(Article from Journal 2022/01 Vol140 Pt1)

VISION: A RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE COMMUNITY THAT INSTINCTIVELY DELIVERS A ZERO-CARBON SUSTAINABLE RAILWAY

MISSION: RECOGNISING CLIMATE CHANGE AND DECARBONISATION CHALLENGES IN RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURE, SHARING SOLUTIONS AND BEST PRACTICE, AND FOSTERING THEIR ADOPTION THROUGH COLLABORATION TO ENABLE POSITIVE CHANGE.

In Nick’s Presidential address (opposite page)he gives a very good summary of COP activity and how the rail industry aligns with this. Nick also noted there are a lot of publicity campaigns which exist to raise awareness and interest. The hard work that sits underneath this, does not always appear very glamorous or exciting but it’s absolutely necessary to drive the change.

In recent months the PWI’s Climate Change Adaptation and Decarbonisation Committee (CCA & DC) have strengthened their purpose and reason for being. In early autumn we held a workshop to discuss the vision and mission of the group, and after much discussion agreed on the two statements you can see above. This piece of work has provided clarity as to our purpose and we now have a confirmed list of activities we are pursuing as a group.

We also welcomed Doctor Stuart Hillmansen as the final member of the committee. Stuart is an Associate Professor in Electrical Energy Systems at the University of Birmingham and he is also a member of the Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education (BCRRE). His main area of research interest is in hybrid traction systems for use in railway vehicles and Stuart is the academic lead for the HydroFLEX project which delivered the UK’s first hydrogen train to run on the UK mainline.Stuart has also authored a large number of papers on railway energy consumption and presented the work at a number of international conferences.

CARBON FOOTPRINT OF PWI

You may recall in the October Journal I advised the PWI had engaged with Ethical Nation to understand the carbon footprint of the PWI as an organisation. I can confirm that piece of work has concluded and we received the output from Ethical Nation in October 2021. As is standard practice, the PWI was assessed against the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and the internationally recognised standard ISO-14064-1:2006.

We chose the measurement period as the 2019 calendar year as this was the last “normal” year of operation prior to the pandemic. The PWI’s core business was measured using an operational control approach as set out in the standard, and carbon emissions were measured against 3 scopes:

1. Direct emissions ie from greenhouse gas sources owned or controlled by the PWI
2. Energy indirect emissions ie from the generation of imported electricity, heat or steam consumed by the PWI
3. Other indirect emissions ie those which are consequences of an organisation’s activities but arise from sources that are owned or controlled by other organisations

As an organisation, our total operational carbon footprint for the 2019 calendar year was 4.88 tonnes of CO2e, all of which are aligned to scope 3 emissions defined above.

Ethical Nation also looked at the emissions external to the organisation’s footprint. This category includes events such as seminars, courses, and exhibitions. These activities amounted to 16.76 tonnes of CO2e, with the majority coming from business travel and hotel stays.

The PWI’s total carbon footprint in the 2019 calendar year was therefore 21.64 tonnes of CO2e. In order to compensate for this, we have purchased the equivalent sum of carbon credits and are therefore delighted to state we have achieved net zero.

The assessment exercise will be an annual event; this initial review has allowed us to understand our baseline position and we can already see areas in the business where we can make improvements. Whilst we would expect our carbon footprint to remain low year on year (as we do not have any buildings), there will always be areas of focus to

drive further improvements and perhaps become carbon negative. A copy of the report will be made available on the website.

UK SPEC CHANGES – COMPETENCE E3: SUSTAINABILITY

At the last meeting of the Committee we received a presentation from Liz Turner, the PWI’s Professional Registration Manager. Liz explained the recent changes to UK SPEC with particular reference to the competence E3: Sustainability. The Membership Committee have set the expectation with respect to this competence for each level of registration and we were asked to give our views on this. We agreed to produce some guidance notes to assist both candidates and reviewers on what “good” looks like as suitable evidence to meet this competence. We also took an action to review what other PEIs are doing in this space and to consider whether or not the PWI ought to mandate a minimum number of CPD hours per annum on the area of sustainability.

UPCOMING TECHNICAL CONFERENCES

Finally, I would just like to recognise the hard work undertaken by both the Manchester and Liverpool Section and the PWI’s Technical Content Manager, Andy Steele in organising the upcoming technical seminars on the Climate Emergency taking place on 3 March 22, and Electrification: Delivering the Business Case on 21 April 22. Both subjects form part of the complex jigsaw that fit within the climate change and decarbonisation agenda. We are expecting a high demand for places at both conferences so please book your space early!