Railways rides climate wave with green point ratings to garner more freight

Close on the heels of other companies pushing for greater awareness on climate change, the Indian Railways is introducing a rating system, allotting rail green points (RGPs) to companies that choose railways over road transport to ferry goods, as the latter leads to carbon emissions which is 4x that of railways.

“Freight customers should be aware of the reduction in emission by opting to transport via railways. The savings will be estimated in terms of carbon dioxide (CO2) per tonne and credited to the customer as RGPs. An RGP account will be maintained for every freight customer in freight operations information system,” said sources at the Ministry of Railways.

While the national transporter is not offering any monetary rewards in exchange for these green points, it hopes to wean corporates from using road transport for the “feel-good factor”.

The official added that companies may want to flaunt these ratings in their communications and annual reports. The Energy and Resources Institutewill be responsible for developing and modifying the calculator for greenhouse gas emissions. 

Based on current levels, road transport emits 0.04 kilograms (kg) of CO2 per tonne per kilometre, while the railways emits 0.009 kg (23 per cent of roadways). The differential, or the carbon saving on account of choosing railways, will be credited in the form of RGP, said the official.

This comes at a time when the national transporter is moving towards increasing its share in the total freight transported across the country. Under the National Rail Plan (NRP), the railways aims to carry 45 per cent of the country’s freight, from its current levels of 26-27 per cent.

The attempt to discourage corporates from using road transport is also coming at a time when the railways is trying to diversify its freight basket.

Currently, the national transporter’s freight basket is dominated by coal and iron ore, which cumulatively accounts for over 60 per cent of its freight volume. Until February, the railways has transported over 1,278 million tonnes (mt) of goods and is confident of crossing 1,400 mt for this fiscal year (2021-22).

According to the World Bank, over 60 per cent of India’s freight is ferried via roads. The viable alternative — railways — is 45 per cent cheaper, but is not preferred by manufacturers or distributors because of adverse rake booking and pricing policies and lack of intermodal connectivity between the rail network and the road network, which serves an important role for last-mile deliveries.

Under its ‘2024 by 2024’ mission, railways aims to leap by 58 per cent in three years and ferry 2024 mt of goods by the year 2024.

While the Indian Railways began stepping up its drive asking companies to make climate-positive choices in each of their activities, Union minister Nitin Gadkari has also been strongly advocating speeding up the green transition of the country’s road networks. Recently, Gadkari said that as alternative fuels like electric and green hydrogen scale up, people will not buy petrol and diesel-run vehicles in the next few years, as electric alternatives will be priced at similar levels. He cited the growth in electric vehicle sales, which have grown 162 per cent in the previous year.

According to the NITI Aayog, road transport contributes to 95 per cent of freight carbon emissions and these are estimated to increase over four and a half times by 2050.

CUTTING THE CARBON TICKET

• Ferrying goods via roadways leads to four times more carbon emission than railways
• Railways to introduce a rating system, which will allot rail green points to companies that choose railways over road transport
• The Energy and Resources Institute will be responsible for developing and modifying the calculator for greenhouse gas emissions
• Railways’ freight basket is dominated by coal and iron ore, which account for over 60% of its volumes