Sustainability

For Reliance Rail, sustainability is about continually improving our ESG performance and strengthening our resilience to climate-related risks.

Reliance Rail’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) policy outlines our approach to managing the continuous improvement in ESG performance through the life of the project.

Our sustainability framework builds on our existing risk management approaches to focus on the specific sustainability issues that matter most not only to our business and operations but also to our contractors and stakeholders.

Consistent with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) we have undertaken a materiality assessment on our Environmental Social Governance (ESG) impacts in our operations, and have identified the following ‘material’ impacts:

  • Health and safety

  • Energy

  • Water

  • Waste

  • Climate change resilience

The materiality assessment is routinely refreshed to maintain a modern understanding of evolving issues and expectations both internally and externally, which will help us refine our strategic priorities and ensure our sustainability efforts remain relevant over the near and long term.

Our ESG objectives are embodied in our ESG goals, priorities and measures and are based on where we believe our efforts will yield the greatest results. These are implemented across the Safety, Sustainability and Operations functions of our business.

We have taken a long-term view of sustainability and are committed to continuous improvement by setting, achieving and re-setting ambitious incremental targets.

Please click to access our ESG policy and our Environmental Sustainability policy.

Green Sustainability-Linked Loan

Reliance Rail is using its debt portfolio to improve the project’s long-term sustainability outcomes

The latest initiative undertaken by Reliance Rail to drive better sustainability outcomes is the refinancing of its bank debt facilities with a 21-year Green Sustainability-Linked Loan (GSLL).

 The landmark transaction is certified as a ‘Green Loan’ by the Climate Bonds Initiative under its Low Carbon Transport criteria, as well as being a Sustainability-Linked Loan. The GSLL will complement our ambitious ESG strategies with the structure incentivising Reliance Rail with reduced debt margins if ambitious Sustainability Performance Targets (SPTs) are met.

The SPTs align to four metrics, including

  • An Infrastructure Sustainability Council (‘ISC’) Operations Rating score as the cornerstone target.

  • Energy intensity of the AMC and Waratah Trains.

  • Solar PV generation at the AMC.

  • Operational water consumption.

Sustainability Reporting

GRESB 2023 score of 96 out 100 with another 5 Star Rating

In 2023, Reliance Rail obtained an overall GRESB score of 96 out of 100. This ranks us 2nd out of 9 Passenger Rail Rolling Stock companies, 81st out 681 GRESB participants for 2023 and 13th out of 117 PPP projects.

Reliance Rail has received a 5-star GRESB rating since 2020 for overall performance which demonstrates continued robust and effective Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) processes to manage the operation of the PPP project.

GRESB is an international independent organisation with a mission to assess and benchmark ESG and other related performance of real assets, providing standardised and validated data to the capital markets. Reliance Rail has participated in GRESB reporting since 2018.