600,000 people travel on Dutch trains every day, making a total of 5,550 journeys per day. If they already opted for a more sustainable transport option than cars, since January 1, 2017 the CO2 footprint of their trips is zero, as the Netherlands has managed to become the first country in the world where trains exclusively use energy from wind farms.

This has been announced by the Dutch railway company NS, as reported by The Country or The Guardian. Two years ago, NS signed an agreement with the electricity company Eneco to drastically reduce emissions from rail journeys. According to the agreement, the switch to 100% renewable energy use was to take place in 2018, but after reaching 75% clean energy in 2016, the milestone has been reached a year in advance.

For what NS transports each day, it needs 1.2 billion kilowatts per year, which is equivalent to the electricity consumption of the entire housing stock in Amsterdam. It is therefore an important step to reduce carbon emissions, even though up to a fifth of total CO2 in the Netherlands derives from gasoline and diesel cars. The wind power used in the project comes from newly built mill plants in the Netherlands, Belgium and Finland, which have been completed faster than planned. One hour of operation of a single turbine is enough to power the journey of a train for 200 kilometers.