The United Nations – under the auspices of international cooperation related to the Sustainable Development Goals – declared 26 November of each year as World Sustainable Transport Day at its General Assembly in May 2023, with the result that this year, it will be the third time that the importance of sustainable and environmentally conscious public transport will be commemorated worldwide.

This year’s commemoration, 26 November 2025, is of particular significance as it marks the beginning of the UN Decade of Sustainable Transport (2026-2035), which will be officially launched on this day at the UN Headquarters in New York. According to the United Nations, switching from cars to public transport could result in a reduction of up to 2.2 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per person per year.

BKV Zrt. considers it essential to set a good example among Hungarian public transport companies in raising awareness of this day, in encouraging its celebration, and in implementing its message in practice.

Our company has been paying special attention to the issues of energy saving, energy efficiency, and environmental protection for many years, for which purpose numerous measures, developments, and investments have been implemented in the past more than a decade. A significant result of these is that we saved a total of 8879.69 MWh of electricity through the renovation of the M3 metro line, by which in 2025, BKV won the Virtual Power Plant Programme award “Energy Efficient Company”, and through our operations in 2024, 618,306 tons less carbon dioxide was released into the Earth's atmosphere. This meant a reduction in emissions of approximately 148 g CO2/km per passenger - everyone who chose public transport instead of a car made the air cleaner by this much.

It is both a tradition and a priority for BKV Zrt. to participate in leading events in the industry, such as the Sustainability Theme Week, which was held for the tenth time this year.

The aim of the national programme series organized for students is to raise awareness of the role of greener thinking and climate protection. Our colleagues gave lectures on the importance of sustainability to nearly 2,000 young people in more than 30 schools – not only in Budapest, but also in many rural institutions. We are very pleased to be able to contribute to shaping the attitudes of the younger generation.

We are convinced that expanding knowledge in this direction is one of the keys to ensuring that public transport – both in our narrower and wider environment – remains sustainable in the long term.

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