Calculating and reducing our footprint

A major highlight of 2007 was our work to calculate our carbon footprint, carried out in conjunction with the Carbon Trust and AEA Energy and Environment, which has enabled us to measure our overall environmental impact as a company for the first time. We now have a bank of data that goes beyond standard practice, providing us with a new focus to direct our activities over the coming year and beyond. Our objective for 2008 is to reduce that footprint by 5,000 tonnes or approximately 6 per cent – the equivalent of the carbon emissions resulting from a passenger travelling end to end on the Piccadilly line 1.1 million times.

Our carbon footprint study identified that our activities generate 78,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year.

Groundbreaking approach

We have split our carbon footprint into two components. First, the corporate footprint that comprises the carbon emissions from energy and utilities from our own premises and employees' commuting. Second, that of our 34 processes across the business, such as track replacement, where carbon emissions are caused by materials use, waste generation and the transport of materials and people to and from site.

“Every time Tube Lines upgrades a station or replaces a section of track the works themselves have a carbon impact, as does the new equipment installed,” explains Shane Mc Entee, Operations Environment Adviser at Tube Lines.

“We aimed to get data to calculate the total carbon associated with every activity we undertake, from refurbishing an escalator and upgrading a station to maintaining and cleaning the trains for the three lines. We aimed to gather 80 per cent of the available data relating to each process, making sure we concentrated on the most significant contributors to each. This has helped generate a more meaningful footprint and has enabled Tube Lines to get a better understanding of its true carbon impact.”

As part of the study, Tube Lines identified a wide range of potential improvements, 22 of which are being implemented in 2008, to support the targeted reduction of 5,000 tonnes of CO₂.

Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly line power footprint

We have also calculated what we describe as the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly line power footprint – the carbon emissions resulting from the operations of trains and stations on these lines by London Underground. While we are not directly responsible for these emissions, as a responsible company, we recognise that we can influence a reduction of the line, station and depot power requirements which comes to approximately 200,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year.

“On its own, Tube Lines is not a big carbon polluter, but we are part of a wider London transport network which altogether generates 22 per cent of the total London CO₂ emissions, so we have to play our part in reducing our carbon footprint,” adds Shane Mc Entee.

Climate change adaptation

As well as understanding how we can reduce our impact on climate change, we made significant progress in defining how we need to adapt to the changing climate. This is needed to ensure that services on our lines are able to run at the end of our 30 year contract, whatever the weather is.

In 2007, we developed a matrix that identifies the effect of the weather on our assets and practices. This has identified over 200 potential threats and opportunities posed by climate change. We are now working to quantify and gather data about reliability and infrastructure failure experienced to date.

We are using a combination of weather records from 1990, data on our infrastructure and long-range climate predictions from the UK Climate Impacts Programme to extrapolate the effects of adverse weather to provide estimates of the likely costs of climate change. This will enable Tube Lines to identify and prioritise significant impacts and develop appropriate adaptation strategies.

So far, we have looked at the effect of climate change on train washing and arrangements for responding to heat, and have also started to collect our own weather data.

“Just focusing on these areas has been helpful. As a result we have implemented some quick wins for immediate climate change adaptation. For example, we have adjusted track maintenance in an area on the Jubilee line more vulnerable to rainfall and will be installing the first rainwater train washing system on the Underground,” comments Rebecca Brown, Tube Lines Corporate Environment Adviser. “In 2008 we will work with experts in the business to quantify the most immediate impacts of climate change on our activities and processes so that we can further adapt.”

Rain water harvesting

We received the go-ahead to install a water harvesting system that collects rain water from the roof of our Cockfosters depot. This will supply 100 per cent of the water for washing the 86 trains on the Piccadilly line. It will be the first train wash of its kind on the Underground if not on the UK railway network and ensure we are able to clean the trains whatever the weather.

• Environmental impacts
• Noise
• Waste and materials
• Pollution
• Wildlife
• Energy and utilities
• Climate change