First appoints new Decarbonisation Programme Director
First Bus has appointed Faizan Ahmad as the new Decarbonisation Programme Director.
The new strategic hire joined the business at the end of June, reporting into Chief Sustainability Officer, Isabel McAllister.
Faizan has worked across multiple sectors and joins from Amazon, where he led Europe-wide EV charging strategy workstreams for the company. Faizan is to spearhead the ambitious environmental, decarbonisation, and fleet product development initiatives at First Bus, as it aims to achieve a fully zero-emission fleet by 2035. This also aligns with FirstGroup’s goal of achieving complete zero emissions across all operations by 2050.
“The bus industry has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change how people travel and encourage more people to take public transport as we transition to zero emissions” – Faizan Ahmed, Decarbonisation Programme Director
Faizan said: “I am excited to be joining First Bus to help the organisation deliver a very exciting and industry-leading agenda in the decarbonisation of public transport in the UK.
“The bus industry has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change how people travel and encourage more people to take public transport as we transition to zero emissions.
“This is a crucial time for the transport sector, as both employees and customers are increasingly concerned about the environmental impact of their travel choices.”
“Our culture as a business is changing for the better against the backdrop of all our decarbonisation efforts” – Isabel McAllister, Chief Sustainability Officer for First Bus UK
Isabel McAllister, Chief Sustainability Officer for First Bus UK, said: “I’m delighted that Faizan has joined us at First Bus to help drive forward our decarbonisation agenda as we all focus on reaching our 2035 goals.
“We’re in the process of a big organisational transformation, moving from being an asset-based business focused on buses, to one that’s more customer and service-orientated, which puts people and the planet at the heart of everything we do.
“Our culture as a business is changing for the better against the backdrop of all our decarbonisation efforts, and we are super excited to welcome someone of Faizan’s experience to help shape and deliver our ambitious goals in this area.”