Rail is an acknowledged preferred choice in public urban transport. Reductions in traffic congestion, fossil fuel emissions, noise and air pollution are a few of the many significant benefits that the MTR network brings to Hong Kong. Our environmental strategy reaches beyond rail to the planning and development of green communities around our stations and routes, bringing quality of life to our city and often, in the process, reviving aged and environmentally neglected regional community centres.

MTRC’s Environmental Management System (EMS), formalised in 1997, now operates under ISO 14001 international standards. The systems used to monitor, audit and improve performance are based around challenging and quantitative targets that link all six divisions of the company, providing a uniform framework for managing major resources usage. In 2004 we achieved 95.62% of the 137 corporate-wide environmental and social targets set for the year, which compares favourably to our strong 2003performance rating of 91% of 121 targets.

Compliance Architecture

Under our best practice culture, we are in strict compliance with all Hong Kong environmental legislation. No prosecutions were recorded for the year . Similarly, in international projects, we adhere to local regulatory compliance procedures for the environment. No prosecution for our work in these markets was incurred.