DB Schenker Rail UK has launched an eco-friendly product for zero-carbon rail freight, allowing customers to offset 100% of their CO2 emissions.

The new product, Eco Neutral, will help its customers to compensate in full for the CO2 emissions produced through their rail freight services by backing climate change projects across the globe.

DB Schenker Rail UK Marketing head Steve Pryce said: 'Rail freight already offers significant environmental benefits when compared with road. Each tonne transferred by rail rather than road cuts CO2 emissions by 76%.

'We are committed to being an industry leader in this area, continuously investing in innovative ways to even further minimise the impact of our operations on the environment and help customers to reduce their carbon emissions.'

According to DB Schenker Rail, it is now the first rail freight company in the country to offer a fully carbon neutral product to the market.

In order to deliver this scheme, DB Schenker has collaborated with Atmosfair, a climate protection organisation that tries to protect the climate by compensating greenhouse gases through the use of renewable energies.

The company calculates CO2 emissions of its customers from their rail services to decide how much it will cost to compensate. For this process, DB Schenker will consider distance, weight, payload capacity, backload statistics, traction type and fuel/electricity consumption.

It also offers option to its customers to choose a project to fund in order to compensate their CO2 emissions.

Eco Neutral will be put on display at Multimodal, the UK and Ireland's freight transport and logistics exhibition that will be held from 28 to 30 April in Birmingham.

Source: Railway-Technology