Delivering The Green Gateway: Our 2020/21 ESG Report
Our Green Gateway To Europe
At HS1 Ltd, our aim is to be the world’s leading high-speed rail experience, providing the most sustainable option for transport across the UK and Europe.
To support our goal, HS1 Ltd has created a 2030 Vision based around four key pillars - “Contemporary; Agile; Sustainable and Trusted”. Within the ‘Sustainable’ pillar sits our Sustainability Strategy – the plan that helps us to deliver the sustainable element of the 2030 Vision.
The 2030 Vision and the Sustainability Strategy are also underpinned by HS1’s values. ‘Punching above our weight’ and ‘Winning by inches’ are integral elements of our approach as the only railway in the UK operating solely on renewable electricity. Demonstrate our approach to making changes with our sector and our business. Small things matter as much as big ones.
We truly believe we have an important role to play in addressing the climate emergency and are continuing our great work to achieve our targets.
We are the Green Gateway to Europe and provide the most sustainable option for travel from the UK to France, Belgium and The Netherlands. It has now been almost a year since HS1 became the first railway to run entirely on renewable electricity and we set our target to become fully carbon neutral by 2030. We have been working closely with our partners to bring about real change in the rail industry and place an environmentally friendly future at the forefront of everything we do. Working towards these targets has been a key area of focus in 2021 and will continue to be so in the build up to 2030.In terms of reporting and transparency, we have gone further and included our sustainability progress in periodic reports, board/quarterly reports and in our 2020/21 ESG return for our shareholders.
We also recognise that the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted our progress in this reporting period, as you will see in this update. However, as we look to the future, we know we have a unique opportunity to put sustainability at the very heart of our business, the economy and society to drive a green recovery.
We are galvanised to continue making progress towards our goals, whilst encouraging more people to choose high-speed rail. We are hosting a landmark workshop at the World Climate Summit’s The Investment COP at COP26 to discuss how we can achieve a modal shift to high-speed rail.