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ssb
Rail could risk losing its assumed green image, but, Anthony Perret points out, there are
opportunities for industry to raise its game on sustainable development
The 2012 global survey of
companies’ sustainability
performance by EIRIS (Ethical
Investment Research Service) saw
FirstGroup come second, and GoAhead
make the top 10. Their high ratings were
based on the inherent benefits of public
transport, as much as the companies’ own
performance, demonstrating that rail still
benefits from a strong starting position
on sustainability compared with other
transport modes.
But pressures such as carbon and
cost affect everyone and every sector,
and competition is growing. The UK
automotive industry is making great gains
in cutting carbon from motoring, a mode
which emitted 15 per cent less CO2 in 2012
than it did in 2000. It's also easy to fall into a
trap of thinking an industry has an endless
strategic advantage - consider the early dotcom
investments.
Sustainable development is about
preserving the capability of future
generations to meet human needs, including
economic, social and environmental.
Driven by societal expectation as well are
individual issues such as climate change,
industry has increasingly had to face up to
the challenge of developing sustainably, and
rail is no different.
Over the last 10 years, RSSB has engaged
with senior industry people from Network
Rail, the passenger and freight train
operating community, rolling stock owners,
suppliers, government and ORR to form
the Sustainable Rail Programme (SRP). It’s
a powerful consensus, but industry leaders’
philosophy is simple: in the same way that
safety cannot be treated as a ‘bolt-on’ to
business-as-usual, sustainable development
is not an optional extra, but something that
has to be embedded in an organisation’s
culture and its business performance.
This led to agreement on the industry’s
Sustainable Development Principles.
Launched in 2009, they represent core
values about the railway being at the centre
of a transport system that meets the travel
needs of society without compromising
future quality of life.
The rail industry sustainable development
principles:
• customer-driven
• putting rail in reach of people
• providing an end to end journey
• being an employer of choice
• reducing our environmental impact
• carbon smart
• energy wise
• supporting the economy
• optimising the railway
• being transparent
The principles reflect the knowledge and
understanding of both the challenges and
opportunities of sustainable development
for the rail industry covering social,
economic and environmental issues
and could help the industry to develop
sustainably in the long term.
But what has the take-up been like
Some companies have been early adopters,
quick to implement the principles in
individual organisational delivery plans,
as well as being a key part of the Industry
Strategic Business Plan (ISBP).
However, with its unique structure
and a lack of obvious commercial drivers
and, up to now, regulatory incentives, few
companies were willing to 'walk the talk' on
sustainable development.
Now however, it is beginning to look
like the Department for Transport (credit
where it is due) has grasped the nettle, and
has started to develop the incentives and
drivers to concentrate minds. The 2012
HLOS requires industry to develop plans
to embed the SD Principles. The command
paper of the same year announced an
intention to embed the principles in all
projects where the DfT was the principle
funder and sponsor. And at the recent ‘UK
rail opportunities day’, it was made clear
that future franchise bidders will be tested
on the quality and sustainability of their
proposals.
July/August 2013 Page 45