The Processes We Use

We have worked very hard over the past few months to put the most effective processes in place to provide our travellers with carbon neutral journeys. Below are detailed explanations of how and why we do what we do.

Defining a Eurostar carbon neutral train journey.
Eurostar is looking at ways in which it can reduce the emissions of CO₂ and other greenhouse gases for its point to point traveller journeys.

Where we cannot reduce these emissions we are purchasing carbon credits equal to the quantity of carbon emissions generated as a result of using energy to power the trains on direct routes from London to Paris, London to Brussels, London to Marne-la-Vallée, London to Bourg-St-Maurice and London to Avignon.

When we looked at the amount of energy we needed on these journeys, which is mostly electricity used to drive the train, we also took into account the amount of energy that was needed to heat and light the carriages and any other auxiliary power required.

To make sure that we cover all of our significant CO₂ equivalent (CO₂e) emission sources, we also offset the CO₂e of any greenhouse gases that leaked from the air conditioning and refrigeration units onboard our trains.

Working out the CO₂e emissions that have been generated by the electricity the trains use.

We calculate our CO₂ emissions in a three step process.

1. We know the energy our trains use in kWh of electricity on each route (e.g. London – Paris) and each route section (e.g. Calais – Paris)

2. We forecast the number of trains we expect to run on each route, for the period in question this allows us to forecast our total electricity consumption, by route section.  We expect to run 19,846 trains in 2008.

3. We use published data for CO₂ emissions per KWh for the electricity used on each route section to calculate total CO₂ emissions.


As an example:Table showing emissions generated from London -  Paris traction consumption during 2008

*Figure for 2008 supplied by Eurotunnel
**Estimates for 2008 based on information from the Statistical Office of the European Commission

Within the market place there are currently several approaches to calculating CO₂ emissions from electricity purchased using either supplier specific, regional or national average emissions factors.

In France and Belgium we share use of the high speed lines with other operators and electricity is supplied to the lines through nationwide contracts.  We therefore use national average emission factors.

In the UK the high speed line, known as High Speed 1, has a specific dedicated power supply under contract with British Energy.  We are currently the sole user of the line and therefore pay for all the energy consumed and determine who supplies it.  We therefore use British Energy specific emission factors - their relatively low carbon emissions being an important factor in retaining them as our chosen supplier. 

For Eurotunnel we use UK average emission factors for the UK portion of the tunnel and French national average factors for the French portion.  Eurotunnel are currently working on refining their own estimates of its emission factors and we expect in due course to use their specifically calculated data.

Our electricity consumption calculations include the energy used to drive heating, lighting and air-conditioning systems on-board our trains.

We also take account of refrigerant leakage from all our on-board air conditioning and refrigeration units. In order to make sure we have covered any leakage we monitor the total tonnes issued and multiply each chemical by its global warming potential to give CO2 equivalent emissions.

As a result, we have projected that our CO₂e emissions from journeys from 14 November 2007 to 31 December 2008 will be approximately 62,000 tonnes. On a monthly basis we will reconcile this projection with the actual number of trains that we run.

The offsetting projects we will be investing in.
It is important to us that we choose reputable companies to supply our carbon credits. This has meant a lot of hard work went in to choosing our suppliers and completing a thorough programme of due diligence.

We have signed a contract to purchase the required amount of carbon credits for the period from 14 November 2007 – 31 December 2008.  In the first instance we have purchased UN certified Certified Emissions Reductions credits (CERs) that have been issued from an Indian Windfarm and we have identified a number of other projects, including a Chinese Micro-Hydro power plant, to cover our future emissions.

Carbon Clear will provide CERs and Verified Emission Reductions (VERs).

Eurostar’s criteria for project investment.
There are many things to consider when investing in carbon reduction projects of this nature. Predominantly our aim was to ensure that any projects we invested in were of good quality and accredited through the Clean Development Mechanism, to the Voluntary Carbon Standard or to the Voluntary Gold Standard.

Our focus has centred largely on projects that deliver renewable energy or those that generate energy using sustainable supplies of fuel. A number of our projects have also been selected because of the socio-economic benefits they bring, enhancing the lives of many of the local communities that live in and around the project locations.

We have ensured that any credits we buy have proven additionality, including a robust baseline methodology and third party verification of the carbon credits generated.

How do we make sure we continue to provide carbon neutral journeys?
The carbon credits we purchase will be bought in advance of when they are actually required and will have already been issued by the relevant authorising body. In order to do this, we continually track and reconcile our estimated emissions against our actual train emissions. We will retire the equivalent number of carbon credits in order to make each journey carbon neutral.

By buying carbon credits in advance of when they are needed and basing our purchases on train number forecasts, which we are very good at, we can make sure that we are always ahead of the game when it comes to being carbon neutral.

Eurostar is also committed to reviewing our processes on a regular basis, identifying ways in which we can make them even more accurate and checking that our forecasting is effective. 

We have commissioned ERM a leading environmental consultancy and assurance firm to assure that we have appropriately reported the processes we have used to calculate emissions and procure offsets. ERM’s assurance statement can be found by clicking the link at the bottom of this page.

We will also commission assurance of our actual emissions and offsetting programme at the end of each year, to check that our calculations and forecasts have been correct in practice.  

Assurance Statement

To see our full assurance statement click here

The information on this page has been reviewed for consistency with our assurance findings and conclusions