In front of a packed lecture hall, Jean-Louis Jourdan, Director of Sustainable Development at the SNCF, presented the company’s clean transport policy and announced the future challenges facing France’s top rail company.
It was an opportunity to recall that "beyond the pre- or post-Copenhagen incantatory speeches, sustainable development has a concrete dimension." Giving a global account of the changing behaviour of both citizens and business, Jean-Louis Jourdan plotted the "green" tendencies of the coming years.
Transport, a sector that has invested in sustainable development
According to a survey carried out by the SNCF among French people, regarding their perception of sustainable development, the transport sector is the one that should make the most effort in this area.
In addition, the survey shows that the relationship with urban mobility has substantially changed. Businesses must devise the services of the future by addressing the requirements of a public that is informed in terms of sustainable development.
Towards intermodal journeys
A new professional sector is born, that of the "mobility operators" who devise door-to-door transport. The rail station must thus become the transport network hub, by creating infrastructures to accommodate cars and bicycles.
In the same vein, the SCNF intends to create a train + electric vehicle rental package. It has already bought a proportion of the company Urban cab's 100%-electric vehicles and has invested in the car-pooling company Green Cove, through its Eco-Mobility Partners Investment fund.
Towards eco-design
Energy, which represents only 5% of its turnover, is a priority line of development for the SNCF.
The SNCF and the Ile de France region have invested €3.2m to create a "solar" station with 500,000 m2 of photovoltaic panels. This system,
which already exists in Alsace, will allow an energy saving of 64% and energy self-sufficiency of 25%.
Finally, Jean-Louis Jourdan reminded the audience that businesses are subjected to an increasingly strict legislative framework, respecting the decisions taken during the Grenelle*** environmental round tables 1 and 2. They routinely publish "carbon footprints", and forms of transport must compulsorily display their CO2 consumption levels.
* CNAM – National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts, an institution supervised by the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research
** SNCF - French national railway company (train operator)
*** The ‘Grenelle agreement on the environment’ comes from a series of round tables/conferences in autumn 2007, attended by representatives of central/local government, employer organizations and trade unions and NGOs, and which various environmental themes were debated in order to define future sustainable development policy in France.
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