As part of UIC Sustainability Action Week, UIC’s Sustainability Director, Lucie Anderton, was delighted to present a Rail Sustainability Index (RSi) certificate to RENFE’s Adrián Fernández Carrasco, Director of Sustainability and Energy Efficiency, for the company’s achievement of a B+ score, the highest in the cycle.
The certificate was presented during the high-level plenary panel event at the UIC Headquarters in Paris on 10 March 2025.
“We are very grateful to UIC for leading this initiative every year. RENFE’s achievement of the highest score in the RSi, along with its continuous improvement across all indicators is further proof of our commitment to environmental and social sustainability.” Fernández Carrasco said.
RENFE, who runs passenger services in Spain, has participated in the annual index since its first cycle and has used its RSi to help track its performance using data from the years 2021-2023. As part of RENFE’s strategy and its commitment to public service, the company has introduced a new Sustainability Master Plan. This aims to position RENFE as a leader in sustainable mobility through an Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) core vision, emphasis on public value, and alignment with new EU directives, outlining 211 actions across 36 pillars. In addition, Fernández Carrasco elaborated on RENFE’s double materiality assessment, which evaluated over 200 impacts, risks, and opportunities, and identified seven topics as having “high double materiality” and ten as “relevant.”
RENFE is committed to transparently reporting its sustainability performance and is pleased to be able to share its index results with other UIC members and partners. The company performed especially well in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7, with a high share of renewable sources, as well as SDG 9, regarding resilient infrastructure and climate change adaptation measures. UIC congratulates Renfe for achieving this impressive B+ score.
The Rail Sustainability Index (RSi) is a rating system and online tool designed for and with the global rail community, demonstrating railway’s contribution to the SDGs. 2024 was the third data collection year, with 36 UIC members participating in this benchmarking exercise. They received their confidential scorecards and individual reports recently. The RSi badges can now be downloaded from the tool and used for the members’ communications activities with their staff or stakeholders. The tool dashboard shows how an organisation compares to the average scores, revealing its strengths and areas for growth, thereby supporting it in developing and reviewing its sustainability strategy.
To conclude, Anderton said, “To have RENFE’s support from the start has been so important in shaping and improving the tool, for it to be both useful and accessible for all our members. We are so pleased that they are proudly sharing their score today.”
