Climate change
Rail travel has a significant contribution to make in reducing emissions from surface transport. The average rail passenger generates less than half the emissions per kilometre to a passenger travelling by car. Electric trains have the lowest emissions of all mechanical transport modes. We estimate that our rail operations saved in the region of 840,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide over the past 12 months. This is an estimate of the additional emissions our passengers would emit if they travelled by car.
Work undertaken by ATOC indicates that since 1995/6 passenger rail has reduced average emissions per passenger kilometre by an estimated 22% compared to an 8% reduction from car traffic. In the longer term it is estimated that rail can provide additional capacity at about half the current figure as it attracts a growing share of national traffic.
The more passengers we can attract to our services, the more the sector can deliver emission reductions. For example, during the past two years passenger growth has supported a 10% reduction in the carbon footprint per passenger kilometre.
A passenger travelling on our Edinburgh to London sleeper service is emitting around a fifth of the emissions from the same journey by plane.
A First Great Western annual season ticket holder will typically save one tonne of carbon per year compared with the same commute by car.
Rail freight also makes a vital contribution to protecting the environment and helping the government to meet its commitments to improving air quality and tackling climate change. Railfreight creates twelve times less CO2 than road haulage. The average HGV generates 180 grammes of carbon dioxide per tonne mile whereas the average freight train generates 15 grammes.
We continue to develop ways to communicate these benefits to our customers and promote the use of public transport. Across our operating companies we participate in local initiatives to encourage more sustainable living. This year we significantly increased the amount of information available to our customers on the environmental impact of trains versus cars. They can now use an online calculator to establish the carbon savings associated with travelling by train for a particular journey.
Our Climate Change Strategy
Although we recognise the contribution public transport can make to reducing carbon emissions from the transport sector we also accept responsibility for reducing our own emissions and have set this out in our Climate Change Strategy. We are committed to reducing our carbon dioxide emissions by 20% by 2020.
We believe this is important not only to demonstrate a commitment to environmental improvement but also to ensure that rail travel remains competitive with other transport modes in relation to the emissions per passenger kilometre.
The key elements of our strategy are to:
- improve the fuel efficiency of our trains;
- investigate the use of alternative fuels;
- improve the energy efficiency of our properties;
- reduce our business travel and develop green travel plans; and
- promote the use of public transport to combat climate change.