Indian Railways has adopted an integrated approach for a Green Environment

Source: The post is based on the article “Indian Railways has adopted an integrated approach for a Green Environment” published in the PIB on 7^th October 2022.

What is the News?

Indian Railways has a major role in contributing to India’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) towards combating Climate Change. Indian Railways plans to become Net Zero Carbon Emitter by 2030 by completing the electrification of all railway tracks and various other measures.

How do Indian Railways plan to become Net Zero Carbon Emitter by 2030?

What are the reforms undertaken by Indian Railways (IR) since 2014 towards this objective?

IR will attempt to reduce its carbon footprint primarily through sourcing its energy requirements from renewable energy sources.

Issuance of Water Policy 2017 for effective water management: Water Policy 2017 has been issued to all Zonal Railways and Production Units for implementation in Railway Stations, Trains, Railway Colonies etc. This is a part of overall efforts to achieve a 20% reduction in water consumption by 2020 by the Government of India as part of a Nationally Determined Contribution.

Creation of Additional Carbon sink by Afforestation: Afforestation on vacant railway land and in between sections is carried out by Railways. Further, IR has been planting around 1 crore trees annually since 2017 onwards.

Green certification/Consent to operate from State Pollution Control Board since 2015: Around 700 Railway Stations have been certified for implementation of Environment Management System to ISO:14001. More than 545 stations have achieved Consent to operate (CTO) from the respective State Pollution Control Board.

Third-party Audit/Survey including Passenger feedback on Cleanliness: First ever Third Party audit cum survey on the cleanliness of important trains was carried out in 2018. Such surveys provide independent assessment and also instil a sense of healthy competition in improving cleanliness in passenger interface areas.