Canadian Pacific Railway Publishes First Climate Strategy, Establishes Science-Based GHG Emissions Targets

(Credit: Canadian Pacific Railway)

Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (CP) has released its first comprehensive Climate Strategy aimed at addressing GHG emissions reductions and climate resiliency as the company pivots to a low-carbon future.

As part of developing the strategy, CP completed a scenario analysis at ‘well below 2 degrees Celsius’, based on IEA’s Sustainable Development Scenario, as well as a climate materiality assessment, which identified eight priority climate impacts:

1. Carbon pricing
2. Fuel efficiency
3. Fuel switching
4. Trucking competition
5. Coal markets
6. Energy markets
7. Freight rail demand
8. Physical impacts

The Climate Strategy includes actions across five strategic pillars:

• Establishing a clear understanding of climate-related risk and opportunities
• Reducing the company's carbon footprint
• Adapting operations to the physical risks of climate change
• Integrating climate factors across the business
• Engaging with stakeholders on climate action

Alongside the strategy, CP has committed to two emissions targets by 2030 with the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi):

1. Reducing Scope 1, 2 and 3 GHG emissions intensity of its locomotives by in excess of 38% by 2030. Locomotive operations represent CP's largest source of emissions.
2. Reducing absolute Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions from non-locomotive operations by in excess of 27% by 2030.

Measures already taken by CP to reduce GHG emissions include, but are not limited to, installing a large solar farm at its Calgary corporate campus, initiating a pioneering hydrogen locomotive program, and building a hydrogen-powered locomotive using fuel cells and batteries.

CP will report to its shareholders on its progress on the Climate Strategy beginning in 2022. The company currently participates in widely used and accepted sustainability reporting frameworks and standards such as CDP, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), and the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). CP recently received World Finance's 2021 Sustainability Award for Transportation and was recognized as one of Canada's 2021 Best 50 Corporate Citizens by Corporate Knights.