Environmental Management

We are striving to improve our environmental performance.

Purely voluntarily, CP has set up an Environmental Policy and is working hard to ensure it is followed by implementing an Environmental Management System (EMS).

The definition of the Environmental Policy was the starting point to improve the organisation's environmental performance, sending a clear message of change to its employees, Customers and suppliers.

By ensuring the compliance of the Environmental Policy, thought the implementation of the Environmental Management System (EMS), CP must not only comply with the applicable environmental legislation and regulation and commitments undertaken, but also improve its energy efficiency, the management of its resources and handle all waste properly.

The Management Systems Policy was approved by the CP Board of Directors in July 2024.(Portuguese only) 

CP strives hard every day to reduce its ecological footprint. 

Nowadays, the integration of environmental questions and sustainable development into transport policies, associated with a modal shift for the public transport, particularly by railway, is based on rationality and development strategy.

Travelling with CP means you are making your own contribution towards sustainable development, since:

• Less power consumption
  Trains use energy more efficiently than any other form of transport and the electricity used to drive our trains can be produced from a wide range of renewable sources.

• Less pollution
  The transport sector is mainly responsible for the increase in the amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
  The emission of gas pollution into the atmosphere has a direct impact on health and nature.
  When we compare trains with cars or planes, trains emit only a tiny amount of this pollution.

• Economic use of space
  Trains can transport lots of people considering the amount of land they occupy and can carry huge loads at once (for example, the Alfa Pendular train between Faro and Oporto carries up to 301 passengers).

• Good safety record
  The train is one of the safest ways to travel. The rail system has many backup safety systems, strict rules and invests heavily in maintenance. 

For more details on the work CP has been conducting in this area, click on the links below: 

• Energy efficiency and reducing gas emissions
• Reduction of noise pollution
• Correct use of chemical products, Reducing the impact of spills and contamination and Proper waste management

In order to reinforce these advantages, CP is committed to reduce the environmental impact of its activities even further. This process is part of the Company's strategy and is one of its underlying values, so we are counting on you to be one more passenger and do your part in reducing CO₂ emissions.

The Good Environmental Practice Manual is intended for CP’s employees and external service providers, whose activity may directly or indirectly influence CP's good environmental performance.

Good environmental practice manual

Suppliers' Environmental Competencies

Environmental Indicators Graphics 2018-2019

Energy Management and Energy Efficiency Measures

CP is a partner of BCSD Portugal - Business Council for Sustainable Development.

This is a non-profit organisation that was set up in October 2001 by 36 of the country's largest companies to transpose WBCSD guidelines into Portugal. The main aim of BCSD Portugal is to motivate business leaders to steer towards Sustainable Development and promote eco-efficiency, innovation and social responsibility in companies.

BCSD Portugal has, since the beginning, been a member of the regional WBCSD network – World Business Council for Sustainable Development.