Energy consumption and associated emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere have become a major challenge. In 2011, electricity produced from renewable resources accounted for around 20% of the total gross electricity consumption in Europe (Eurostat, 2012).

New technologies are being developed and improved to ensure the production of energy from renewable resources. The use of renewable energy must be promoted in the public transport sector to minimise the environmental impact of its services. New transport infrastructure offers outstanding opportunities to invest in renewable energy sources, as energy production facilities can be designed at the start of the project and more easily incorporated in large buildings (see also ecodesign section).

Several investments in more sustainable energy production systems have been made within the Ticket to Kyoto project, in order to evaluate their use in the public transport field: geothermal energy, wind energy, hydropower and fuel cells. These investments allowed the partners to exchange on best practices and to improve their knowledge of technologies that had never before been implemented by public transport companies.