Climate Positive Strategy

Translink’s mission is to lead the transport transformation in Northern Ireland. By creating advanced public transport services and integrated networks which connect people and communities, enhance the economy, and improve health and environmental wellbeing for all.

Climate change is the most pressing environmental challenge of our time, with overwhelming scientific evidence that we need to act now. The scale of the challenge demands a step change in both the breadth and scale of ambition, and we all have a duty to act quickly and decisively to reduce emissions. For Translink, transport has a huge role to play in the economy reaching Net Zero.

Translink’s Climate Positive Strategy has three main aims:

Achieve at least a 50% reduction in our current emissions by 2030 in line with our Climate Action Pledge

Place Translink at the forefront in the journey towards zero emission public transportation, and for all our buses, trains, and buildings to be Net Zero by 2040.
Be Climate Positive by 2050, going beyond achieving net zero to create an environmental benefit by removing additional carbon dioxide from the environment while growing our business.

To achieve these aims, a climate positive philosophy will be applied across the whole range of Translink’s operations. This includes the transport fleet, buildings, estate, and all associated aspects.

Having an aspirational Climate Positive Strategy will help us further improve our local air quality, keep the population active and moving for a healthier region, and help rebuild our economy to be fit for a low emissions future.

Our Climate Positive Strategy provides a measured, coordinated approach to achieve our targets, with a framework of priority objectives and high-level actions across all three of our Go Eco work-streams (Energy and Carbon, Biodiversity, and Resource Efficiency).

Planning for a future without fossil fuels

Translink is already planning for the day we stop buying fossil fuels. We have purchased 100% renewable electricity since 2020. Over 100 of our fleet of 1,400 buses are already zero-emissions and we have over 100 more on order. In 2023 Foyle will become the first city in the UK or Ireland to have a zero-emission public transport service. Our support fleet is already substantially electrically driven, and we continue to plan for delivery of a higher capacity but zero-emission railway during the 2030s.

Translink’s project teams are currently embedding an understanding and evaluation of the carbon impacts within our infrastructure and engineering works. Many projects are re-using materials on site, on other Translink projects, or in partnership with local communities, schools, or wider environmental programmes.

Our infrastructure and land provide a huge opportunity to help reach our targets, by offsetting residual emissions where we don’t yet have the technology to do so, through planting trees and carbon sequestration. Our land may also provide opportunities for renewable energy generation.

Let's Change Together

As part of our #LetsChangeTogether campaign, we have produced a Climate Change Animation detailing plans and targets to be Climate Positive by 2050 and acting as a call to action for others to join us in making sustainable changes.

Achieving Climate Positive

The ‘Translink SPIRIT’ is a set of guiding principles that are a fundamental part of everything we do. These core values are embedded in the culture of the organisation and enable us to lead, inspire, and succeed in delivering our goals for Translink. To achieve our targets, our values of Safety, People, Innovation, Responsibility, Integrity, and Teamwork hold strong. By following these principles, we can develop and deliver viable, credible, behavioural, and technical climate positive actions.