Our commitment to energy sufficiency
Green driving and parking techniques, sustainable buildings, and solar panels are just some of the ways we’re cutting our energy consumption in response to the global energy crisis. The aim is energy sufficiency, sometimes called energy sobriety—meeting energy needs without excess.
An ambitious goal
As one of France’s biggest energy consumers, SNCF has been committed to responsible energy consumption for years. Our goal? Cut our energy consumption by 10% by the end of 2024.
7%
less energy consumption one year after the launch of our energy sufficiency plan
Equal to
⅔
of our end-2024 target
Which is a
10%
reduction in Group energy consumption
Environmental benefits, economic benefits
There are so many reasons to lower our energy consumption:
- reducing our greenhouse gas emissions
- doing our part in French efforts to manage energy supplies
- lowering SNCF Group’s financial costs
Easing our climate impact
We have pledged to significantly shrink our greenhouse gas emissions by 2030:
- lowering transport activity emissions by 30%
- lowering building emissions by 50%
Breaking down our consumption
SNCF consumes an average of 9,000 GWh of electricity per year. That comes from rail traction, buildings and road service vehicles—all areas where we can pursue energy sufficiency.
82%
of our energy consumption drives our trains
15%
powers our buildings
3%
fuels our service vehicles
More energy-efficient trains
The keys to our strategy are:
- wider adoption of green driving, with drivers fine-tuning train speeds
- green parking, which means shutting off engines as soon as possible to avoid wasteful idling
- new technologies to make traction more efficient, including those used on the TGV M
Click here for a video explaining green driving and parking in rail
And… Action! – Green driving and parking techniques
Green driving led to a
5%
drop in trains’ energy consumption in 2023
Green parking led to a
16%
drop in energy consumption
That amounts to a
6.6%
reduction in total energy consumption for traction in 2023
Testing new technologies
We’re testing innovative technologies to reduce the rail network’s energy consumption:
- on lightly travelled lines, our automated start-and-stop system disconnects electrical substations when trains aren’t running
- at Paris-Montparnasse station, we’re installing superconducting wires that are more efficient than copper wires, are 100% recyclable, and conduct high voltage electricity without any loss.
And… Action ! – Start & stop
And… Action ! – Superconducting wires
More energy-efficient buildings
We’re building more sustainable buildings, upgrading their insulation, and fine-tuning heating and cooling systems so they use less energy.
And… Action ! – Let there be light
19°
highest allowed temperature setting in winter
26°
lowest allowed temperature setting in summer
7%
savings on energy costs for each 1-degree cut in heating or cooling
We’re opting for green energy
- by replacing light bulbs with LEDs, which lowers electricity usage 30% to 60% depending on the building
- eliminating oil-fired boilers by 2025
- installing more than 1 million m² of solar panels in our stations by 2030 and creating solar farms on SNCF land
And… Action ! – Our stations go solar
6,5%
reduction in buildings’ electricity consumption in winter 2022/23
25%
less natural gas consumed during the same period
10%
energy savings in 2023 across our property portfolio
What about SNCF Renouvelables?
We launched a new subsidiary in 2023, SNCF Renouvelables, to install solar arrays on available land and building rooftops. Our goal is to generate 20% of the energy we consume by 2030. By 2050, we want to be energy-independent.
Freight trains use less energy than trucks
Fun fact: One freight train can haul as much cargo as 40 lorries.
Not only that, but each tonne of freight transported by Fret SNCF:
- requires 6 times less Energy
- and emits 14 times less pollution
And… Action ! – Freight’s environmental advantages
Changing behaviour
We’re adopting better habits to limit power usage by office IT workstations, employee PCs and tablets, and our datacentre servers.
That means:
- extending the life of our IT Equipment
- doing the small things, like remembering to turn off personal and company devices when not in use
- shrinking the amount of data individuals use—our Mon e-Carbone app calculates carbon emissions related to digital equipment and cleans up large, obsolete or duplicate emails
And… Action ! – SNCF’s Mon e.Carbone app
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