FREE NOW, Europe’s leading multi-service mobility platform, announces today its Move To Net-Zero carbon emissions programme: the holistic sustainability strategy includes immediate offsetting and long-term Net-Zero efforts with the goal of 50% fully electric vehicle rides by 2025 and 100% zero emissions until 2030. In addition, FREE NOW will offset all remaining CO2 emissions from the beginning of 2020 onwards - both for the company and its services. FREE NOW will be the very first mobility platform in Europe to target Net-Zero in all key European markets and will support all countries in reducing emissions drastically. "We take our responsibility as Europe's leading multi-mobility provider very seriously and want to make a significant positive impact on climate change by targeting Net-Zero. With this, we will meet the goals of the Paris Agreement 20 years early,” says Marc Berg, CEO of FREE NOW.
FREE NOW’s Move To Net-Zero emission mobility includes the following steps:
● FREE NOW will push the electrification of its rides by allocating more than EUR 100 million of resources in the coming five years. Concrete actions include the promotion of the most sustainable modes of transportation in the app. In addition, FREE NOW plans to incentivise drivers to switch to fully electric vehicles and to offer special subsidies to new and existing drivers when driving battery electric cars. Moreover, drivers will benefit from preferential rental and acquisition conditions and monetary advantages when charging their vehicles
● For a Europe-wide charging infrastructure, FREE NOW cooperates with its sister company CHARGE NOW, operated by Digital Charging Solutions GmbH. CHARGE NOW provides easy and seamless access to the largest network of charging infrastructure in Europe. Drivers will thus be able to charge conveniently at more than 175,000 charge points across Europe. FREE NOW and CHARGE NOW plan to enable jointly most attractive pricing conditions to EV drivers while promoting utilization at existing and new green charging hubs of preferred partners
● Specifically in the UK, FREE NOW plans to achieve an electric fleet already by 2025 and expects to reach similar targets in most of the other countries soon as well. To achieve this, the leading mobility platform will extensively collaborate with cities, regulators and all relevant stakeholders and will track its rides’ emissions reduction in real-time
● For shorter distances, users will benefit from BOND e-bikes, Voi e-scooters and emmy e-mopeds with more electric options to come in 2021. With that, already today emissions can be reduced by 80% per kilometre in comparison to an average car ride. FREE NOW will also integrate information about public transportation options and invest further in pooling opportunities as well as advanced technology with decreased environmental impact
● In addition to focusing all efforts on reducing greenhouse gas emissions per passenger kilometre as much as possible, FREE NOW is going to offset all remaining emissions from 2020 onwards. The project mix of FREE NOW's offsetting efforts will focus among others on preservation and recompilation of forests, including local planting of more than 20,000 trees across European cities every year
Marc Berg, CEO of FREE NOW: "More and more people in Europe are demanding environmentally friendly mobility options, so do companies, and the pandemic has accelerated this trend. It is our clear goal to offer cleaner micro mobility options and provide fully electric experiences for longer trips, plus to offset all remaining emissions in order to go fully green. With our Move To Net-Zero, we are fully committed to the renowned global Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) to ensure our targets meet the highest industry standards. In cooperation with vehicle manufacturers, charging infrastructure providers and cities, we will ensure we combat climate change by helping drivers switch to electric vehicles to meet consumer demand for more and more sustainable journeys."
UK, France, Spain and Germany are moving forward
Locally, FREE NOW has already achieved first successes. In fact, the platform offers the largest electric fleet in Paris and in London already today. In Spain, more than half of all vehicles are electric or hybrids, with Madrid leading the trend with 65% of all cars. FREE NOW also sees an increasing demand in Germany, where the tech company has successfully integrated all modes of micro mobility like e-scooters, e-mopeds and e-bikes last year and will now also integrate information about public transportation options across the country. Thus, the leading mobility platform aims to reduce at least 50% of emissions per passenger kilometre by 2025 in all core European countries.
The shareholders Daimler Mobility and BMW Group welcome the plans
Stephan Unger, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler Mobility for Finance, Controlling, Risk Management and Digital Mobility Solutions: "As a provider of first class financial and mobility solutions, we must set examples for sustainable action. With this in mind, we have determined with our Ambition2022 that our Daimler Mobility locations should be carbon neutral by the end of 2022 - worldwide. Sustainability is part of our DNA at Daimler Mobility. We welcome and support the ambitious goals of FREE NOW. This will be a significant contribution to improving the quality of life in the city."
Rainer Feurer, Vice President Corporate Investments of BMW Group, adds: "Premium and sustainability will be even more inextricably linked in the future. The BMW Group combines responsibility and driving pleasure and actively shapes the transition to sustainable mobility. We are committed to the Paris Agreement and focus our respective goals on the guidelines of the recognised Science Based Targets initiative. We look forward to accompanying FREE NOW on its path to a zero-emission mobility platform."
Further information on the sustainability goals of FREE NOW can be found here: https://free-now.com/about-us/sustainability/
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