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Enhancing collective travel and investigating alternative drives

A close-up of a FlixBus driver in his driver seat.

We believe that everyone should have an inherent choice to reduce their carbon footprint when traveling, no matter what their economic status is. Here, collective means of transport can play a crucial role. When passengers choose collective travel, they are making a small change in habit that can have a significant environmental payoff.

Based on Flix’s avoided emissions methodology, an average FlixBus in Europe emits 28.1 g CO₂ per person-kilometer1. This is at least five times less CO₂ than a private car and 10 times less CO₂ than a plane. On top of that, buses almost match the environmental performance of intercity trains, which makes them a great travel alternative, especially in regions that are sparsely connected by rail.

Based on these methodology, Flix passengers avoided 1.5 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions globally in 2025 just by choosing our services over other means of long-distance travel like private cars or airplanes (for more information on how the number was calculated, please refer to Flix’s 2025 avoided emissions methodology, p. 10).

As you can see, choosing the right travel solution can help you reduce your impact compared with the same route by car or plane.

Indian woman playing with little boy

Customer's climate contributions

From 2017 until April 2026, we partnered with the environmental NGO atmosfair to provide our customers the opportunity to support, with a voluntary donation, verified climate projects in the Global South aiming at reducing CO₂ from the atmosphere.

75% of the climate contributions supported certified emission reduction projects. In the past ten years, Flix passengers have contributed to the reduction of 112,399 tonnes of CO₂ through the Rwanda Efficient Cookstoves Project, certified by Gold Standard and UN CDM2.

As the first company worldwide, FlixBus is testing electric coaches on scheduled long-distance routes.

The remaining 25% supported transformative projects that create positive environmental and social impacts in the regions where Flix operates, through a joint initiative called Future of Mobility Fund established with atmosfair in 2017. Over the years, these customer donations were channeled to various impactful projects.

Particularly, between August 2025 to April 2026, passengers’ contributions supported two climate projects in India. The first project promotes efficient cookstoves that use 65% less firewood, significantly reducing CO₂ emissions while also helping to prevent deforestation and improve indoor air quality. The second project focuses on producing biochar from agricultural waste, enabling the permanent removal of CO₂ from the atmosphere for up to 1,000 years, as certified by Carbon Standard International (CSI)3.

Throughout the years, these contributions have also supported some of the pilot projects initiated by Flix to pursue the transformation of its partners’ fleet through the application of alternative fuels and drivetrains. The biggest challenge towards decarbonizing our bus partners’ fleet is posed by the level of scalability of current zero-emission technologies for long-distance buses, where infrastructural and technological challenges make it difficult to scale up zero-emissions solutions in a way that is efficient and economically sustainable. However, over the years we have been investigating the application of less CO₂-pollutant alternatives to Diesel.

From the lab onto the road: here's how you help us speed up fleet transformation

With your climate contributions, you have already helped us:

  • Pioneer the first long-distance electric bus in Germany
  • Pioneer our first biogas-powered buses in the Benelux region and Scandinavia
  • Bring ten buses equipped with solar panels on the road in five countries
  • Investigate fuel cell technology for hydrogen-powered long-distance buses

Check out our dedicated page if you want to know more about our fleet transformation projects, including those enabled also by our passengers’ contributions until April 2026!

Other projects that have become reality thanks to your climate contribution:

  • 17 e-cargo bikes delivered to NGOs like Foodsharing, Caritas, and Tafel for food distribution
  • 32 climate awareness classes for schoolchildren across Europe
  • A solar power system and plug-in hybrid vehicle for SOS Children’s Village in Sarajevo

And we walk the talk ourselves!

Flix also calculates all its employees' business travel emissions worldwide and financially contributes to the climate project “Clean Cookstoves” in Rwanda as well as the Future of Mobility Fund. You can find our own contribution certificate here.

The three principles of our climate strategy: Avoid, Reduce, Contribute

©Flix SE

Flix's climate commitment

We have committed to the Science Based Target initiative and submitted near-term targets for emission reduction to achieve by 2032. The SBTi validated these near-term targets in April 2024, thereby acknowledging that our strategy is in line with global climate goals. Together with our partners, we follow our path toward progressive decarbonization within the framework set by the Science Based Targets initiative. We have committed to reducing absolute scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 54.6% by 2032 from a 2019 base year, and to reducing scope 3 GHG emissions by 40.9% per passenger kilometer within the same timeframe. For more information on our progress, please refer to Flix’s ESG report (section 2.1.3, pp. 20-24).

On this journey towards decarbonization, we follow a holistic climate strategy that rests on three principles: Avoid, Reduce, and Contribute.

  • We help our passengers avoid CO₂ emissions by providing them with collective solutions that have a lower emission factor per passenger-km compared to other modes4.
  • We investigate the potential of fleet transformation with alternative drives and fuels pilots, from battery electric to biogas, to reduce the CO₂ emissions of our operations.
  • Despite these efforts, some emissions remain unavoidable – for now. And that's why we cooperate with passengers, environmental NGOs, and industry stakeholders so that we can contribute to global climate goals together. We join forces with first-tier industrial partners to enable the scale-up of low and zero-emission solutions for long-distance transport.

How we ensure credibility and compliance

We believe climate contributions must meet the highest standards of transparency and accountability. That’s why we follow these principles:

  • No misleading claims: we do not advertise trips as “carbon neutral” or “climate neutral” based on contributions. This aligns with the EU consumer protection law and the Empowering Consumers Directive.
  • Certified projects only: until April 2026 we have worked exclusively with atmosfair, whose projects meet strict standards such as Gold Standard, UN CDM as well as Carbon Standards International for removal projects.
  • Full transparency: all methodologies for emission calculations, project audits, and climate impacts are publicly documented and updated annually.
  • Impact reporting: we regularly monitor projects impact in collaboration with atmosfair to show how and where your Future of Mobility Fund contributions are used.

1 On average, traveling with FlixBus in Europe results in 28.1 grams of CO₂ emitted per passenger per kilometer. The emission factor for FlixBus in Europe is a weighted average factor calculated by Flix, combining the emission factors of the different European operational regions weighted by their respective passenger-kilometers (pax-km). The underlying regional emission factors are illustrated in Flix's 2025 Avoided Emissions Methodology (p. 8). Multiplied by the distance of your trip, this gives the total estimated emissions for your journey. The emission factors used in this analysis were calculated using parameter assumptions (Well-to-Wheel per mass, lower heating value, and density) from ISO 14083 (EU Diesel values), combined with average fuel consumption values obtained from FlixBus partners and applied to the respective operational region. These emission factors were then multiplied by the weighted average prices of reducing (e.g. 96.5%) and removing (e.g. 3.5%) one tonne of CO₂, to determine a price per passenger kilometre.

2 Please see the validation report available here: CDM-PoA-RCPV-FORM.

3 Certification documents are available here: https://global-c-registry.org/project-view/1024.

4 For more information, see Flix’s 2025 Avoided Emissions Methodology.