Why Transport for NSW is committed to sustainability
Our sustainability vision is for a New South Wales where every journey is people and planet positive.
Sustainability has always been part of what we do. But it's important that we bring together the great work happening across our organisation and projects to amplify our impact and bring our vision to life for our people, customers and communities.
Our annual Transport Sustainability Report will:
Hold us accountable against the sustainability goals we’ve set in our Transport Sustainability Plan
Provide transparent reporting across our key sustainability focus areas
Track progress towards our goals
Celebrate the innovation and leadership efforts occurring across Transport and in collaboration with our government and industry partners
Outline our challenges
It’s about making sustainability tangible and inspiring our people and our partners to find innovative solutions that help us achieve our vision.
We’ve done a lot of great work — but there is more to do and we’re committed to achieving positive environmental, social and cultural outcomes from our day-to-day operations and the infrastructure we’re building.
Accelerating towards a net zero future
In late 2023, Transport for NSW (Transport) unveiled its Net Zero and Climate Change policy. This historic framework is designed to steer the entire NSW transport sector towards a net zero future.
The transport sector is the fastest-growing source of emissions in Australia, accounting for around 20 per cent of NSW’s greenhouse gas emissions. To combat this, the policy outlines targets for progressive decarbonisation within Transport for NSW and the broader transport sector.
The key targets in the policy include:
- achieving 100 per cent renewable energy for the electricity used by rail, light rail, and metro networks by 2025 (with 98 per cent already achieved)
- transitioning the entire fleet of Transport’s work vehicles to electric by 2030
- reaching net-zero emissions across the transport sector by 2050
- expanding our vision by aiming for net negative emissions within the sector by 2060.
The policy aligns with the NSW Net Zero Plan, The Paris Agreement, and the NSW Climate Change Adaption Strategy, ensuring that our efforts synchronise with the NSW Government’s broader commitments to a net zero future.
Additionally, Transport will collaborate with National Highways, a global leader in decarbonising transport infrastructure in the UK. This partnership aims to incorporate leading global practices to tackle challenges and achieve the ambitious environmental goals outlined by the policy. We will also be guided by the Decarbonising Infrastructure Delivery Roadmap that we’ve developed with Infrastructure NSW, to help us engage industry partners to co-design, trial and implement best practice across NSW Government projects.
To support policy implementation, Transport will conduct consultation with stakeholders across the industry to develop a broader roadmap for net zero emissions and circular economy. This will guide our stakeholders in establishing their approaches and to facilitate a coordinated industry-wide response towards a net zero future in NSW.
Innovative ways to protect freshwater turtles (November 2023)
NSW is home to seven native freshwater turtle species, two of which are found nowhere else in the world. However, these native turtle populations are declining due to several challenges such as introduced predators, habitat loss and road mortalities.
Following the opening of the Northern Road Upgrade Project in Western Sydney several community members raised concerns about turtle fatalities. Conventional road fauna mortality surveys are an important tool in developing mitigation measures. However, they are time consuming and require a two-person ecologist team to drive sections of the road. These teams can either travel at the posted speed limits, potentially compromise data accuracy, or choose slower speeds for precision, which can disrupt traffic flow and compromise safety.
An artificial intelligence (AI) solution was developed and trialled in response to the communities’ concerns. The idea uses video data from dash-mounted cameras to detect turtles and then use AI to differentiate between turtles and other objects such as potholes. Leveraging this mapping ability, the initiative aims to find an innovative way to inform effective mitigation measures and is a collaborative effort between Transport’s site personnel and ecologists from Western Sydney University.
Figure 1: An example of AI technology being used to analyse video data for turtle identification on roads
Figure 2: A further example of AI technology applied to analyse video data in identifying turtles on roads
Overcoming the challenges of traditional surveys, AI analysis of dash-mounted camera video provides a simple and a more effective solution for identifying and mapping turtles on the roads. The AI model developed by the dash cams team has been successfully tested on three different camera formats including iPhones. These dash cams easily attach to most vehicles and capture high-quality video footage. They have an accuracy rate of over 90 per cent in detecting turtles on roads, even at speeds of 80 km/h – a significant achievement given the challenges of identifying turtles on roads. The enhanced accuracy also minimises the need for ecologists to review all footage, saving both time and effort.
Figure 3: Side-by-side comparison of a turtle and a pothole
Aligning with the start of turtles’ breeding season, November is celebrated as National Turtle Month. This national citizen science event, co managed by Western Sydney University, is dedicated to raising awareness about threatened freshwater turtle species. In support of our commitment to protecting and enhancing biodiversity, our M12 Motorway team had joined with Western Sydney University in the 1 Million Turtles program. This collaborative effort strengthens our commitment to fauna protection and deepens our understanding of conservation requirements across our projects.
The impact of this innovation extends beyond protecting the local freshwater turtles. With this ongoing collaboration with the university, we are continuing to develop AI technology, to eventually identify various other species on our roadways. This enhancement is expected to advance our biodiversity monitoring and increase our knowledge of roadkill hotspots.
By identifying and understanding any fauna mortality hotspots more effectively, we can implement targeted mitigation and connectivity measures during or even after road projects. The mitigation strategies will help protect our unique fauna and enhance road safety for our road users.
Figure 4: A native freshwater turtle spotted on an NSW road
Finding the elusive platypus though consultation
Doing the research for the creation of Review of Environmental Factors (REF), Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Biodiversity Development Assessment Report documentation can be challenging. It is a combination of field work assessments during different seasons and at different times of the day and night as well as a large amount of desk-based research. Once prepared the reports go out for public consultation as part of the planning approval pathways. While some may find this public consultation a time-consuming process, the benefits can be enormous in terms of environmental risk mitigation opportunities obtained through this consultation process.
A recent example was during the REF display period on the Great Western Highway Upgrade Program – Little Hartley to Lithgow (West Section). Despite a number of biodiversity surveys undertaken in the River Lett area and researching for recent sightings going back 5 years, no evidence of platypus activity was found. However due to a large amount of community feedback on their existence, the project team and the environmental consultants revisited the areas and undertook extensive investigations. To their delight they uncovered evidence of the platypus on the riverbank and as a result, safeguards to protect this significant animal have been put in place. These safeguards now include avoiding earth works on the riverbank during breeding season, checking under the construction zones for burrows and no go zones outside the construction footprint. Thanks to local community knowledge during the REF consultation process, the project was able mitigate possible project impacts to one of our unique Australian mammals – the platypus!
FIG: Platypus enjoying the water in the River Lett
FIG: Platypus burrow on the banks of River Lett
Collaborating to improve environmental outcomes
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently undergoing an independent review of the Resource Recovery Framework. This framework is the policy, regulatory and compliance framework administered by the EPA to facilitate beneficial resource recovery and circular economy outcomes.
The EPA are seeking feedback on the effectiveness of the current framework and changes that could be made across the four key themes:
- Environment and human health protection
- Resource recovery and circular economy outcomes
- Administration of the framework
- Enforcement of the framework
As part of the consultation process, our team in Environment & Sustainability have spoken to several areas within Transport to hear their concerns and opinions and we have collated this feedback and provided to the EPA.
An area of interest for many stakeholders is at what point waste is no longer classified as waste and how well the framework achieves beneficial recovery and facilitates circular economy outcomes.
Some of the other key areas for Transport for NSW included:
- better processes for mandatory data capture
- improved review timeframes for resource recovery orders and exemptions by the EPA
- greater transparency of this review process
- stronger clarity on responsibilities for producers and consumers of resource recovery materials
- more alignment of waste definitions and classifications
As a key focus area for our sustainability plan, we are keen to ensure the framework will support and enable innovation in this area. The consultation period has now closed with a report and recommendations from an independent audit team due back to the EPA in late June.
By engaging with regulatory authorities, we can ensure we have our say on matters that help us to achieve our sustainability focus areas.