BLS
BLS is one of Switzerland's largest transport companies. It connects people, regions and places in seven cantons and the Italian region of Piedmont. Its services include rail, bus and boat operations as well as car transport. Almost 200 000 people travel daily on BLS trains, buses and boats. With over 1.3 million cars per year, BLS is also Switzerland's largest car transport provider on the Kandersteg–Goppenstein and Brig–Iselle routes. It operates scheduled boats on Lake Thun and Lake Brienz and is one of the most important tourism providers in Berner Oberland. Its subsidiary BLS Cargo also transports goods from the North Sea to the Mediterranean.
In addition, BLS maintains railway infrastructure, renovates tunnels and develops areas for living and working. With the Lötschberg Base Tunnel, it operates an important section of the international freight transport axis. Over 3900 employees from more than 40 countries make this diverse range of services possible.
Energy and climate
The environment is one of five strategic priorities in BLS’ new 2030+ strategy, making it a central assessment criterion for all decisions. Under this strategy, BLS is reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, increasing its energy efficiency, promoting biodiversity, implementing initial steps towards a circular economy and advocating greater transparency in supply chains. For example, BLS is continuously increasing the energy efficiency of its passenger transport services by improving the heating, cooling and lighting systems in existing trains, setting high energy-efficiency standards for its new fleets and ensuring that train crews know how to use energy responsibly.
Targets
BLS has pledged to achieve ambitious energy and climate targets under the EEC initiative. These include increasing energy efficiency in passenger transport (trains, buses, ships), freight transport (trains) and car transport (trains). BLS has also committed to continuously increasing the share of renewable energies and the production of solar power. For example, there is already a pilot project for photovoltaic systems on platform roofs.
Measures
Like all the participants, BLS has undertaken to implement the joint measures. In addition, BLS implements individual measures ranging from defining a CO2 reduction path for all areas and setting up central energy monitoring for buildings and vehicles to integrating sustainability criteria into tenders.
Further information
Up-to-date information on the implementation status of this participant’s targets and measures are published in our Energy and Climate Report as of 2024. BLS also provides information on its own website about its commitments in the area of energy and climate.