The Transport Decarbonisation Alliance (TDA), a coalition aiming to catalyse the accelerated decarbonisation of the transport sector, was launched last month in Leipzig, Germany, as part of the International Transport Forum.

Rail transport company Alstom and partner companies, cities and countries attended the official launch in Germany on May 24.

With transport emissions today accounting for about 25% of energy-related greenhouse-gas emissions, the TDA brings together leading countries, cities and companies into a “coalition of the willing” that is seeking to transform the global transport sector to achieve net-zero emissions before 2050.

The TDA, which aims to fulfil the 12 commitments made at the One Planet Summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, France, in December 2017, will facilitate discussion on decarbonisation in the context of global, regional, national, local and corporate policy processes, while demonstrating that decarbonisation is technically feasible and economically attractive, and brings broad social and environmental benefits.

“Carbon neutrality in the mobility sector is achievable; all transport systems need to be reinvented and transformed to rise to this challenge. “With our partners in the TDA, we look forward to being at the forefront of this transition,” said Alstom chairperson and CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge.

Alstom joins other founding member companies CEiiA, EDP, ITAIPU Binacional, Michelin and PTV.

The TDA member countries are Costa Rica, Finland, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Portugal, with member cities being Curitiba, in Brazil; Rotterdam, in the Netherlands; and Lisbon and Porto-Gaia-Matosinhos Atlantic Front, in Portugal.

To help drive carbon neutrality in transport, Alstom has defined its own strategy along three lines by placing energy efficient electric solutions at the heart of its portfolio, enabling energy transition for sustainable mobility solutions, and decarbonising its operations.

As an example of its world-leading innovations, in 2016, Alstom presented the Coradia iLint, the world’s first hydrogen fuel cell train, which is emissions-free and offers an unprecedented alternative to diesel trains for operation on nonelectrified railway lines.

Powered by a fuel cell in which hydrogen is converted into electrical energy, the Coradia iLint emits only steam and water.

The train will enter regular service on the Cuxhaven–Bremervörde route in Lower Saxony, Germany, this year.