Our foundations

Why it matters to us

We need to get the basics right: understanding and managing our risks effectively. Our key environmental risks include nuisance management, especially noise, and avoiding incidents such as fuel and chemical spillages.

What we're doing

We use various international standards to ensure our sustainability efforts meet quality and compliance requirements. These include:

• ISO 14001:2015 for environmental management
• ISO 50001:2018 for energy management
• ISO 20400:2017 for sustainable procurement
• ISO 45001:2018 for health and safety management
• ISO 55000:2014 for asset management

Why it matters to us

Water scarcity continues to be an issue, especially in south-east England. We use a lot, from washing our trains to customer use at our stations.

Our plans

We can’t manage what we can’t measure, so we’ve installed autometers across our estate. We’ve introduced new ways to reduce water use. For example, we’ve cut water use by 40% in the last year by fitting aerated sensor mixer taps to customer toilets at over 20 locations. We’ve also improved the specification of toilets to use less water.

Why it matters to us

Extreme weather and temperature changes have a big impact on whether we can run our services effectively. We want our railway to be resilient and prepared for the future so our services can run whatever the weather.

What we're doing

We’re working closely with Network Rail and other train companies within our region to identify hotspots and come up with plans for future resilience.

Why it matters to us

Where our products and materials come from, and how they are sourced, can have a big impact both environmentally and socially. This issue is reflected in our strategy’s Planet pillar to close the loop for a circular economy and reduce carbon.

What we're doing

We’ve completed supplier heat maps and benchmarked ourselves against ISO 20400. Both of these exercises have enabled us to understand high risk products and countries. We’re also embedding awareness of modern slavery and safeguarding into our training and contracts.

Why it matters to us

We want to be transparent and open in everything we do. This requires us to have key performance indicators to track, robust data to analyse for trends, and to monitor progress against this strategy.

What we're doing

We report on our performance every six months through our customer report. Overall performance will be provided in an annual update. This is assured by an independent specialist. We aspire to work with others to share best practice and help each other along the way to a one railway approach.

You can find our latest report here.