Led by Head of Environment and Sustainability Jason Brooker (pictured below), the first cohort of five employees whose jobs vary from station manager to train maintenance engineer, are embarking on a two-year course that will earn them Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Practitioner Level 4, which is equivalent to the first year of an undergraduate degree.<\/p>\n
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Jason Brooker, GTR’s Head of Environment and Sustainability, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, on Earth Day, we\u2019ve launched our new Sustainability Strategy that aligns to the industry Sustainable Rail Blueprint and commits us to achieving key goals around social sustainability, emissions and the natural environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo make that happen we have to embed those principles across the business, it must be built into the targets set for every department, and they have to be accountable for reaching those targets, be it in recycling rates, energy use or emissions, for example.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut even more importantly, we need to catalyse a cultural shift among our employees which is why I\u2019ve set up this academy. This first cohort will inject a new way of thinking into their workplace and encourage others to be more sustainable around them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the little things that make a difference, from the \u2018No idling\u2019 signs now displayed in car parks across our network to improve air quality [insert picture], to segregating litter for recycling and switching off lights and heating when they\u2019re not needed. It matters to the environment, even if you\u2019re not the one making a saving on the energy bill.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hannah Causebrook, aged 25 from Great Bookham in Surrey, is a full-time apprentice in Jason\u2019s Environment and Sustainability team who started the course in October fresh from university. She has been working on GTR\u2019s climate resilience plan, which examines stations and rail tracks at risk of flooding as the weather becomes more severe through global warming, the impact this has on communities, rail services and passengers, and how the industry can work together to address this. <\/p>\n
Hannah said: <\/p>\n
\u201cThis apprenticeship has been a brilliant introduction to the workplace, because I\u2019ve been trusted to take on work which will feature in GTR\u2019s Sustainability Strategy and have had the freedom to explore topics which interest me across the business.”<\/p>\n
Read Hannah\u2019s case study here.<\/a><\/p>\n Sustainability Director Rachel Everard, from the Rail Safety Standards Board, said: <\/p>\n \u201cGovia Thameslink\u2019s new Sustainability Strategy sets out a clear vision and pathway for delivering sustainable rail. Everyone working in the rail industry has a part to play in making this a reality. It\u2019s fantastic to see GTR take a pioneering approach by introducing a Sustainability Academy that will build practical expertise and leadership from within. Initiatives like this help turn industry ambition into action.\u201d<\/p>\n Sarah Harris, Head of Corporate Partnerships at LDN Apprenticeships, said: <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re delighted to be working with GTR on the launch of their Sustainability Academy, which plays an important role in supporting the delivery of their Sustainability Strategy. By investing in their people and building sustainability capability across the business, GTR is taking a practical approach to embedding its strategic commitments into everyday operations.\u201d<\/p>\n GTR\u2019s new Sustainability Strategy can be read here<\/a>. RSSB\u2019s Sustainable Rail Blueprint for the entire industry can be read here<\/a>.<\/p>\n ENDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Britain\u2019s biggest rail operator, Govia Thameslink Railway, is marking Earth Day today (22 April) by establishing a Sustainability…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,528,8942,8943,8941,8944],"class_list":{"0":"post-19359","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-britain","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-environment","10":"tag-gatwick-express","11":"tag-great-northern","12":"tag-southern-railway","13":"tag-thameslink"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116447702307824736","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}