Environment

Public transport makes an important contribution to reducing emissions from travel. We are also committed to continuously reducing our own emissions.

Our environmental management programme is led by the Group Head of Environment in the UK and by the Director of Environment in North America supported by environmental representatives and engineering staff across the business. Our operating companies all work to minimum environmental standards against which they are periodically audited.

In the UK all our operating companies (except First Hull Trains) have secured the environmental management system standard, ISO14001. First Hull Trains do not operate any stations or maintenance depots and we will therefore seek an alternative accreditation for this operation. Our UK operations are also accredited under the prestigious Energy Efficiency Accreditation Scheme (EEAS), an independent emission reduction award initiative that recognises organisations demonstrating energy savings through management commitment and energy efficiency investment.

Key achievements in 2010/11

• We have reduced our carbon emissions per passenger km by a further 7% in UK Rail.
• Our DriveGreen programme has reduced carbon emissions per km by 2.3% in UK Bus.
• Our waste recycling levels have increased by 9% in the UK and by 4% in North America.
• Energy usage in the 100 highest energy consuming facilities in North America has reduced by 11%.
• Water usage in the UK has fallen by 6%.
• Air pollution emissions continue to fall in both the UK and North America as we invest in new, lower emission vehicles.

First awarded for contribution to sustainable transport



Our programme of investment in DriveGreen technology on all our buses led to us winning the 2010 Scottish Transport Award for contribution to sustainable transport. This state-of-the-art technology, which provides in-cab information to the driver on the fuel efficiency of their driving, has led to a reduction in fuel use of around 500 litres per bus per year.