What We Are Doing
We want to ensure that our transport services actively reduce the environmental impacts of travel. To do this we promote the environmental benefits of travelling by train and bus. We also work on reducing our own impacts.
Our environmental management programme is led by the Group Head of Environment (supported by a Director of Environment in North America) and by environmental representatives across the business. Our operating companies all work to minimum environmental standards against which they are periodically audited.
We led the industry by setting a target for all our UK operating companies to be accredited to the environmental management system standard ISO14001. All but one company has successfully achieved this. The remaining company will work towards accreditation in the coming year.
Key achievements in 2008/09
- In the UK Bus and Rail divisions we have cut energy use in buildings by 3.4% and 2.8% respectively, meeting our overall energy reduction target for the UK of 3%.
- In May 2008 our operations in the UK were accredited under the prestigious Energy Efficiency Accreditation Scheme (EEAS), an independent emission reduction award initiative. EEAS recognises organisations that demonstrate energy savings through management commitment and investment in energy efficiency measures. We are the first transport company to complete the accreditation since the scheme was extended to include transport emissions.
- Through sustained investment in our carbon reduction programme we have improved the fuel efficiency of our UK buses by 0.7%.
- We have started to collate energy data for North America. Data is now available for 14% of our sites and baseline data will be generated for all 1,700 sites in the coming year.
- We have established total waste management contracts in both our UK Rail division and in North America, allowing us to monitor waste arising and recycling rates across the business. Our recycling rates in the UK have improved by 6%.
- We have cut water usage by 2% per bus and by 4% per train unit.
- We continue to reduce local emissions from our buses through investment in new vehicles.
Awards
In recognition of our Climate Change Strategy, FirstGroup won gold in the 2008 Green Apple Award in the Transport, Freight and Highways Category.