The production of waste is an environmental aspect that is assessed and measured at all Hitachi Rail sites and offices together with the analysis of work sites and construction of civil and technological products.
Hitachi Rail’s policy is to reinforce the prevention, re-use, recycling and recovery of waste. All its sites have waste collection areas based on the type of waste and site layout. External specialist companies collect and process hazardous and non-hazardous waste. The most prominent waste at production sites relates to paper, cardboard and wood packaging, metal and out-of-order equipment.
- 2938.8 tonnes
of waste produced
-21.2%
from 74.3% to 91.9%
total waste recycled
-23.3 %
reduction of waste per hour worked
The Circular Economy aims to monetize waste in order to eliminate it from our value chains – making businesses both more financially and environmentally more sustainable. Recent studies show that keeping resources in use for as long as possible, and using them efficiently, are particularly important in the rolling stock industry.
This means a strong commitment to avoid premature obsolescence of parts and material. For example, if Hitachi Rail can use digital technologies to predict and prevent unnecessary maintenance on a bogie, it is possible to keep that bogie safely operating for longer and avoid wasteful maintenance activities that require us to spend time, money and material maintaining it ‘just in case.’
Hitachi Rail already manufactures highly recyclable trains (above 95% in some cases), recovers a high percentage of materials during maintenance operations, as well as refurbishing and reusing components from older products to fit new products.
But more can be done. As a result, Hitachi Rail has begun to incorporate the concept of the Circular Economy within its Environment and Quality Management Systems at production sites in which the relevant certifications are managed. As a result, Life Cycle Analyses are now part of all projects, and Environment Product Declaration certification processes are on going across the portfolio.
The results of the Circular Economy Project allow Hitachi Rail to evaluate the opportunity- cost of alternative business models in terms of socio-economic (Life Cycle Cost, Social Life Cycle Assessment) and environmental impact (Environmental Life Cycle Assessment). Hitachi Rail’s Circular Economy Project consists of 3 methodological steps and 10 main activities.
The Project Manager is responsible for ensuring the customer is satisfied, responding to any issues that might arise over the course of the contract.
The organisation of bidding and project management activities is fundamental to carrying out a project that meets the quality requirements of the products and services offered and ensures their provision according to deadline and budget restrictions. To this end, the objective of-23.3% reduction of waste per hour workedproject management is to protect the interests of Hitachi Rail’s Stakeholders, including shareholders, who are mainly focused on the results of the business, and its customers, who want to receive top quality responses according to established schedules in line with the transportation needs of a city or the community at large.
In this area, the most significant development in market dynamics in recent years has entailed the progressive shift from the provision of products and technologies to the increased customer demand for turn-key transportation solutions that efficiently meet the needs of local and national institutions. This new type of offer requires the ability to support the customers, who are increasingly considered less as buyers and more as partners, in the management of a project throughout its entire life cycle.
Hitachi Rail is very aware of the contribution that efficient consumption of raw materials can give, in terms of contribution for CO2 reduction. The company promote the reduction of intensive use of raw materials in line with the OECD Council principles and its sustainability strategy.
This commitment is reflected through the definition of a reliable evaluation of raw material uses in different company activities, which is sometime difficult to establish for some specific business like for electronic and electromechanical components. However, as described in this document, Hitachi Rail search for increasingly standardised designs innovation can lead to an overall reduction in the direct or indirect consumption of raw materials.
| MATERIALS AND SUBSTANCES USED | 31.03.20 | 31.03.21 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alluminium [t] | 104.20 | 82.79 | |
| new material [t] | 0.11 | - | |
| scrap [t] | 104.09 | 82.79 | |
| Liquefied compressed gases [t] | 94,806.67 | 105,837.08 | |
| Nitrogen [t] | 80,295.57 | 83,878.32 | |
| Carbon dioxide [t] | 14,448.98 | 21,866.17 | |
| Oxigen [t] | 48.41 | 80.37 | |
| Argon [t] | 13.72 | 12.22 | |
| Paints (water based) [t] | 149.64 | 157.22 | |
| Sewage treatment agents [t] | 101.00 | 74.00 | |
| Thinner (organic solvent) [t] | 35.50 | 18.07 | |
| Catalyst [t] | 48,65 | 24,29 | |
| Putty [t] | 56.66 | 67.45 | |
| Degreasing agents [t] | 13.06 | 14.63 | |
| Oil [t] | 5.43 | 5.53 | |
| Glues and adhesives [t] | 4.40 | 2.50 |
-965.1 tonnes
of pakaging used
-52.7%
Percentage of recycled material from 5.4% to 10.0%
For Hitachi Rail STS, pollutant emissions relate to the consumption of non-renewable resources used to run thermal plants (natural gas and diesel) and to the production processes that emit volatile organic and inorganic compounds.
| 31.03.20 | 31.03.21 | |
|---|---|---|
| NOx (Kg) | 44,930.4 | 29,460.4 |
| SOx (Kg) | 35,676.5 | 9,387.5 |
| CO (Kg) | 15,683.0 | 7,126.2 |
| Volatile Organic Compounds (Kg) | 144,855.4 | 155,786.6 |
| Volatile Inorganic Compounds (Kg) | 2.1 | 5.1 |
-39381.6 Kg
emissions produced
-16.3%
“80% of environmental impact generated by products services and infrastructures around us is determined at Project Stage” (J. Thackara, 2008)
Hitachi Rail has been adopting eco-design principles for many years. Different design solutions fitting the same technical requirements are evaluated from the very beginning of the project. Specific Eco profiles or light LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) studies are performed on different rolling stock solutions in order to verify corresponding environmental effects on a trainset’s footprint. This allows the Hitachi Rail Design department to consider environmental impacts like any other constraints that need to be met.
Design solutions aimed at reducing environmental impact of trainsets quickly turn into design best practices to be implemented, whenever applicable, on all future projects.
This has happened for high efficiency HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) and lighting systems, for super capacity energy recovery systems, for aerodynamics tests carried out on bogies and car bodies and so on.
Adopting this approach, Hitachi Rail succeeded in selecting a list of eco-design best practices that can be applied on every project whenever possible. Addressing sustainability at the design phase can have an enormous impact.
Most of the environmental impacts related to the Hitachi Rail value chain are connected with the rolling stock life cycle. This is a key area of focus – indeed, our ‘Rock’ trains currently in delivery to Trenitalia in Italy are more than 95% recyclable and consume 30% less energy than the previous fleet.
Hitachi Rail firmly believes that to reduce products environmental impacts you have to quantify them and highlight which are the main sources. For this reason, for more than 15 years Hitachi Rail has performed Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) on its production according to ISO 14040 and
ISO 14044 standards, applying a reliable internal procedure to collect, organise, elaborate and analyse data for this purpose.
Hitachi Rail’s methodology to collect and check information, rules for Input/Output flows, and simulations for energy consumption calculation during operations have been validated by certification bodies during its EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) certification.
All suppliers to Hitachi Rail’s rolling stock factories are contractually required to provide a detailed materials composition concerning the production of parts, components, and raw materials to the Company’s Eco-Design Engineering department.
All information concerning production of raw materials and components assembled in company’s plants, transportation of supplies, processes carried out in Hitachi Rail plants and trainset operational data are collected and internally checked.
Commercial software used by Hitachi to develop LCA studies takes into account not only the industrial processes required to produce each part, but the processes applied to basic materials too, like moulding, stamping, wire drawings and so on.
Transport information (from suppliers to Hitachi Rail’s plants, between Hitachi Rail sites, for product delivery as well as for waste transport are generally estimated considering the distance covered, the weight of material delivered and using specific transportation processes (by road,
sea, rail, air) included in software used for LCA modelling.
Information concerning energy, auxiliaries and water consumption, as well as emissions in air, water discharge, and waste due to activities carried out in Hitachi Rail plants involved in Trainset production are collected by the environmental office.
Moreover, Hitachi Rail developed a tool to calculate trainset operational energy consumption according to standard CLC/TS 50591:2013.
Each LCA carried out considers the most appropriate electric energy mix for plants involved in rolling stock assembly and for energy consumption during the operational phase. According to relevant Product Category Rules (PCR), mix residual approach is used for electric energy consumption in European countries.
Most of the environmental impact of rolling stock come from energy consumption during the 30 – 40 years of its operational life.
The energy consumption simulator tool calculates rolling stock energy consumption over time, taking into account hypotheses and constraints meeting the following parameters:
▪ Mission profile supplied by customer (lengths of the routes, differences in altitude, expected duration of the routes, number of stations, acceleration-deceleration curves, etc.).
▪ Number of passengers.
▪ HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) use.
▪ Internal and external lighting.
▪ Other auxiliaries.
▪ Energy recovery system adopted.
▪ Weight of the rolling stock.
▪ Trainset aerodynamic parameters.
▪ Friction resistance.
▪ Power unit and transmission system.
▪ Drive assistance systems.
Finally, Life Cycle Assessments carried out by Hitachi Rail take into account not only the impact of preventive maintenance during a train’s operational phase, but also the impact of waste management during rolling stock dismantling at end of life. Our ‘Rock’ trains currently in delivery to Trenitalia in Italy are more than 95% recyclable and consume 30% less energy than the previous fleet.
According to Hitachi Rail’s Service & Maintenance process, feedback coming from the field used to solve potential problems raised on the first rolling stock produced but also to tune predictive maintenance activity for the entire fleet. As a result, predictive maintenance scheduled by Hitachi Rail are very detailed and assure an efficient, reliable service life of the Trainset.
Life Cycle Assessments issued by Hitachi Rail on rolling stock produced in its plants calculate all environmental indicators specified in relevant PCR (Product Category Rules).
LCA studies are used by Hitachi Rail to let Design focus on the main sources of environmental impacts related to the trainset life cycle, in order to find a possible alternative solution and thus reducing the trainset’s environmental footprint.
LCA can be also for communication purposes. Hitachi Rail issued and certified several Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) according to ISO 14025 whose contents are based on LCA study, like for example:
▪ Caravaggio Train.
▪ Metro Leonardo Heavy Rail Vehicle.
▪ ETR 1000 very high-speed train.
EPD content is verified by a third-party certification body that checks primary data used in LCA study and how the trainset life cycle is modelled in the LCA study.
Hitachi Rail EPDs are published on International EPD System web site
About 26 years ago, a “social welfare impact category” was proposed in the SETAC Workshop Report (1993): “A Conceptual Framework for Life Cycle Impact Assessment”. This started the discussion on how to deal with social and socio-economic criteria in assessing a product along its life cycle. The main topic of the discussion during the second half of the 1990s was to what
extent a life cycle assessment of a product or a service that takes social criteria into account is different from an LCA. Just like the LCA, it was proposed that Hitachi conduct S-LCA in line with ISO 14040 (2006). The first studies on S-LCA were developed in 2006, but the first complete framework was published in 2009 by UNEP/SETAC, entitled ‘Guidelines of Social Life Cycle
Assessment of Products’. A few years later, some methodological developments created the need to update and further harmonise the UNEP Guidelines 2009 with an updated version.
This was published by UNEP in December 2020, with the title ‘Guidelines for Social Life Cycle Assessment of Products and Organizations’.
The main objectives of the UNEP 2020 Guidelines are:
• Positioning S-LCA in the current context, a clear reference to the contribution to the Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals is reported in the introduction.
• Expansion of audience to include also non LCA experts with particular attention of
• Cover methodological developments, including impacts assessment methodologies type I and II and interpretation phase.
• Recognize a plurality of established approaches, the social life cycle impact assessment methodologies include different approaches developed in the literature.
• Developing areas where minimum guidance prevails.
• Integrate Social Organizational Life Cycle Assessment (SO-LCA) to extend the focus from products to organization.
The Social-LCA Project of HMU Masaccio Train has been developed in this particular context.
The main aim of the project is to implement S-LCA to a train life cycle for the first time, including
the most of the phases of its life cycle and develop a communication scheme towards a possible
social product declaration.
The study is being carried out by a team led by Prof. Marzia Traverso, an international expert of
S-LCA studies. Shee is the chair of the project for both the revision of the UNEP guidelines, and the implementation of the first pilot project. She is also the project leader and convener of the ISO 14075 for the international standardization of the Social Life Cycle Assessment, project started in April 2020.
The S-LCA has never been applied to a train before, this project with its results, will cover an important scientific gap.
The train is a complex product; however, Hitachi Rail has extensive experience in the implementation of environmental life cycle assessments (LCA), and several trains produced by Hitachi Rail have their Environmental Product Declaration. This means that materials and components, as well as suppliers, are already known and those data represent a first important
step to start with the study.
An important difference between LCA and S-LCA is the role played by the Stakeholders. Indeed, if in the LCA the definition of the Stakeholders is relevant only for the audience of the study, in S-LCA they represent an important parameter of the methodology. The social impacts assessed are those related to the most relevant Stakeholders involved in the product life cycle. According to UNEP 2020 6 main Stakeholders categories have been defined: workers, local communities, consumers, society, value chain actors and children. This last one has been introduced in the current UNEP 2020 Guidelines.
According to those main Stakeholders categories, 40 impact categories, called subcategories, have been defined. Those impact subcategories are derived by combining Stakeholders categories with the main impact categories such as: Human rights, Labour rights, Health and Safety and so on. For each subcategory we can have at least one indicator (see Figure 2).
As reported in the UNEP 2020 guidelines, several results can be obtained by implementing S-LCA and it is strongly affected by the typology of the data and the objective of the study. Examples of results of an S-LCA include:
▪ A Social Footprint: End result of the S-LCA study overall or by impact category or subcategory (e.g. high probability of child labour or number of educational degrees obtained, etc.).
▪ A Social Handprint: Results of changes to business as usual that create relative positive outcomes or impacts (e.g. reduced levels of child labour if better practices are implemented).
▪ Materiality Assessment: Any type of information, date, or outcome that is of relevance and may influence the conclusion (e.g. information that iron is produced in Country X where forced labour is frequent).
▪ A Social Hotspot analysis: Location and/or activity in the life cycle where a social issue (as impact) and/or social risk is likely to occur (e.g. bauxite production in Country X).
▪ Social Risk: Social topic for which an adverse impact is probable; the probability could also be quantified (e.g. child labour is a social risk, with high probability, since cobalt production takes place in Congo where the probability of child labour is generally high).
According to the UNEP guidelines, an S-LCA includes the following methodological phases:
▪ Goal and scope, definition of the main objective.
▪ Life cycle inventory.
▪ Social Life cycle impact assessment.
▪ Interpretation.
All these methodological phases will be implemented in HMU Masaccio Train for the first time and the first results will be published within the end of FY 2021.
Sustainability topics and contribution to SDGs “Hitachi Rail will reduce its environmental impact, develop a sustainability culture and improve quality of life for our people and communities”
(A. Razeto, Group Head of CSR and Sustainability)
The UN Environment Programme’s Emissions Gap Report 2020 found that global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions hit a new high of 59.1 gigatonnes (Gt) of CO2 equivalent in 2019.
Over the past decade, emissions have continued to increase at a rate of 1.5% per year, rising in all major economic sectors.
Particularly, a closer look at GHG emissions breakdown by economic sector reveals that:
Power production today generates the largest share of GHG emissions (30%). About 50% of electricity comes from burning fossil fuels, mostly coal and natural gas.
▪ Industry represents the second-largest share of GHG emissions (21%), burning fossil fuels for energy, as well as GHG emissions from mineral products (such as cement) and other chemical reactions necessary to produce goods from raw materials.
▪ The Transportation sector contributes around 16% of global GHG emissions, with road transport being primarily responsible (94% of the sector). Rail, shipping and aviation are relatively smaller, with emissions in international territory comprising 4% of total.
▪ Agriculture contributes 16% of total GHG emissions, with most emissions coming from enteric fermentation (ruminant animals, such as cattle), nitrogen fertilizers on agricultural soils, and municipal waste.
▪ Buildings contribute to 7% of global GHG emissions, arising primarily from fossil fuels burned for heat.
Should this pattern continue, the world is projected to warm by 3°C to 5°C by 2100, with catastrophic effects on human civilization. To prevent this risk, a major turnaround in emissions trajectories is needed in all sectors (reduction of approximately 3-6% per annum between now and 2030) to limit the rise in surface temperatures and avoid catastrophic climate change effects.
In 2015, world leaders met in Paris and agreed to limit the global temperature rise by the end of the century to well below 2°C and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5°C.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), limiting global warming to 1.5°C requires net human-caused carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to fall by 45% by 2030 and to reach net-zero by 2050. Even limiting the temperature rise to 2°C will need CO2 emissions to fall by 25% by 2030, requiring a turnaround of the present trend and approximately $75 trillion in investment.
In 2015, the United Nations presented 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030. Combined with the company mission to contribute to society through the development of superior, original technology and products that power sustainable connectivity, Hitachi Rail is well-positioned to make a meaningful contribution to achieving the selected SDGs. Sustainability is at the heart of our business; we have an obligation to inspire and build a better and more sustainable future for employees, customers, and all users of products.