"CP has made significant progress in minimizing its carbon footprint through a number of initiatives. Our total greenhouse gas emissions in 2009 were 2,809 kilotonnes, which is 9.5% below 1990 levels despite an 18% increase in revenue-ton miles over the same period. Our job is not done and we continue to strive for further efficiency gains."
           - Fred Green, President and CEO, Canadian Pacific

Protecting the air we breathe and addressing global climate change are important issues to CP. Learn about some of our current and future efforts to address both.

Try our greenhouse gas emissions calculator to see how shipping by rail helps the environment.

How much does transportation and rail contribute?

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
Climate change, and more specifically global warming, has become an important global issue. This has resulted in increasing efforts to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere.

The transportation industry as a whole contributes over 25% of all GHG emissions in Canada and the U.S. However, rail operations only contribute approximately 3% of the emissions from the transportation sector while moving more than half of the surface freight.

Air pollutants
Air pollutants, otherwise known as criteria air contaminants (CAC), contribute to poor air quality and normally include oxides of sulphur and nitrogen (SOx and NOx), particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide (CO), ground level ozone, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and ammonia.

Of these pollutants, the transportation sector is considered a significant source of NOx (over 50% of national emissions), VOCs (over 30%) and CO (over 75%). Ground-level ozone is not directly emitted, but is formed in a chemical reaction involving NOx and VOCs. Rail contributes approximately 5% of national NOx emissions and only 0.2% of CO and VOCs and 0.02% of PM. 

How are we doing?

We publicly report our air emissions to the Canadian Locomotive Emissions Monitoring program and the international Carbon Disclosure Project. We also communicate the information through our Corporate Social Responsibility Report. In 2009, our total GHG emissions, as measured in CO2e, were 2,809 kilotonnes, which is 9.5% below 1990 levels despite a 18% increase in revenue-ton miles (RTM) over the same period. Our emissions of GHG per unit of RTM have decreased by 26% between 1990 and 2009. Emissions of CACs have declined, largely due to new locomotive designs and our fuel conservation initiatives.

In 2009, we reached the milestone of 40,000,000 litres of fuel saved, in large part due to our investment in fuel conservation technology and practices. Click here to read more.

Some of our major fuel conservation initiatives include:

Locomotive fleet renewal
Over the past few years we have acquired 200 GE Evolution locomotives, which meet the stringent U.S. EPA Tier II standards, and 117 GE AC 4400 locomotives, which meet U.S. EPA Tier 1 standards. Collectively, these locomotives represent almost 25% of our line-haul fleet. The average age of our line-haul locomotive fleet is 14.4 years old, which is impressive considering the normal lifespan of this equipment.

Anti-idling technology and policies
We have equipped over 80% of our locomotives with some form of anti-idling device, which under certain operating conditions will shut down the locomotives instead of letting them idle. For those that do not have the equipment, they are subject to internal policies to manually shut them down when similar conditions exist.

Fuel conservation teams
We have a dedicated locomotive fuel conservation team that develops a range of strategies and technological options to further reduce fuel consumption.

Rail lubrication
We have installed both gauge-face and top-of-rail lubrication systems in areas with high degrees of curvature to reduce the amount of friction at the wheel-rail interface. This has shown to be beneficial for both rail and wheel wear rates and also for reducing fuel consumption.

New locomotive design testing
We are continuously evaluating new types of locomotives that reduce both GHG and CAC emissions. Recently, with the support of Transport Canada's Freight Technology Demonstration Fund, we acquired two new National Railway Equipment Genset locomotives for testing in Southern Ontario; these locomotives could reduce fuel consumption by up to 40% and CACs by between 80 and 90% compared to existing switching locomotives.

In early 2009, Canadian Pacific reached 40,000,000 litres (10,566,882 US gallons) of fuel saved thanks to the introduction of Automatic Engine Start Stop (AESS) technology back in 2002. CP's entire GE fleet is equipped with the AESS fuel saving system. The functionality of these systems depend on several operating conditions, including ambient and oil temperatures as well as the level of battery voltage. When all conditions are met and the engine is sitting idle, the locomotive diesel engine automatically shuts down, saving fuel and reducing noise. AESS technology reinforces CP's continuous infrastructure and equipment investment, and our commitment to making our operations greener.

"This milestone is a testament to the continued efforts of the men and women out in the field who take the extra step to make sure the AESS system is operating properly," said Jim Christie, CP manager of locomotive fuel conservation. "Without their constant vigilance and adherence to the operational guidelines, this goal could have taken much longer to attain."