Creating a new home for your sustainability data reporting

The Sustainable Rail Blueprint highlights the need for a data framework. Having that will help us measure and report on the industry’s progress against our sustainability goals. 

In our Strategic Business Plan for 2024–29, we made a commitment to create this data architecture. The goal is to make sure we monitor and analyse sustainability metrics in an efficient and systematic way. This includes setting up a single reporting platform for all sustainability data. This is something we’re working on now.

This new reporting platform, hosting our Sustainable Insights , aims to:

• make sustainability data reporting easier and more efficient
• consolidate different manual sustainability reporting requirements 
• improve data services, such as validation, reporting, and insights 
• collect a more complete dataset for sustainable rail 
• support corporate ESG reporting.

Simplifying requirements and processes 

Rail operators already have to report environmental data to the Department for Transport and the Office of Rail and Road. Environmental incidents can also be reported through RSSB’s Safety Management Intelligence System (SMIS). 

The new platform will first combine these reporting processes into one simple interface. And along the way, we’ll work closely with key stakeholders. This is to ensure we’re meeting the needs of:

• the government
• the regulator
• operators.

Monitoring progress against the Sustainable Rail Blueprint will require increased data collection. The new platform will grow to include new optional sustainability metrics for rail organisations to report. 

We’re working on several projects with industry to define these new sustainability metrics and reporting guidance. For example, we recently published ‘Your Guide to Zero Waste Metrics’.

Our priority is to focus on metrics that are simple to report against or that can be measured using existing open-source or automated data. This means taking data from RSSB’s tools, such as the Rail Carbon Tool and the Rail Social Value Tool. It also means making use of existing industry data on:

• infrastructure
• rolling stock
• safety. 

This approach will ensure that Sustainable Insights maximises the value from existing industry data. It will also make manual sustainability data reporting more efficient and consistent. And it will mean we have the full picture on rail’s sustainability performance.