We employ a company-wide programme, the Environmental Management System (EMS) to monitor and control our environmental impacts. The system operates under the ISO 14001 international standards to encourage best practice internally and to benchmark performance against accepted industry standards. The various systems used to monitor, audit and improve performance are based around challenging and quantitative targets that link all six divisions of the Corporation, providing a uniform framework for managing our 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 2003 performance rating of 91% of 121 targets.  

Under our best practice culture, we are in strict compliance with and strive to exceed all Hong Kong environmental regulations. Similarly, in international projects, we adhere to local compliance procedures for the environment. No prosecution for our work in either Hong Kong or international operations were incurred during 2004.  

Partners and contractors
We assume environmental responsibility for normal rail operations and the maintenance works inside and outside the stations and along our rail lines. We operate under a contractual framework on our construction sites that requires certain achievements linked to a milestones payment system for environmental management covering wastage, re-cycling and disposal of resources and materials*. Regular site inspections, progress reports and audits are conducted, with any environmental hazard identified and the subsequent remedial work followed up immediately.

The EMS governs how our sites and contractors are managed and audited for strict environmental procedures and compliance. However, contractors and sub-contractors employed by our divisions are responsible for their own compliance with environmental regulations and are encouraged and trained through our partnering system to exceed standards. In 2004, the several dozen contractors engaged on our railway construction sites in Hong Kong collectively incurred no prosecutions for breaches of environmental regulations.

Noise, air, water and waste generation
The urban density of Hong Kong requires stringent control, monitoring and abatement measures for environmental protection. The architecture for our compliance to regulations is embodied in regulatory and self-initiated programmes that monitor and measure our environmental performance. We are co-operating with the Government to monitor and report noise levels along our routes to ensure compliance and, as policy, we respond within three working days to public complaints with regard to our operations. Internally, our self-monitoring results achieved 97% within the criteria set out under the Noise Control Ordinance. During 2004 no noise abatement prosecutions were brought against the company. Similarly with water consumption, wastage and re-cycling, we monitor usage at more than 150 discharge points and achieved a 97% rate of discharge limits. In 2004, we were compliant with the effluent discharge licenses. In a further move towards improvement, we initiated a programme that substantially reduces water consumption through the introduction of automatic taps at selected rail maintenance stations.

The indoor air quality is subject to non-statutory guidelines under the Environmental Protection Department's (EPD) practice note specific to public transport facilities. These guidelines require that all air-conditioned stations and 10% of the same train types to be monitored at least once a year. In 2004, the Corporation measured 24-hr carbon dioxide concentration in all the air- conditioned concourses and train platforms at least once. Over 100 individual measurements were conducted on stations and in platforms and about 30 measurements undertaken in trains. All the measurement results are well below the limit on carbon dioxide concentration specified. We are also in full compliance with guidelines in other areas, for example, design, maintenance, cleaning and operations of ventilation equipment.

We take into consideration the extended life of a rail asset and its components when working with contractors and under contractual obligations. While able to work successfully with the targets achieved on a year to year basis, the long-term management of responsible recycling and waste disposal by contractors is impractical owing to factors such as time liability limits under contract and materials procurement and disposal time gaps. In addition to the current legislated management programmes, we have taken steps through internally developed protocols to re-cycle and manage construction materials wastage from our projects. Through selected mechanisms such as the WIT and project-specific environmental targets, we continue to explore our capabilities in managing the longer term up and downstream effects of our operations.

Greenhouse gas emissions
With electricity being one of our most significant direct operating costs, more efficient management and monitoring to mitigate costs and greenhouse gas emissions are pursued. Traction energy, management , installation of platform screen doors in stations and the installation of solid state inverters on the urban line railway cars are some of the significant programmes in progress that have reduced electricity consumption in recent years. Under the Scheme of Control set by Government, we are restricted in our choice of suppliers, neither of whom generates electricity from renewable sources. As a result, controls on greenhouse gas emissions are specific to our operations. New supply sources will be investigated in anticipation of the 2008 expiry this scheme. Nonetheless, alternative energies are being explored and tested where applicable, but we acknowledge their limited contribution to our broader operational needs at this juncture.

Leadership initiatives
The Environmental Management System serves as the starting point in how we transfer broader sustainability practices when approaching new markets, most recently mainland China. By leveraging our expertise in managing environmental impacts, we have developed a roadmap to evolving social, economic and environmental best practice in projects and with project partners. With measurable and encouraging results on the environmental and stakeholder engagement fronts in Shanghai, we are formulating a model that will have viable applications for the triple bottom line for future projects where we have substantial input into the management, and more importantly, the planning and development of projects in China. However, we do acknowledge that working in this market has introduced the broader issues of direct and indirect up and downstream impacts, supply chain management and sub-contracting which we are now in the process of understanding and quantifying risks. Refer to the New Markets section for full discussions.

* More information is found in our General Specifications for Civil Works available in hard or soft copy by request.

Further reading:
Transport and Sustainability
Sustainability Advisory Board
Hong Kong SAR Environmental legislation
ISO targets 2005