Sep 22, 2011
Aeroexpress and the WWF held a joint event on 22 September to mark World Car-Free Day. A costumed Panda greeted passengers at Belorussky Rail Terminal and the Aeroexpress Terminal in Shremetyevo International Airport, telling them about the most environmentally friendly ways of travelling.
This is the fourth consecutive year that Car-Free Day has been organised in Moscow. Since the tradition began in 1998 in France, people living in thousands of towns and cities across 35 countries worldwide have consciously decided not to use their cars on this day. However, it is of course difficult to completely refrain from using personal cars in large metropolitan cities. For this reason, the WWF has drawn up a set of Eco-driving Tips.
Aeroexpress joined WWF Russia’s Corporate Club, specially set up for companies that care about the Russian outdoors and are ready to assist the WWF in solving the most pressing environmental problems. World Car-Free Day in Russia is the first joint event to take place. Railway transport is the most eco-friendly alternative to cars. Calculations show that Aeroexpress saves the city of Moscow from 41,000 kilometres of traffic congestion and 60,000 tonnes of harmful emissions every year.
“One of our main social objectives is to establish a modern metropolitan transport infrastructure which will help significantly reduce the amount of traffic on the main highways and improve the ecological situation in the capital”, said Alexei Krivoruchko, Chief Executive Officer of Aeroexpress. “Our participation in the World Wide Fund for Nature’s Corporate Club is the first step on the road towards implementing this task”.
“When passengers travel with Aeroexpress, the benefit to the environment is twofold. First of all, by choosing to travel by train rather than driving, the amount of greenhouse gases and harmful emissions is reduced. Secondly, a proportion of revenue from ticket sales will go towards protecting wildlife”, says Ekaterina Pal, Development Director of WWF Russia. “We are delighted to be working with a company which is already dedicated towards helping the environment through its day-to-day operations”.