passenger transport operator based in Europe to be named in this year’s rankings.
The first of Avanti West Coast’s bi‑mode trains has made its maiden journey on the West Coast Main Line. The class 805 bi‑mode train, which can run on electric and diesel power, made the 560‑mile (900km) round‑trip from Wolverhampton to Glasgow.
Avanti’s new Hitachi fleet is on course to enter service on the West Coast Main Line later this year, having completed two months of successful dynamic testing. These trains will replace the existing diesel‑only Voyager trains on routes from London to the Midlands, Chester, North Wales and the north‑west.
Avanti expects this new rolling stock to cut carbon emissions by 61%. It will run the new trains to their full 125 mph speed (201 kph) in the coming months to (hopefully) complete thousands of miles of fault‑free running.
First Bus launched its ‘depot of the future’ in Leicester in March 2023, which will become one of our fully electric bus depots alongside York, Norwich and Hoeford once completed. First Bus Leicester will have 86 new electric buses in service by March 2024.
First Bus will invest £6.6m in the Leicester project, and the Department of Transport will provide £2.9m as part of its Zero Emission Bus Regional Area (ZEBRA) funding scheme. First Bus secured this funding in partnership with Leicester City Council.
First Bus has also ordered over 300 electric buses from Wrightbus in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, as it progresses towards its goal of a 100% zero emission bus fleet by 2035.
By the time these projects conclude, First Bus will have more than 600 zero emissions buses in its fleet by March 2024.
Lumo committed to zero carbon travel right from its launch back in late 2021. In the past year, its 100% electric train fleet – which runs 10 services every day between London and Edinburgh – saved over 90,000 tonnes of carbon emissions, equivalent to the emissions from nearly 5,000 commercial flights.
Indeed, Lumo services are considered up to 25 times greener than flying, and have helped rail overtake the aeroplane as the preferred mode of transport for journeys between London and Edinburgh. From April to August 2022, 57% of rail and air journeys between the two cities were made on trains, compared to 35% before the Covid‑19 pandemic.
