In April 2016 our new strategy ‘Towards a One Planet Railway’ was launched. We are taking a groundbreaking approach to our sustainability work, bringing together objectives around environmental issues with community, health, accessibility and local economy into a single strategy.

Great Northern has trained an enthusiastic team of employees to be Environmental Champions across our network. These Champions are our eyes and ears on the ground, looking and listening for any environmental issues and communicating good practice to their colleagues. 

Great Northern Railway is now fully certified to the most recent version of ISO14001, released in 2015. We are seeking to manage our environmental responsibilities in a systematic manner that contributes to the environmental pillar of sustainability.

ISO 14001:2015 helps Great Northern to achieve the intended outcomes of our environmental management system. This provides enhancement of our environmental performance, fulfilment of compliance obligations and achievement of our environmental objectives.

Great Northern Railway is fully certified to ISO50001 for our Energy Management System.

ISO50001:2011 is our approach to managing energy use and consumption, including measurement, documentation and reporting, design and procurement practices for equipment, systems, processes and personnel that contribute to energy performance.

Great Northern's recycling rate is at 80% of waste that would otherwise be sent to landfill. We recycle everything from plastics, paper and textiles, to industrial metal and oil.

King’s Lynn is a zero waste to landfill site with others to follow. The majority of waste produced at these locations is recycled, with food streams composted and the remainder recovered as energy.

The Environment Team works closely with station teams, tenants and cleaning contractors to assess where waste comes from and how it can be managed better. We then liaise with our waste partner to identify our options and implement them. This work relies on positive engagement from everyone on the station with a strong focus on working together to create a community style response.

All of our stations have had platform lighting upgraded to LED.

LED lights are up to 80% more efficient than conventional lights, converting 95% of energy used in to light with only 5% wasted as heat.