Connex on track to cut carbon

Australian
Tuesday 7/4/2009 Page: 29

IN anticipation of the Government's proposed emissions trading scheme Melbourne-based rail operator Connex has installed carbon reporting software to track the environmental impact of the business. Connex switched on the Prima consulting carbon management platform last week and has started to collect data to establish a baseline figure for its carbon footprint.

Australian businesses are expected to splash out billions over the next couple of years to monitor and report their carbon usage to comply with the Government's proposed emissions trading scheme. The scheme is being debated but the Australian Industry Group claims the carbon pollution reduction scheme will add $8 billion to business costs in 2010-11. Connex environmental sustainability manager Richard Mason would not comment on how much it cost to install Prima's sustainability scorecard software.

Mr Mason was not sure of the return on investment that would be delivered by the software but said there would be cost savings extracted from reduced energy usage. "Any measurement or monitoring program has cost implications on the bottom line," Mr Mason said. "Any efficiencies you can create are always beneficial to the bottom line. Reducing your energy usage will mean you're paying less for that."

The software collects about 50 types of data relating to Connex's carbon portfolio, including electricity, water, gas fuel consumption and waste removal. It also collects more complex data relating to the operator's bio-sites. "Bio-sites are areas within our network that are of environmental significance", such as areas that need protection or weed management.

"There is a whole range of environmental indicators that can be managed through this database. 'I think that's the beauty of this system. There is a whole range of other non-utility and other environmental indicators that can go into a database like this and improve management as well," Mr Mason said.

Information and data collected from electronic or paper invoices are fed into the system, including utility bills and waste management contracts. The system has given Mr Mason confidence the company could fare well in an audit of its carbon use. "A system like this streamlines the process of environmental indicators and makes it a lot easier to track back and give you confidence in reporting information," he said.

The platform has improved Connex's recycling rate across its network of train stations. Recycling did not fall under the requirements of the emissions trading scheme, but it helped the company achieve its broader corporate sustainability goals, Mr Mason said. "We used information to say we have this much waste, this proportion isn't being recycled and if we put in recycling bins at these stations we could improve our environmental performance.

"Without that data we were unable to get down to the level of granularity we need or how many bins we need and how we can improve our recycling rates." Over the next six months Connex will collect data about environmental impact to create more meaningful goals around sustainability.